In the mining town of Moularès in the Gafsa Governorate in southern Tunisia, a conservative area, twentysomething Asmahan Zouibi is the only woman fixing bikes in the area’s cycle repair shops.

Zouibi is an early dropout with no educational certificate. Following the death of her father, the family’s sole breadwinner, Zouibi said she refused to wait on charity to survive.  Instead, she followed in her father’s footsteps and started working in his bike and motorbike repair shop, where she used to accompany him in her early childhood.

In the mining town of Moularès in the Gafsa Governorate in southern Tunisia, a conservative area, twentysomething Asmahan Zouibi is the only woman fixing bikes in the area’s cycle repair shops.

Zouibi is an early dropout with no educational certificate. Following the death of her father, the family’s sole breadwinner, Zouibi said she refused to wait on charity to survive.  Instead, she followed in her father’s footsteps and started working in his bike and motorbike repair shop, where she used to accompany him in her early childhood.

 “When I was in primary school, I used to stay at my father’s shop for long hours after school. I would closely watch him until I completely learned the tricks of the trade,” she remembers.

Zouibi is not the eldest member of her family, yet she has taken on the responsibility of covering the family’s expenses by working in bicycle repair and the sale of spare parts while ignoring the strange and astonished looks of passers-by in the neighborhood.

“I no longer care about the masculine mentality,” says Zouibi. “All I care about is how to secure sustenance for my family. I pay no attention to all those looks and negative comments about a woman pursuing a career that looks odd in our society.”

Merchants and the other bicycle repair shops nearby, Zouibi says, treat her with respect and admiration. That respect is often talked about by Zouibi’s customers, including Jamila Mabrouki.

“When I first visited the shop, I was shocked to find that its owner was a girl,” says Mabrouki. “That however aroused my curiosity too, especially when I saw her dedication and mastery of her work. She won my admiration and trust.”

A large number of girls in the southern governorates, including Gafsa, have tasted the bitterness of unemployment and deprivation, regardless of their level of education. Based on figures released by the National Institute of Statistics – a government body – the Gafsa Governorate has the highest unemployment rate among all other governorates. Moreover, the Population and Housing Census shows that with 22.2%, females’ unemployment rate in Tunisia is double that of men (11.4%).

Mabrouki says she respects Zouibi because she has managed to overcome the widespread unemployment in the Mining Basin area in Gafsa. A phosphate-rich region, the Mining Basin has witnessed many protests demanding development and employment. It was one of the first areas to take to the streets in defiance of the defunct regime.