On Sunday, January 26, 2014, the Tunisian National Constituent Assembly (NCA) members celebrated the adoption of a new Tunisian Constitution – the second constitution in the history of the postcolonial state. The document was approved by 200 of the 216 parliamentarians. One of its remarkable features is the statement on equality between men and women. Article 46 states: “The state guarantees equal opportunities between men and women in the bearing of all the various responsibilities in all fields. The state seeks to achieve equal representation for women and men in elected council (parity). The state takes the necessary measures to eliminate violence against women.” The emphasis on gender equality is especially striking when we compare developments in Tunisia to those in other countries that have also experienced the Arab Spring. Although it met with near consensus in the final text of the new Constitution, the discourse on gender did not come without fierce struggles, however. This paper considers the struggles and debates that preceded the adoption of such a discourse. It shows how, after the fall of the authoritarian regime in 2011, women’s groups made demands upon the new regime and voiced their concerns in new ways that have profoundly influenced the tenor of debates about gender politics in the country. A theoretical claim of the paper is that we can only understand developments in Tunisia in light of 1) the emergence of a vibrant civil society despite attempts at establishing again tight state control in the short run; and 2) the history of associations in the country over the long run.