Interview with Ouided Bouchamaoui, by Livia Malcangio*
Our focus today in this conversation with Dr. Ouided Bouchamaoui will be the role of women in conflict resolutions. Dr. Bouchamaoui made history by becoming the first woman in Tunisia to hold the position of President of the Tunisian Union of Industry, Commerce, and Handicrafts. She won the Nobel Peace Prize with the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet in 2015, “for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake if the Jasmine Revolution of 2011.
Dr. Bouchamaoui good morning, you have recently organised a two-week master class at the New York University in Abu Dhabi, and the title of the course was ‘Negotiating Peace and Women’s Leadership in Conflict Resolution’. What was the outcome of the course and the response of the students?
The main focus was to give students the opportunity to listen to extraordinary people like the Nobel Peace Laureates and to discuss with them on their role in peace negotiation and the crucial role of women as mediators.
We always see women as the victims of conflicts, as the most vulnerable ones together with children and elderly people, but we never see them in pivotal roles sitting around the tables where negotiations take place. As a matter of fact, in the world there are 50% of women, if not more, so there should be half of women around those peace roundtables representing half of the country or the world.
Women must be involved in all the steps of negotiations. Women are patient, they always find solutions, they are the most affected in war times, and so it is important to give them a seat to find solutions together and to give them a voice.
And yet, why are women still under represented?
Because men think they have all the solutions. I think this is a big mistake because women are part of the solution and fundamental in the path to solve problems in peaceful ways. We are able to listen, to be patient, to convince the other, to compromise, and ask for consensus. We can be very important as we are like this by nature.
And after all we are negotiating at home every day! With kids, husbands, so we are well trained by definition.
We need to demonstrate that we are human before we are women.
We have in common a passion for peace education. In my case, with book Being Nobel and my service at the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates that organises many workshops between Nobel Peace Laureates and students through the Leading by Example program, where you have participated may times. And in your case, you focus on peace education by organising master classes on peace negotiations, women’s leadership, and the importance of forgiveness. How much is important to teach peace education?
First of all, congratulations for all that you are doing with your book Being Nobel and congratulations to the Nobel Peace Summit’s education activities. My students were totally fascinated by all the story telling from our Nobel guests; they had the chance to ask questions and for them it was new. They learnt how they did to break glass ceilings, break down barriers, and they had to present a case in the end of the course in order to show their negotiation skills. Students were very humble and practical at the same time. My background as an entrepreneur made sure that not only did they learn academic notions, but also they created practical cases.
In fact, you incarnate a successful woman entrepreneur who also went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize. A successful business woman who is also giving back to the society. What was your magic potion?
I was lucky to grow up in a very open mind family, where girls and boys were given the same opportunities and respect. My father was a mentor to me, I grew up with the idea of how can I help my country, the others, and when I became president of the Tunisian Confederation, I could express my charisma and my diplomatic skills. In Tunisia women have all the rights, we have a strong civil society and educated people, so for me it was not difficult to lead the Confederation, I listened to people and was always honest, because when people trust you it is easier to work together.
It is important to focus on education as the most important pillar because without education, women don’t know their rights and therefore they cannot protect them. Higher education also open our minds and makes us more curious and makes us understand that we can have the same capacities, tools and opportunities as men. Women must have then their own financial independence to protect themselves and it gives them more dignity.
Speaking about book Being Nobel I am about to write chapter Tunisia, that will include your fellow citizens Houcine Abbassi, Abdesattar Ben Moussa, Noureddhine Allege, and you. In my book, each Nobel Peace Laureate is connected to a celebrity that is having a social impact though his or her fame. Nobel Peace Laureate FW De Klerk for example is connected to singer Peter Gabriel, who wrote the song Biko about the atrocities of apartheid, to pen the eyes of the Western world on what was going on in South Africa. With which celebrity would you like to be connected in the book?
I am undecided between two persons. One is former Tunisian president Habib Bourguiba (in power from 1957 to 1987), because he gave more chances and rights to women and thanks to his revolutionary mind we were able to go to university and become more emancipated. He made the school compulsory until the age of 16, women could open their bank account, could ask for divorce and for him education was the most important think in order to give freedom to women.
The other one is Nelson Mandela because he gave an extraordinary lesson on how we can forgive. We need to understand each other, and we need to be able to forgive. Forgiveness is one of the main topics of my master classes. In conflict tables it is important to understand how to solve problems by finding a solution. People are not able to forgive anymore.
As Mandela once said, “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to talk to your enemy, then he will become your partner” in order to find a solution. Once he became President of South Africa, he founded the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and asked Archbishop Desmond Tutu to run it. It investigated gross human rights violations that were perpetrated during the Apartheid regime from 1960 to 1994, but it allowed individuals to seek amnesty and promoted reconciliation and forgiveness among perpetrators and victims by the full disclosure of the truth.
Fine, we will go for the first one because you cannot choose a Nobel Peace Prize as the celebrity!
If you don’t listen to your enemy, how can you understand the situation and solve the problem? It is important to know our history but we have to find a compromise and concessions in order to live in harmony. And this can be done through dialogue and understanding.
Who is your favorite Nobel Peace Laureate?
There are many Laureates who I respect. The one I really admire is Nadia Murad, she suffered a lot, harassment, violence, she represents minorities, she has a role to play in protecting women. She is the co-founder of the Global Survivors Fund to help survivors and to bring perpetrators to justice. Especially during war times, women and girls discrimination and crimes grow, but the global commitment remain largely unmet.
Thank you very much for this inspiring conversation.
I would like to give you the 2015 version of book Being Nobel, the year when you received to Nobel Peace Prize with the Tunisian National Dialogue Quarter, I hope you enjoy it!
Thank you for amplifying our voices with book Being Nobel.
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*Italian journalist, philanthropist, and a human rights activist, Ms. Livia Malcangio has served the Permanent Secretariat of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates as the Director of Institutional & Public Relations for more than twenty years, and has authored the educational book Being Nobel. She maintains a master’s degree in International Relations and Protection of Human Rights from the Italian Society for the International Organization – United Nations’ Association (SIOI).