This paper seeks to describe and account for a common ideology among Tunisians
and North Africans more broadly that associates the use of French with
women, thereby symbolically associating the use of Arabic with men. In this
regard, the use of French can be said to be “gendered” there. In an effort to
historicize this phenomenon, I sketch the social history of French in Tunisia,
particularly in regards to the access female and male Tunisians would historically
have had to it through the institution of schooling. I then consider the
different relationships contemporary Tunisian men and women have with
French. Finally, I seek to contextualize these relationships in light of other
ideologies that are part of Tunisian daily life, particularly notions of “authenticity”
and “openness”, tropes of many forms of discourse in Tunisia.