Women in Tunisia protest demanding polygamy

By:brightwebtv.com/nana asare barimah

TUNIS: A group of Tunisian women are calling for a protest demanding polygamy in the country.

The group is campaigning for allowing polygamy, which is a crime in Tunisia. Under Article 18 of the Personal Status Code, polygamy is a punishable offence.

However, recently a group of women has started a campaign on the social media urging upon women to join a protest in front of the parliament. The protest seeking permission for having more than one wives at a time.

President of the Forum of Freedom and Citizenship, Fathi Al-Zghal, said the demonstration is spontaneous and comes within the framework of advocacy to solve the problem of spinsterhood in the country”.

According to Al-Khaleej Online newspaper, Al-Zghal said in a statement that he did not call for the demonstration himself, but supports the idea because he believes there is a need to find a solution to the dilemma of spinsterhood.

He also called for a review of all articles of the Personal Status Code – a set of laws that stipulate the rights and freedoms of women in Tunisia – and not only the article relating to polygamy.

He has said that women will participate in the demonstration to express their anger at the failure of Tunisia to allow polygamy. He added that “the protest is not linked to any political entity and is not led by any associations”.