ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the social contexts in which women in Ksar-Hellal operate as a means of analyzing the mechanisms of power available to them. The documentation and analysis of women’s power is facilitated, therefore, by the use of an interpretative perspective: an analytic approach which emphasizes the ability of individuals to differ from each other and to develop personal operational strategies within the broad context of cannon cultural norms and values. Women’s power in Ksar-Hellal is not uniform over the life course, but varies according to the age-roles and the life stage of the individual. Ksar-Hellal, as with other Tunisian communities, has experienced a marked increase in educational and occupational opportunities for both women and men. Since women’s power is frequently established interactionally rather than through cultural norms, the specification of the mechanisms of women’s power is facilitated through the analysis of the social roles and social contexts within which women interact.
