This report argues that women’s empowerment in Tunisia is largely rooted in the particular features of the elite post-independence bargain, early political choices regarding state–society relations and the associated policies in the areas of education, health and labor, which increased women’s access to resources. Tunisia’s progress in women’s empowerment provides useful lessons on how women can obtain access to new resources and on the way in which political struggles and dynamics can be used to challenge gender and social power                                                                                     relations.