From Ordinary Citizens to Transformative Leadership: Modes on Women Participation in Public Affairs of Tunisia After 2011

The paper aims to examine the developments that have taken place in the context of the Arab Spring at the level of Arab women who have hold of leadership calibers and roles to drive to the raft of emerging manifestations. Our main question will be focused as follows: What types of models taken by women leaders could be induced under new visions emanating from the Arab Spring and how such models have sociologically materialized. This paper addresses the concept of transformative leadership based on the context of “ordinary citizenship” (Gaxie, 1993) while laying the emphasis on poor and marginalized women. These include women who have been denied political socialization or those without a higher level of education or further uneducated women who all managed to play their role as actors on the Local level. In this vein, and based on these perspectives, an intensive field research and an essentially set qualitative approach have been carried out conducted a semi-guided interview technique to dealing with a sample of 23 women from different areas. In addition to defining the obstacles to women political participation, the study has allowed to recognize various strategies, motives and capabilities which have helped the crossing of women from the experience of marginalization and exclusion to the status of acting and impacting the public realm, hence fostering the experience of engagement and commitment. The study has also revealed a staging from non-participation to participation in civic then in political life and the role of engaging in social work in preparing for the interest for politics.