Tewhida Ben Sheikh (; also Tawhida Ben Cheikh, Taouhida Ben Cheikh) (January 2, 1909 in Ras Jebel – December 6, 2010) was the first modern

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

n and North African woman to become a physician. She was also a pioneer in women's medicine, in particular

contraception Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth control only be ...

and

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

access.

Early years

Tewhida Ben Sheikh was born in

Tunis Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...

. Her early education was at Tunisia's first public school for Muslim girls, , which was established by "Tunisian nationalists and liberal French protectorate authorities". While attending this school, Ben Sheikh was taught Arabic, French, the study of the

Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...

, and modern subjects. She travelled to the School of Medicine, to pursue her education, earning a degree in medicine in 1936. Upon her return to Tunis, she was given a dinner in her honour by local doctors. Tawhida Ben Cheikh

Tunisia was a French protectorate at the time. Ben Sheikh came from an elite Tunisian family which was socially conservative, and her widowed mother who raised alone her five children was reluctant to allow her to go to France after secondary school; however, her secondary school instructors and a doctor from the Louis Pasteur Institute of Tunis (Dr. Etienne Burnet), persuaded Ben Sheikh's mother that she showed significant promise.

Professional achievements

Specializing in gynecology, when she came back to Tunisia Ben Sheikh directed a women's reproductive health clinic , often provinding free medical services for poor women . She was known as "the doctor of the poors " as she worked in a very popular neighborhood , treating patients living in difficult conditions. Ben Sheikh was an "active" supporter of family planning; in the 1960s and 1970s, she instructed doctors in abortion procedures.

Civil society engagement

She served as the vice-president of the Tunisian Red Crescent. She was active in the Tunisian independence movement until independence from France in 1953. She contributed to the creation of several organizations to help orphans, promote children's care and education for the elderly. In 1950, she founded the Society for Social Aid (Jami'iyat al-Is'af al-Ijtima'i) جمعية الاسعاف الاجتماعي, the Orphanage Welcome (Dar al-Aytam), and Women's Welcome (Dar al-Mar'a). She also established the Qammata Society for child care and maternal education, aimed streigntening awareness and training for mothers from poor families to obtain better healthcare.

Legacy

At the initiative of the mayor of Montreuil,

Dominique Voynet Dominique Voynet (born 4 November 1958) is a French politician who is a member of Europe Écologie–The Greens. She is the former mayor of Montreuil and was a French senator for the '' département'' of Seine-Saint-Denis. Life Dominique ...

, a Tawhida-Ben Cheïkh health center was established in March 2011. A stamp featuring his likeness was issued in 2012 by the Tunisian Post. In March 2020, Dr. Ben Sheikh featured on the new 10-

dinar The dinar () is the name of the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, with a more widespread historical use. The English word "dinar" is the transliteration of the Arabic دينار (''dīnār''), which was bor ...

banknote issued by the

Central Bank of Tunisia The Central Bank of Tunisia (, , BCT) is the central bank of Tunisia. The bank is in Tunis and its current governor is Marouane Abassi, who replaced Chedly Ayari on 16 February 2018. History Tunisia gained independence in 1956. The Central Ban ...

. On 27 March 2021,

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celebrated her with a

Google Doodle Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running annual Bu ...

. On November 25, 2022, the municipality of Ras Jebel, in the

Bizerte Governorate Bizerte Governorate ( ' ; ) is the northernmost of the 24 governorates of Tunisia. It is in northern Tunisia, approximately rectangular and having a long north coast. It covers an area of 3,750 km2 including two large lakes, one coastal hen ...

, unveiled a bust of Tawhida Ben Cheikh.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheikh, Tewhida 1909 births 2010 deaths People from Tunis Reproductive rights activists Abortion-rights activists Tunisian women physicians 20th-century Tunisian physicians Gynaecologists Tunisian physicians Tunisian women activists 20th-century Tunisian women Tunisian women centenarians First women physicians

Early years

Professional achievements

Civil society engagement

Legacy

See also

References