Are women more democratic in the exercise of power? A comparison between Italy and Tunisia 1/2

24/06/2023

Livia Scalabrelli

Italy and Tunisia are two close countries, divided by only 246,61 km^[1]https://fr.distance.to/Trapani/Tunis,TUNof Mediterranean waters. Even though they are different in many respects, they share many cultural, social, and even linguistic aspects. In such a context, women’s rights and women representation in political decision-making is a controversial issue in both.

This article aims to understand if having women in positions of power entails that a state is always more democratic, progressive and open to women’s rights. It will entail a comparative analysis of two female political leaders: the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Italy, and the president of the Free Destourian Party Abir Moussi in Tunisia. Even though it will not be possible to engage in a deep analysis of the major (and minor) trends in Tunisian and Italian politics, nor will it be possible to synthesise in a few pages the political carriers of these two women, this study will try to draw a picture of the two, while investigating the following question: women are often associated with peace, cooperation and democracy, but does this theory apply in these countries?

This dossier is divided in two articles: the first one will consider the anti-democratic and populist elements of these politicians, drawing from their links to previous authoritarian regimes. Firstly the article will give a brief historical context, secondly it will explain the theoretical framework ; finally, it will delve into the analysis. The second will present how gender equality and religion are treated by both of them.

Historical context

Italy is a southern European country that has been conquered by many kingdoms throughout history (Greeks, Spanish, Arabs, Vikings, French, Austrian…) and that has been home to the Roman Empire. When unity was achieved, in 1861^[2]Meriggi, M., “Dagli antichi Stati all’Italia unita”, Treccani, (2011), https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/dagli-antichi-stati-all-italia-unita_%28L%27Unificazione%29/, Italy was a mix of former states, each characterised by its own culture, language, traditions: even today Italy maintains a strong division, for example, between the North and the South^[3]Italian Senate Archive, https://www.senato.it/3182?newsletter_item=1530&newsletter_numero=149.

In the 20th century, after twenty years of fascist dictatorship led by Benito Mussolini^[4]Treccani, https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/fascismo, Italy became a parliamentary republic, endorsing democratic principles and freedom of expression: even if it comprises laicity in its constitution, the majority of the population considers itself Catholic Christian^[5]“Le pratiche religiose in Italia”, Italia in Dati, https://italiaindati.com/le-religioni-in-italia/#and many Christian values are present in everyday politics. Recently Italy has been characterised by strong government instability and the rise of far-right parties that stress concepts such as “sovereignty”, “christianity”, and “immigration control”. In 2022 Italy elected its first female prime minister, the leader of the far-right party Brothers of Italy Giorgia Meloni^[6]“Risultati elezioni italiane”, La Repubblica, 28-09-2022, https://elezioni.repubblica.it/2022/elezioni-politiche/.

On the other side, Tunisia is a melting-pot of different peoples as well: the first to live in the region were the Amazigh, then Phoenicians built Carthage near what is now Tunis, which was then conquered by Romans. Even though the country was subject to the diffusion of Christianity and it was long inhabited by Jewish people, the cultural asset strongly changed in the Middle Ages, when Arabs invaded the region and Islam became the main religion.

Then, Tunisia became part of the Ottoman Empire under which it remained until 1881, when it was occupied and colonised by France; it gained independence in 1956 with Habib Bourguiba, who governed the country for more than thirty years. From 1987 his successor, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, led a dictatorial regime while severely punishing dissent: in 2011, in the Tunisian city of Sidi-Bouzid, a series of revolts (known as the “Arab Spring”) spread throughout the whole country and all the Arab world^[7]Emiliani, M., “Purgatorio arabo”, 2018, Edizioni Laterza. Tunisia has since then been a democracy, even though a frail one, until 2021^[8]Freedom House, 2022.

The dissolution of the parliament by President Kais Saied in 2021 and the adoption of a new constitution (which amplifies Saied’s powers) in 2022, question if Tunisia can still be considered a free and democratic country. In February 2023, Saied also increased arbitrary arrests against journalists and dissidents,^[9]“Les arrestations d’opposants au président Kaïs Saïed continuent en Tunisie”, France 24, 22-02-2023, … Continue readingwhile making an official statement concerning “illegal immigration”: he claimed that sub-Saharan Africans who migrate to Tunisia (usually in order to reach Europe) are paid to change the “ethnic composition” of the country^[10]“Tunisie. Le discours raciste du président déclenche une vague de violence contre les Africain·e·s Noirs”, Amnesty International, 10-03-2023, … Continue reading. The racism and anti-democratic politics of the last months are creating a more and more repressive authoritarian regime where parties are increasingly less important.

Theoretical framework

Although women were not part of the public sphere for thousands of years and they were not  (properly) studied in Political Sciences until the 70s, they do play an important role in the economics and politics of a country.

One of the main arguments of many researches^[11]Tickner, J., (2001), “Gendering World Politics”, Columbia University Pressis that women can play a fundamental role in development, peace-building and equality. In 2011 former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said: “While women’s political participation improves democracy, the reverse is also true: democracy is an incubator for gender equality^[12]UN News (2011), Women’s participation crucial for democracies, UN officials stress https://news.un.org/en/story/2011/05/374032.” In fact, women are often a key player in democratic processes and negotiations. One could think of women who fought fascism during the 20th century, Latin American girls who fight for their reproductive rights, Iranian and Sudanese women who are at the centre of protests and revolts, and so on. Fukuyama claims that women are more peaceful than men for biological reasons and that a “feminized” world would be more peaceful^[13]Fukuyama, F. (1998) “Women and the Evolution of World Politics.” Foreign Affairs 77, no. 5 .

However, some scholars did also challenge the idea of women as inherently good, highlighting how many women choose to fight in terrorist groups, guerrilla movements and armies^[14]Tickner, J., (2001), “Gendering World Politics”, Columbia University Press. Women, in this cases, cannot be associated with peace and non-violence as the common thinking suggests.

Usually women are believed to have some connotations that make them more empathetic, less aggressive and more peaceful. However, should we say that this is a result of some biological factors or that maybe it is a consequence of the way girls are raised? Women, for example, tend to be less confident than men, and a study on war-games has recently revealed that overconfident people are the ones who usually strike an attack first ^[15]Johnson, D., McDermott, R., Barrett, E., Cowden,J., Wrangham, R., McIntyre,M., Rosen,S., (2006) Overconfidence in wargames: experimental evidence on expectations, aggression, gender and testosterone, … Continue reading.

In the book “Why Leaders fight” the authors found out that men were responsible for 694 acts of aggression and 86 wars, while women were responsible for just 13 acts of aggression and only one war (started by Indira Gandhi)^[16]Horowitz, M., Stam, A., Ellis, C. (2016) Why Leaders Fight, Cambridge University Press. However, this is partly a result of the lack of female leaders in history: only a few women have led their country in the last century, so there is a higher probability that a war was started by men.

When women are in leadership roles they have to prove that they are not weak as the stereotype would suggest, so they may act as particularly tough in international military crisis^[17]Schwartz, J., Blair, C., (2020) Do Women Make More Credible Threats? Gender Stereotypes, Audience Costs, and Crisis Bargaining, International Organization , Volume 74 , Issue 4, pp. 872 – 895, … Continue reading. Indeed, many female heads of state, such as Margaret Thatcher and the former president of South Korea Park Geun-hye, engaged in aggressive military actions.

The aim of this paper is to analyse if Giorgia Meloni and Abir Moussi are leaders who foster peace, democracy and cooperation in their countries. It is easy to think that two women would be interested in propelling gender equality, as well as freedom and justice, so the article will explore their political stances in Italy and Tunisia.

A political comparison of the cases through an historical and socio-cultural perspective

Meloni and Moussi share many political values and many attitudes towards opponents, but there is one element that must be underlined: while Meloni leads the most voted Italian party and the national government at the time of this writing, Abir Moussi is not the president or the prime minister of Tunisia. However, Moussi’s Free Destourian Party was the third most voted group at the 2019 elections: her success grew further in 2020, when the polls showed that 29% of Tunisians would have liked to vote her (a higher result than the one of the islamist party Ennahda)^[18]Tunisie: Le PDL est en tête des intentions de vote (2020, July 14), Tunisien Numérique : https://www.tunisienumerique.com/tunisie-le-pdl-est-en-tete-des-intentions-de-vote-2/. Even though she did not found the party, she is its leader and current president.

There are some similarities between them and one can draw a political comparison while keeping in mind the different socio-economic and historical contexts.

Anti-democratic attitudes and nostalgia of past regimes

One of the first elements that can be observed is the reference or even closeness of Meloni’s and Moussi’s parties to the authoritarian regimes that administrated Italy and Tunisia during the 20th century.

As a young woman, Giorgia Meloni militated in the “Fronte della Gioventù” (youth section of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement-MSI), and she then joined the National Alliance (AN) and the People of Freedom. In 2012 she decided to found Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) with some of the hardline leaders of AN^[19]Treccani, https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/fratelli-d-italia.

The link between neo-fascist MSI and her party is still evident and present, because Brothers of Italy’s logo contains a tricolour flame, a symbol that represented the Italian Social Movement. Moreover, in a resurfaced interview, a 19 years-old Meloni claims that “Mussolini was a good politician” and that Italy did not have “someone like him” in the last fifty years^[20]Il video in cui una giovane Giorgia Meloni dice che Mussolini è stato “un bravo politico” (2022, August 16) Domani, … Continue reading. Of course Meloni is much more wary of everything she says publicly nowadays and does not make a -direct- apology of fascism, but her political upbringing casts some doubts over her attachment to democracy: she stated ‘not to be anti-fascist’ while also highlighting that she does not have “the cult of fascism”^[21]Meloni, G. (2021) Io sono Giorgia: le mie radici, le mie idee, Rizzoli, Milan, seemingly trying to satisfy both parts.

Apart from her youth and previous militance, her public stances and her party seem to be even more close to the values of the fascist regime that governed Italy for twenty years. Some examples are: the use of certain slogans, like “God, Homeland, Family”, repeated by Meloni during the electoral campaign, which is a fascist motto; the presence of many members in the party who have links to extreme-right environments, like the Member of the European Parliament Carlo Fidanza, who praised Adolf Hitler and anti-Semitism^[22]Bruno, V., Downes, J., Scopelliti, A. (2021, November 12), Post-Fascism in Italy: “So why this flame, Mrs. Giorgia Meloni?”, Culturico, … Continue reading; the president of the Senate Ignazio La Russa who has many antiquities related to the regime in his house, including a bust of Benito Mussolini.

Besides, Meloni endorses many far-right and conservative policies: she is a strong opponent to what she defines “gender theories” and to equal marriage for LGBT+ people, she supports a strict control of immigration, she promotes an image of woman as first and foremost a mother, and she considers herself as a bearer of “Christian values”. Her discourse is often aggressive and oppositional.

On February 18, two high-school students were beaten by six members of a fascist movement in front of their school in Florence: the blatantly overt fascist violence was not condemned by Meloni or her government^[23]Vecchio, ., « Il silenzio di Meloni sul pestaggio di Firenze. FdI lo derubrica a “rissa” », 21-02-2023, La Repubblica, … Continue reading. However, when the principal of another school wrote a letter to her students (where she invited scholars not to be indifferent and to fight the return of fascism in Italy) the Minister of Education Giuseppe Valditara (elected as a League candidate, an ally of Brothers of Italy) threatened her with sanctions.

On the other side, Abir Moussi cannot and does not want to distance herself from her proximity to Ben Ali’s regime. In 2010, she was appointed Assistant Secretary General in charge of Women at the Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD), the only party admitted in Tunisia before the revolution. When the RCD was dissolved in 2011, after the Arab Spring, she was the only lawyer and member of the party who made herself available to represent it in the judiciary process that followed. Moussi claimed to be somehow the heir of Bourguiba, the leader that guided Tunisia towards independence and founded the RCD^[24]Oueslati, B., Zouari, F. (2019,March 19) Tunisie : Abir Moussi, portrait d’une Benaliste convaincue, Jeune Afrique, … Continue reading.

After the fall of Ben Ali she joined the Destourian Movement, created by the former Prime Minister Hamed Karoui, which brought together some dignitaries of the former regime: in 2014 the party suffered an electoral failure and for this reason, in 2016, following a congress, the name was changed to “Parti destourien libre” (Free Destourian Party) and Abir Moussi was nominated as its president^[25]Oueslati, B., Zouari, F. (2019,March 19) Tunisie : Abir Moussi, portrait d’une Benaliste convaincue, Jeune Afrique, … Continue reading. Therefore, Moussi comes directly from the past regime and has managed to present the Free Destorian Party as a valid alternative to the post-revolutionary currents. She fiercely opposes political Islam and its parties (Ennahda, Al-Karama)^[26]Oueslati, B., Zouari, F. (2019,March 19) Tunisie : Abir Moussi, portrait d’une Benaliste convaincue, Jeune Afrique, … Continue reading, a position which was strongly upheld by Ben Ali: in fact, Islamists were persecuted during his regime (they were one of the main voices of dissent too), and public displays of religion like the hijab (veil) were forbidden.

Due to her link to the ancien regime tradition, she supports the implementation of a presidential system in the country and became the face of radical secularism. Even if she does not speak against democracy, she is critical of the 2011 revolution, as she claims that it was caused by foreign powers^[27]Tosi, F. (2022) El auge del populismo en Túnez, part of Geopolítica de las Primaveras Árabes, Chapter 4, Editorial Comares. When Saied froze the parliament in 2021, the Free Destourian Party supported his action, but then changed its position: Moussi declared that Saied was playing the islamist game and equated the constitutional referendum (that took place, after some months, in July 2022) to the one Iran had in 1979^[28]Dahmani, F., (2022, March 22) Tunisie – Abir Moussi : « Le peuple ne veut pas du projet de Kaïs Saïed », Jeune Afrique, … Continue reading.

Therefore, both Meloni and Moussi are close to anti-democratic environments and their position towards parliamentary republics remains ambiguous.

Women “close to the peoples”

Giorgia Meloni rose to power after the 2022 elections and her public image has not changed since then: she has always been considered a woman “close to the peoples”, and even if nowadays she is the most powerful person in Italy, she is still acting as her party is the “underdog” of politics. She has followed the populist wave that invested Italian politics and managed to present herself as someone who truly understands people’s concerns.

In 2019, during a speech delivered at a rally in Rome, she yelled one of her most famous slogans: “I am Giorgia, I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Christian, and no one is going to take this away from me!”. This sentence, that gained even more popularity after two DJs^[29]MEM & J, (2019, October 27)  Io Sono Giorgia (Giorgia Meloni Remix), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhwUMDX4K8o created a song with it, encapsulates all her political values. She highlights her role as a woman and as a mother, she underlines her faith (in opposition to that of muslim immigrants) and she tries to show herself as part of “the people”. She acted on a traditional and patriarchal view of the woman, thus convincing conservatives that she was protecting Italian and Christian values^[30]Fratelli d’Italia, 2022, https://www.fratelli-italia.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Brochure_programma_FdI_qr_def.pdf. This represents her political view of women’s role: she depicts the feminine Italian Christian population as something to be preserved from the Arab/African cultures^[31]Donofrio, A., Rubio Moraga, A.,(2022) GIORGIA MELONI Y EL DISCURSO DE MARBELLA-Un análisis de su visión del feminismo en Twitter y en sus discursos , International Visual Culture Review / Revista … Continue reading. However, the woman is not empowered in any way, as she highlights her stay-at-home-mom character, nor she exists in a non-heterosexual form.

Besides, her success derives from being able to catch people’s dissatisfaction with the status quo and from creating a narrative that divides Italians into “us” and “them”. The paradigm of sovereignty stolen from the people^[32]Baldini, G., Tronconi, F., Angelucci, D.  (2023): Yet Another Populist Party? Understanding the Rise of Brothers of Italy, South European Society and Politics, DOI:10.1080/13608746.2022.2159625 was also frequent during her opposition years, because she considered the technical governments that led Italy for some periods illegitimate and she claimed that Italians were the only people who had not elected their administration. Indeed, she managed to revive a strong organisational and cultural identity, while mixing patriotism to liberal market policies^[33]Baldini, G., Tronconi, F., Angelucci, D.  (2023): Yet Another Populist Party? Understanding the Rise of Brothers of Italy, South European Society and Politics, DOI:10.1080/13608746.2022.2159625.

Moreover, she claims to be interested in the well-being of the working-class, even though she often supports policies that damage precisely this sector: some examples are the reduction or suppression of the “reddito di cittadinanza” (the so-called “citizenship income”, which is given to unemployed workers and was useful to curb the grip of poverty during the pandemic) and the adoption of a flat-tax (instead of creating a tax system proportional to incomes).

However, Meloni was successful in creating an image that people liked, and her party’s discrepancies or even contradictions do not seem to cause the astonishment or disenchantment that one could expect.

On the other side of the Mediterranean, Abir Moussi gained popularity and public support in recent years. Many think that she embodies what is known in Tunisian as the r’jouliya, “virile courage”, and call her “la lionne” (the lioness)^[34]Oueslati, B., Zouari, F. (2019,March 19) Tunisie : Abir Moussi, portrait d’une Benaliste convaincue, Jeune Afrique, … Continue reading. She is not ashamed of her past and has undertaken challenges that her male colleagues did not dare to consider. Moreover, Moussi is keen on assuring that she lives like the average Tunisian: in an interview in 2019 she claimed that she has debts and her parents have been helping her since she closed her practice; she also stated that she drives around in a small car and cannot send her children to private schools^[35]Oueslati, B., Zouari, F. (2019,March 19) Tunisie : Abir Moussi, portrait d’une Benaliste convaincue, Jeune Afrique, … Continue reading.

The proximity between her and the average Tunisian in the economic sphere is extremely important to engage in successful political actions. In fact, Tunisia is currently witnessing food scarcity and the economy of the country never recovered from the pandemic, so citizens feel a detachment from what they need and what politicians do. Abir Moussi seems more genuine and raw compared to other politicians who have been involved in corruption scandals.

Conclusion

This first article has shown the links between Meloni and Moussi’s politics and the authoritarian regimes that governed Italy and Tunisia during the 20th century, while highlighting their populist discourse and how they have managed to present themselves as “part of the people”.

Meloni has long militated in neo-fascist environments and has introduced many symbols, mottos and political ideas that come from the fascist regime that governed Italy for twenty years. While never praising fascism overtly, she gained success by drawing from it: some of her main political concepts entail a conservative vision of women, the refusal to work for some parts of the population (like migrants and queer people), and an aggressive oppositional discourse. She has also surrounded herself with many politicians who make apologies of fascism or are known for their antisemitic or racist beliefs.

On the other hand, Moussi comes directly from the authoritarian regime of Ben Ali which administrated Tunisia until 2011. She leads a party which continues to present ideas of that period, supports a presidential system and refuses any interaction with the Islamists. She never distanced herself or her politics from the ancien regime.

Moreover, both of them managed to engage in a successful populist discourse, by presenting themselves as “close to peoples”: this “closeness” is legitimated by their economic conditions (or their original social status), presenting themselves as not colluded with corruption and their proximity to traditional values, as well as their will to protect the country.

Their anti-democratic attitudes discredit the idea that having women in power always translates to creating a more democratic state and a greater social stability. In fact, both politicians are not working towards a freer and fair state with more social justice and equality, but they are trying to hold onto the past, in an attempt to reduce liberties and rights already aquired.

After analysing these two trends, in the next article women’s rights and the role of religion will be studied in the frame of Meloni and Moussi’ politics.

To quote this article: Livia Scalabrelli (2023). “Are women more democratic in the exercise of power? A comparison between Italy and Tunisia 1/2”.  Gender in Geopolitics Institute.https://igg-geo.org/?p=13508&lang=en

The statements in this article are the sole responsibility of the author.