Tunisians Believe Girls and Boys Have Equal Access to Education, but Women Face Barriers in the Workplace
According to the latest Afrobarometer survey, Tunisians believe that girls and boys have equal opportunities to attend school in their country. Women are more likely to reach higher education levels than men, and they are free to hold paid jobs without interference from family members. However, more than half of Tunisians still think that men should be prioritized when job opportunities are scarce, and women lag behind men in terms of asset ownership.
Key Findings
- An overwhelming majority (96%) of Tunisians believe that girls are "rarely" or "never" prevented from attending school because their families prioritize boys' education (Figure 1).
- Women are more likely to reach post-secondary education levels than men (23% vs. 17%), but are also more likely to have no formal education at all (13% vs. 9%) (Figure 2).
- Rural women are more likely to have no formal education than their urban counterparts (21% vs. 9%).
- Almost nine out of ten Tunisians (85%) believe that women are not prevented by their spouses or other family members from holding paid jobs. However, 12% disagree and believe that women are "often" or "always" prevented from working (Figure 3).
- More than half (54%) of Tunisians believe that men should have priority when job opportunities are scarce (Figure 4).
- This opinion is more prevalent among the less educated (63%-64%), the less affluent (61%), the older (56%-63%), rural residents (58%), and men (59%).
- Women lag behind men in terms of asset ownership, including mobile phones (88% vs. 91%), TVs (81% vs. 90%), bank accounts (25% vs. 41%), and cars/motorcycles (24% vs. 52%) (Figure 5).
- The lack of flexible work opportunities and childcare services are the two main obstacles preventing women from accessing and thriving in the workforce (Figure 6).
About Afrobarometer
Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan research network that produces reliable data on Africans' experiences and attitudes towards democracy, governance, and quality of life. Nine rounds of surveys have been conducted in up to 42 countries since 1999. The Round 10 surveys were launched in January 2024. Afrobarometer conducts face-to-face interviews in the respondent's language with nationally representative samples. The Afrobarometer team in Tunisia, led by One to One for Research and Polling, interviewed 1,200 Tunisian adults between February 25 and March 11, 2024. A sample of this size produces national-level results with a margin of error of +/-3 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. Previous surveys were conducted in Tunisia in 2013, 2015, 2018, 2020, and 2022.