Habib Bourguiba (Arabic: حبيب بورقيبة Ḥabīb Būrqībah; 3 August 1903 – 6 April 2000) was a Tunisian statesman, the Founder and the first President of the Republic of Tunisia from July 25, 1957 until 7 November 1987. He is often compared to Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk because of the pro-Western reforms enacted during his presidency.
The Bourguiba government's reforms include female emancipation, public education, family planning, a modern, state-run healthcare system, a campaign to improve literacy, administrative, financial and economic organization, suppression of religious property endowments, known as Waqf, and building the country's infrastructure
During the time Bourguiba was president, education was a high priority. Bourguiba also promoted women's rights as a way to gain Western support for his regime during the Cold War. These set important legal precedents by prohibiting polygamy, expanding women's access to divorce, and raising the age at which girls could marry to 17 years old.
Video of President Bourguiba liberating women, literally:Bourguiba, who has Been one of the most avowedly secularist political strategies in the Arab world, modified laws regarding habous (religious endowments), reformed education, and unified the legal system so that all Tunisians, regardless of religion, were subject to the state courts. He restricted the influence of the religious University of Ez-Zitouna and replaced it with a faculty of theology integrated into the University of Tunis, banned the headscarf for women, made members of the religious hierarchy state employees and ordered that the expenses for the upkeep of mosques and the salaries of preachers to be regulated.[50]
Moreover, his best known legal innovations was the ‘Code du Statut Personel’ (CSP) the laws governs issues related to the family: marriage, guardianship of children, inheritance and most importantly the abolishing of polygamy and making divorce subject to judicial review.
It was only under the brave leadership of President Bourguiba that Tunisia became a modern, prosperous nation. God bless and rest his soul, he was a hero.
