Meet Souad Abderrahim, the first female chairman of Tunis in 160 years

Abdherrahim's choice is seen as something very rare in the Arab world. A woman who holds a high electoral position. Even in Tunisia, where women's rights are more advanced than in most other parts of North Africa and the Middle East, its growth is widely seen as a progress for women and has renewed hopes for greater gender equality.

I'm just one of many women who've been fighting for equality”, said Abderrahim, sitting behind a large wooden table in the mayor's office, writes The Washington Post, broadcast Periscopi.

Abderrahim's victory reflects a gradual shift of attitudes towards women in the Arab world. It has clearly broken a large glass ceiling”, said Nesrin Jelalia, executive director of Al Baasala, a non-party activist group.

A woman chosen as head of the capital where no woman has held that position since 1858? This is big for Tunisia “.

In other ways, Abderrahim also represents the change. She is the first mayor of the medium-class background capital and roots in the south of the country. Tunisia has long been ruled by wealthy elites in the north.

She is also the first Islamist head of the capital, a candidate of a political party inspired by Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, which is considered an extremist group by some regional but moderate powers. At a time when the Brotherhood and its branches are under attack throughout the Middle East, the rise of Abderrahim is widely seen by diplomats and analysts as an attempt by her party Ennahda dealt with as more tolerant.

Abderrahim does not look like the majority of female party members. With copper hair and a taste for Western fashion clothes, she does not wear a hyjab, a traditional Muslim headscarf.

The “is a positive message for future generations who think Islam opposes women's freedom”, said Miriam Ben Romdhan, 34, an overseer at a private company.

She's Muslim, she doesn't wear a hyjab, she laughs, she's ridiculous. It is a reflection of the Sunnisan woman. “ /Periscopi/