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PolicyResearchWorkingPaper10693

TacklingGenderDiscriminatoryInheritanceLawPrivately

LessonsfromaSurveyExperimentinTunisia

ChristinaSarahHauser

WORLDBANKGROUP

MiddleEastandNorthAfricaRegion

OfficeoftheChiefEconomist

February2024

PolicyResearchWorkingPaper10693

Abstract

Whenreformofgenderdiscriminatorylawfails,indi-vidualactioncanofferasecond-bestsolution.AsmostMuslim-majoritycountries,TunisiaappliesIslamicinher-itancelaw,systematicallyfavoringsonsoverdaughters.Bymakinggiftstotheirdaughter,parentscanprivatelyattenuategenderdiscriminationininheritance.Thisstudyinvestigatestowhatextentgiftingcanrepresentanalterna-tivetolegalreformandforwhom.Withinarandomizedexperiment,thisstudytestswhetherprovidinginformationonpublicsupportforinheritancelawreformand/orthepossibilitytomakeagifttoone’sdaughterhasacausalimpactonindividualattitudestowardswomen’srightto

inheritance.Theoverallevidenceontheeffectivenessoftheproposedinformationaltreatmentstoencouragegift-ingismixed.However,approvalofgiftingdaughtersishigh—especiallyamongthewealthy.Menaremorelikelytogiftthanwomen.Bycontrast,demandforlegalreformissignificantlyhigheramongwomenandindividualswithloweducationalattainment.Thefindingsthussuggestthatgiftingindeedrepresentsanalternativetolegalreform;butmostlyforarelativelywell-offsubsetofthepopulation,leavingtheagencytothetraditionallymaleheadofthefamily.

ThispaperisaproductoftheOfficeoftheChiefEconomist,MiddleEastandNorthAfricaRegion.ItispartofalargereffortbytheWorldBanktoprovideopenaccesstoitsresearchandmakeacontributiontodevelopmentpolicydiscussionsaroundtheworld.PolicyResearchWorkingPapersarealsopostedontheWebat

/prwp.The

authormaybecontactedatchristina.hauser@eui.euorchristina.sarah.hauser@.

ThePolicyResearchWorkingPaperSeriesdisseminatesthefindingsofworkinprogresstoencouragetheexchangeofideasaboutdevelopmentissues.Anobjectiveoftheseriesistogetthefindingsoutquickly,evenifthepresentationsarelessthanfullypolished.Thepaperscarrythenamesoftheauthorsandshouldbecitedaccordingly.Thefindings,interpretations,andconclusionsexpressedinthispaperareentirelythoseoftheauthors.TheydonotnecessarilyrepresenttheviewsoftheInternationalBankforReconstructionandDevelopment/WorldBankanditsaffiliatedorganizations,orthoseoftheExecutiveDirectorsoftheWorldBankorthegovernmentstheyrepresent.

ProducedbytheResearchSupportTeam

TacklingGenderDiscriminatoryInheritanceLaw

Privately:LessonsfromaSurveyExperimentinTunisia

ChristinaSarahHauser*

JELclassification:J16,N37,D31,K37

Keywords:genderdiscrimination,inheritance,Islamiclaw,informationexperiment

*

DepartmentofEconomics,EuropeanUniversityInstitute(EUI),ViadelleFontanelle18,50014Fiesole,Italy.Email:christina.hauser@eui.eu.IgratefullyacknowledgethefinancialandanalyticalsupportfromtheOfficeoftheChiefEconomistfortheMiddleEastandNorthAfrica(MNACE;TTLs:NellyElmallakhandNazmulChaudhury)undertheregionalLaborandGenderResearchProgramsoftheWorldBank.ThisresearchalsobenefitedfromaLEAP(LaboratoryforEffectiveAnti-PolicyAction)StudentGrantandanEarlyStageResearchGrantoftheEuropeanUniversityInstitute.IRBapprovalwasobtainedfromtheEthicsCommitteeoftheEuropeanUniversityInstituteinDecember2022.Thestudywaspre-registeredattheAEARCTregistryon9January2023(AEARCTR-0010343).IamindebtedtoOne-to-OneforResearchandPollingforsuperbdatacollectionandtoFriedrichEbertStiftungforhostingmeduringmyresearchstayinTunis.IwishtothankJihenAbbes,SuleAlan,HarounBenYoussef,TomCrossley,SouleimaDhaya,LeylaHassen,ZeinebMazouz,YoussefMeddeb,ImenMezlini,DietlindStolle,AlessandroTarozzi,AbirTayariandWeiweiZhengforhelpfulcommentsandadvice.Anymistakesaremyown.

2

1Introduction

Thereisalargeconsensusintheliteraturethatfemaleempowermentimproveswomen’sandchildren’soutcomesandplaysapositiveroleineconomicdevelopmentoverall(e.g.

Duflo,

2003

and

Allendorf,

2007

).WomenlivingintheMiddleEastandNorthAfrica(MENA)regionscorelowestworldwideonmostmeasuresofeconomicempowerment,includingaccesstopropertyownership(

WorldEconomicForum,

2023

).Intheregion,inheritancehashis-toricallybeentheprimarywaythroughwhichwomenaccesspropertyanditplaysadecisiveroleinallowingwomentoparticipateintheeconomy,e.g.byenablingthemtostarttheirownbusinesses(

IFC

,

2017

).Propertyownershipcaninsurewomenagainstunforeseenmis-fortunesandincreasetheirbargainingpowerwithinthehousehold.However,mostMENAcountriesapplyIslamicinheritancelaw,whichsystematicallyfavorssonsoverdaughters.Thebequestforeseenforanindividual’schildrenissplitunevenlybygender:asonalwaysreceivestwicetheshareofadaughter.Thisarrangementiscommonlyjustifiedwithaman’sobligationtotakecareofhiswife,daughterorsister.SocialrealityintheMENAregion,however,ischanging.InTunisia,womenrepresentmorethanhalfofthecollegestudentpop-ulation(

WorldBank,

2022b

)andmarryincreasinglylateornotatall(

Assaadetal.,

2017

).The“gendergap”ineducationhasreversed:inthemostrecentpanelsurvey,71percentofTunisianwomenwereaseducatedasorevenmorehighlyeducatedthantheirhusbands

(Assaadetal.,

2017

).Eventhoughfemalelabormarketparticipationremainsrelativelylow,householdsurveyssuggestthatwomencontributeasignificantsharetohouseholdbudgets

(ERF

,

2014

).Thepersistenceofgenderdiscriminatoryinheritancelawhasbeenassociatedwithwomen’sprecarizationnotonlyinTunisia,butalsoinMoroccoandEgypt,andpar-ticularlywhenitcomestolandbequests:ifnotentirelyleftout,womentendtoreceivethe

leastfertilelands(Tanner,

2020;

ConseilNationaldesDroitsdel’Homme,

2015;

Khodary,

2018

).GenderdiscriminationininheritanceisthusanurgentbutsofarunderstudiedpolicyissueintheMENAregionandbeyond.

TunisiawasthefirstMENAcountrywherealargesocialmovementdemandedgenderequalinheritancelaw.Thereformproposalreceivedpresidentialsupportin2018,butitneverreachedaparliamentaryvote.Thelegalstatusquoremainsunchangedandtheintroductionofagenderequalinheritancelawseemsincreasinglyunlikely.Butlegalreformmaynotbetheonlywaytoweakengenderdiscriminationininheritance.TheTunisianCodeonPersonalStatusallowsparentstomakegiftstoapersonoftheirchoice.Ifparentsgift

assets,propertyorlandtotheirdaughterwhilealive,theremainingwealthissplitaccording

3

toIslamicinheritancelawaftertheirdeath-butthegenderdiscriminationinthefinalwealthallocationisattenuated.Collectingnovelsurveydata,Ifirstprovidecorrelationalanddescriptiveevidencetoassesstowhatextentgiftingrepresentsasecond-bestalternativetolegalreform.Second,withinasurveyexperimentItestwhetherprovidinginformationonpublicsupportforinheritancelawreformand/orthepossibilitytogiftone’sdaughterhasacausalimpactonattitudesregardingwomen’sinheritance.

TheprimarydatanecessaryforansweringtheseresearchquestionswascollectedinTunisiabetweenFebruaryandApril2023viathephone.ThetotalsamplesizeinthefirstsurveyroundwasN=1,505.Respondentswererandomlyallocatedtocontrol(C),ortotwodifferenttreatmentarmswheretheyreceivedinformationongifting(T1)orinforma-tiononpublicreformsupportandgifting(T2).ThesecondtreatmentT2includedabeliefcorrection:respondentsweretoldwhethertheyunderestimated,overestimatedorcorrectlyguessedpublicsupportfortheintroductionofgenderequalinheritancelaw.Itesttheeffectoftheprovidedinformationonasetofinheritance-relatedgenderattitudes,whicharemea-suredinafirstendlinedirectlyfollowingthetreatmentandinasecondendlineaboutfourweekslater.Ihypothesizedthatbothtreatmentswouldincreaserespondents’awarenessofgenderdiscriminationininheritanceandshouldthusleadtomoregenderequalattitudes.Yet,Iconjecturedthatreformsupportmaydecreaseinthetreatmentgroupsifgiftingisviewedasasubstituteforlegalreform.Moreover,assumingthattheperceivedsocialnormfunctionsasaconstraintonindividuals’genderattitudes,thebeliefcorrectioninT2wasexpectedtorendertheviewsofrespondentswhounderestimatepublicreformsupportmore

genderprogressive.

Theobservedtreatmenteffectsaremixed:T1significantlyincreasesrespondents’like-lihoodtofavoragenderequalbequestallocation.Treatmenteffectsontheothermainoutcomes-reformsupportandwillingnesstousegiftingtoachieveamoregenderequitablebequestallocation-arepositivebutshyofstatisticalsignificance.Furthermore,theseeffectslargelydisappearwhenthegiftinginformationispairedwithreforminformationinT2.First-andsecond-orderbeliefsarestronglycorrelated:underestimatingthepublic’ssupportforle-galreformisthebestpredictorofanindividual’sowngenderattitudes,includingsupportforinheritancelawreform

.1

Almost60percentoftherespondentsinthesurveyunderestimate

1HereandinthefollowingIusetheterm“first-orderbelief”torefertoanindividual’sownbeliefs.i.e.“Iamfavorabletointroducinggenderequalinheritancelaw.”Iusetheterm“second-orderbelief”torefertoanindividual’sperceptionofwhatothersbelieve.i.e.“IthinkthatthemajorityofTunisiansareopposedtointroducinggenderequalinheritancelaw.”

4

publicreformsupportandIfindthatindividualswhodosoare29percentagepointslesslikelytosupportlegalreformthanindividualswhoholdcorrectsecond-orderbeliefs.Yet,thebeliefcorrectioninT2doesnotyieldtheresultsonewouldexpectifindividualsfeltcon-strainedbythebeliefthatothersdisapproveofreformingthelegalstatusquo:respondentswhounderestimate(overestimate)reformsupportshowpositive(negative)treatmenteffectsonallthreeoutcomes,buttheyarenotstatisticallysignificant.Bycontrast,treatedrespon-dentswhoholdcorrectbeliefsaresignificantlylesslikelytochooseagenderequalbequestandtosupportreform.Iarguethat,incontrasttowhathasbeenfoundbythepreviousliteraturewithrespecttobeliefsaboutwomen’slabormarketparticipation(

Bursztynetal.,

2020

)andpoliticalparticipation(

Gulzaretal.,

2020

),theperceivedsocialnormisunlikelytobethebindingconstraintinthiscontext.

Iproposetwocomplementarywaysofreconcilingthesefindingstheoretically.First,Ishowthatrespondentswhounderestimate(overestimate)publicreformsupportaregenerallyless(more)likelytoendorsegenderprogressiveattitudesthemselves.

Bursztynetal.

(2020)

andseveralotherstudiesfindthatsecond-orderbeliefscausallyaffectfirst-orderbeliefs;theperceivedsocialnormshapesindividualpreferences.However,Iarguethatthedirectionofthecausalityisnotclear.Itisalsopossiblethatfirst-orderbeliefsshapesecond-orderbeliefs-individualpreferencesdeterminewhatisperceivedtobethesocialnorm.Inthecontextofthisstudy,respondentsmaybelievethatthepublichesitatestosupportgenderequalityininheritancebecausetheythemselvesdonotsupportit.Ifthisisthecase,correctingsecond-orderbeliefswouldnotnecessarilyleadtoarevisionoffirst-orderbeliefs.Second,basedonpreviousliteratureinrelatedfields,Iarguethatthisunexpectedtreatmenteffectpatternmaybeexplainedbytheunderlyingcharacteristicsofrespondents,i.e.respondentswhounderestimate(overestimate)publicreformsupportmaydifferfromrespondentswhoholdcorrectperceptionsonsubstantivegrounds.

Inthecontrolgroup,respondentswhounderestimate(overestimate)publicreformsup-portaretheleast(most)likelytoholdprogressivegenderattitudes.Respondentswhounderestimatepublicreformsupportappeartobepartoftheeducatedandwealthyeliteofthecountry.Bycontrast,respondentswhoguesscorrectlyappeartosituatethemselvessomewhereclosertothemiddleoftheopinionspectrum.TheymakeextensiveuseofsocialmediaandarewellinformedabouttheTunisianfeministmovement.Iarguethattheyarelikelytobethepoliticalmoderateswhoseattitudesaremalleable.Thisfindingrelatestoagrowingliteraturewhichassessestheeffectivenessofinformationtoshapepoliticalopinions.

Alesinaetal.

(2018b),

Alesinaetal.

(2018c)and

HaalandandRoth

(

2023

)forinstance

5

havefoundthatindividualswhoholdstrongpoliticalbeliefsarelesslikelytorespondtoinformationaltreatments.Thefindingthatrespondentswhoholdcorrectbeliefsreactmorestronglytotreatmentmaythusbeduetotheirrelativelymoremoderatepoliticalopinionsandtheirinterestinsocialissues.Fromapolicyperspective,thisisahighlyrelevantfindingasthesearetherespondentswhoshouldbetargetedforpolicyinterventions.However,italsoimpliesthatbeliefcorrectionisunlikelytobeapolicysolutioninthiscontext.Thegroupof“politicalmoderates”issmall.Hence,eventhoughamajorityofrespondentsun-derestimatespublicreformsupport,correctingthismisperceptiondoesnotappeartobeanefficienttreatment.Futureresearchshouldinvestigatealternativestrategies.

Beyondtheexperimentalresults,thisstudypresentsnewdescriptiveandcorrelationalevidenceondemandforgenderequalityininheritanceinacontextwhereIslamicinheritancelawcontinuestobeapplied.Overall,supportfortheintroductionofaseculargenderequalinheritancelawislow:onlyaboutoneinthreerespondentsfavorslegalreform.Thisstandsinastrikingcontrastwithapprovalofgifting:twointhreerespondentsreportthattheyarewillingtogifttheirdaughtertoattenuategenderdiscriminationininheritance.Thedescriptivedataalsoconfirmsthatgiftingisfairlywide-spreadinTunisia:inthesurveyedsample,27percentofrespondentshavefirst-handexperiencewithgifting,meaningthattheyhavereceivedagiftthemselves,aremarriedtosomeonewhohasreceivedagift,ortheyhavegiftedadaughterorfemalerelative(seetable

3

).

However,thisdoesnotmeanthatgiftingisareadilyavailablealternativetolegalreformforthewholepopulationthepopulation.Ishowthatolderagecohortsaremorelikelytofavorgiftingoverreform,asarethemosteducated,wealthyandreligiousindividuals.Con-versely,demandforlegalreformissignificantlyhigheramongwomenandindividualswithloweducationalattainment.Takentogether,thesefindingssuggestthatgiftingindeedrep-resentsasociallyacceptablealternativetolegalreformofgenderdiscriminatoryinheritancelawinTunisia-butmostlyforarelativelywell-offsubsampleofthepopulation.

Myresearchrelatestoalargerliteratureongenderdiscriminationandinheritance,whichhasshownthatwell-intendedlegalreformmayfailtoempowerwomeninthepresenceof

regressivegendernorms(Rosenblum,

2015;

Roy,

2015

and

Bhalotraetal.,

2020).Changing

genderdiscriminatorysocialnormsisthereforeaprerequisteforsuccessfullegalreformandsustainabledevelopment(

Sunstein,

1996;

Bertrand,

2020

).Thisislikelytoapplytothecontextofgenderdiscriminationinwealthtransmission:encouragingthepracticeofgiftingone’sdaughtercouldtheoreticallyaffectsocialnormsaroundwomen’saccesstoproperty,

6

decreasingthecostofholdingprogressivegenderattitudesandpreparingthegroundsforsuc-cessfullegalchangeinthelongrun(

Banerjee,

1992;

Mehmoodetal.,

2022).Thedescriptive

evidencethisstudyprovidesclearlyshowsthatwomeninpracticerarelymakegifts.Thisimpliesthatpotentialinterventionsaimingtoencouragetheuseofgiftingshouldfocusonmalefamilyheads.However,mentendtoholdmoreconservativegendernormsthanwomen,andthedatashowsthatbothsonsanddaughtersreceivegifts.Apolicyinterventionmustthereforebecarefullydesignedandtakeintoaccountthatwomenuntilnowonlyoftendonotdisposeofthenecessaryassetownershiporbargainingpowertomakegifts.Consideringthesecaveats,giftingiscertainlynotapanaceatogenderdiscriminatoryinheritancelawandpractices.Itcanbeaviablesecond-bestsolutionforawealthysubsetofthepopulationwith

progressivegenderviews,though.

Tothebestofmyknowledge,thisisthefirststudytoquantifythedemandforgenderequalinheritancearrangementsinacontextwhereIslamicinheritancelawcontinuesbeingapplied.Furthermore,itisthefirsttoassessthepotentialtradeoffbetweentheintroduc-tionofseculargenderequalinheritancelawandgiftingone’sdaughter.Thedescriptiveandcorrelationalevidencethisstudyprovidessuggeststhatgiftingisfairlywidespreadand,acknowledgingthecaveatsmentionedabove,canallowtostrengthentheeconomicempower-mentofwomenfromcomparablywealthyandgenderprogressivefamilies.Section2providesmorebackgroundinformationontherelatedliteratureandtheinstitutionalsetting.Section3offersadetaileddescriptionofthedatacollectionandexperimentaldesign,aswellasmyconceptualframeworkandempiricalstrategy.Section4discussesdescriptivestatistics,regressionresults,robustnesschecksandlimitationsofthestudy.Section5concludes.

2BackgroundInformation

2.1RelatedLiterature

Thisstudyteststheeffectivenessofinformationongiftingandreformsupportforchanginggendernorms.Whilethisistothebestofmyknowledgethefirststudytoinvestigatethisparticularquestion,thereisagrowingbodyofliteratureusinginformationalexperiments.Theseexperimentscreateexogenousvariationinhowpeopleperceivetheirenvironment,allowingresearcherstogainabetterunderstandingofindividualchoicesandpreferences.Informationprovisionexperimentshaveforinstancebeenusedtoanalyzeindividualdemand

7

forredistribution(e.g.

Alesinaetal.,

2018c

or

Fehretal.,

2020,

Settele,

2022

),xenophobicanddiscriminatorybehavior(e.g.

Alesinaetal.,

2018a

or

Grigorieffetal.,

2020)orhealth

choices(e.g.

Dupas,

2011,

Bararietal.,

2020).Agrowingnumberofstudiesuseinformational

experimentstoprovideabetterunderstandingofgendernorms:

Bursztynetal.

(2020)show

thatcorrectingmisperceivedgendernormscanincreasefemalelabormarketparticipationinSaudiArabia.

Grewenigetal.

(2020a)showthatprescriptivegendernormshaveacausal

impactonadolescents’expectedlabormarketparticipationinGermany.

Settele

(

2022

)usesdivergentinformationonthegenderwagegapintheUStoanalyzehowbeliefsdrivetheindividualdemandforaffirmativeaction.

Alargeliteratureineconomicstheorizesandanalyzesindividuals’bequestbehaviorinsocietieswheregenderequalitybetweensiblingsisthelegalnorm.Asmallerliteraturehasconsideredthetrade-offbetweenmakinggiftsandbequests.

LundholmandOhlsson

(2000)’smodelshowsthatitisoptimalforparentstomakeinter-vivogiftstocompensate

theirlesswell-offchildrenintheUScontextwhereequalbequestallocationisthesocialnorm.Accordingtotheirassumption,bequestsarepublicinformationwhilegiftsareprivateinformation.Bymakinggifts,parentscandeviatefromthesocialnormofmakingequaltransferswithoutnegativereputationaleffects.

WithinavignetteexperimentrunonlineinGermany,

TischandGutfleisch

(

2022

)assesstheprincipleswhichguideindividuals’allocationofmonetarygiftsamongsiblingsofdifferentsexes.Thedominatingprincipleisgenderequality.However,theyalsofindevidenceforthe“equity”and“need”principles:sonsanddaughtersareassignedlargermonetaryamountswhentheyhelptheirparentsorwhentheyareunemployed.Thereissomeevidenceofgenderdiscriminatorypreferences,though:themonetaryrewardforhelpingtheirparentsappearstobehigherforsons.Conversely,unemployeddaughtersreceivemoreextramoneythan

unemployedsons.

Thispaperalsorelatestoalargerliteratureontheimportanceoflawfordevelopment.Theeconomicsliteratureprovidesevidencethatequalinheritancespurslong-termgrowthandprosperity(

Bartelsetal.,

2020

).Whilealotoftherecentliteraturefocusesonsocialnorms,

Htunetal.

(2019)arguethatitislegalrestrictionstowomen’sagencywhichbest

predictwomen’seconomicempowerment,measuredastheshareofwomenwhohavetheirownbankaccount,ownfirmsandparticipateinthelaborforce.

Gonzalesetal.

(

2015

)arguethatlegalgenderdiscriminationispositivelyrelatedtolargegendergapsinlabormarket

participation.

8

Incontextswherelegalreformhasbeenenacted,observationalstudiescanmeasurethecausalimpactofintroducinggenderequalinheritancelaw.WomeninWesterncountriesprogressivelygainedpropertyandinheritancerightsinthe19thand20thcentury.

Shammas

(1994)arguesthattheMarriedWomenPropertyActswhichwereprogressivelyadoptedby

USstatesfrom1839improvedthelegalsituationofwomen.Accordingtothehistorian,thepercentageofwealthownedbywomenintheUSincreasedmorebetween1860and1890thaninthetwocenturiesprecedingtheacts.Thequantiativeevidenceontheeffectivenessoflegalreformisatbestmixed,though:theexperienceofIndiaillustratesthatpolicymakers’attempttoincreasewomen’saccesstoinheritancemaybackfirewhenrestrictivegendernormsprevail.Usingadifference-in-differencesapproach

Rosenblum

(

2015

)showsthatgrantingdaughterstherighttoinheritancestrallandsinfiveIndianstatesincreasedthemortalityofgirls-thelawseemstohaveincentivizedparentstoinvestlessinthehealthoftheirdaughters.

Bhalotraetal.

(

2020

)confirmthattheintroductionofgenderequalinheritancerightsledtohigherfemaleinfantmortalityandanincreaseintheuseofson-biasedfertilitystoppingrulesinIndia.

Roy

(2015)arguesthatthereformatbestremained

ineffective-inreality,daughters’accesstoancestrallanddidnotincrease.Bycontrast,familiescompensatedthemwithhigherdowriesorincreasedinvestmentintheirdaughters’

education.

Genderdiscriminationinwealthtransmissionmaypersistevenwherethelawisgenderequal:

Bessi`ereandGollac

(2023)showthatgenderdiscriminationinwealthtransmission

iscommonplaceintheUSandEuropeandhasevenincreasedinFranceoverthepasttwodecades.Inter-vivogiftscanbeonewayforfamiliestofavorsons.Moreover,land,realestatepropertyorfamilybusinessesaremostcommonlypassedonto(first-born)sonswithdaughtersbeingpaidout“their”share.Accordingto

Bessi`ereandGollac

(

2023

),notariesoftendeliberatelyundervaluetheseassetssotheycanstayinthefamily-leadingtoadiscriminationofthechildren,mostoftendaughtersandyoungersons,whoarepaidout.Socialnormsandthepracticesofnotariesandlawyerscanthuscontributetothepersistenceofgenderdiscriminationinwealthtransmissiondespitegenderequalinheritancelaw.

2.2GenderIssuesinTunisia

ThelegalandsocialcontextoftheMENAregionandTunisiainparticulardiffersfromtheSouthAsiancontext,whichhasbeenresearchedmuchmoreextensively:therearenoreportsofgender-biasedabortionsortheuseofson-basedstoppingrulesintheregion.Historically,

9

Tunisiaisknownforbeingtheregionalfrontrunnerwithrespecttowomen’srights:thecountryabolishedrepudiationandpolygamyuponthepassageofits1956civilcode(

Latte-

Abdallah

,

2012

).Abortionwaslegalizedin1973,earlierthaninFranceandItaly.Womenhaveoutnumberedmeninhighereducationsincethelate1990s(

Assaadetal.,

2017

and

WorldBank

,

2022a

)andhavereachedtoppositionsinthepublicandprivatesector.In2021,NejlaBoudenbecamethefirstfemaleprimeministeroftheArabworld(

Terriennes,

2021

).Yet,genderdiscriminationremainsproblematic,especiallywhenitcomestowomen’slabormarketparticipationandpropertyrights.PolicymakersandhumanrightsactivistsinTunisiaandthelargerMENAregionhavearguedthatlegaldispossessionincreaseswomen’svulnerabilityandhinderssustainabledevelopment.Womenoftencedetheshareofthebequestwhichtheyarelegallyentitledtomalefamilymembers(see

ConseilNationaldes

Droitsdel’Homme,

2015

)forthecaseofMorocco).Accordingtoamixedmethodstudyconductedby

Khodary

(2018)inEgypt,thisisespeciallycommonwhentheinheritance

concernsagriculturalland.Theauthorarguesthatimprovingwomen’saccesstoinheritanceislikelytohaveaverypositiveimpactondevelopmentoutcomes,butherresultsaremostly

correlational.

In2000,theTunisianwomen’srightsadvocateYosraFrawesstartedafirstunsuccessfulpetitioninfavorofgenderequalityininheritance(

Dahmani,

2018

).TheTunisianRevolutionendedtheregimeofBenAliandstartedaprocessofdemocratizationin2011.Article21ofthe2014constitutionconfirmedgenderequalitybeforethelaw:“Allcitizens,maleandfemale,haveequalrightsandduties,andareequalbeforethelawwithoutanydiscrimination”

(ConstituteProject,Org.,

2014)

.2

Forprogressiveobservers,PresidentB´ejiCa¨ıdEssebsi’screationoftheCOLIBECommitteein2017thereforeseemedthelogicalcontinuationof