Tunis — Born in Bizerta on January 2, 1909, Tawhida Ben Cheikh, the first Tunisian and Arab female physician, celebrated on Friday her hundredth birthday.

Tawhida Ben Cheikh is also the first Tunisian woman to have successfully passed the Baccalaureate exam in 1928.

After studying physics and biology in Paris for three years, she took up medicine and graduated as a gynaecologist in 1936.

Upon her return to Tunisia, she opened her own medical cabinet and later became one of the pioneering figures of family planning in Tunisia. She was also the director of the family planning office, the vice-president of the Tunisian Red Crescent and a member of the Tunisian Order of Physicians.

After having chaired the maternity service at Aziza Othmana Hospital from 1955 to 1964, she retired from active duty in 1977.

A witness and an actor of Tunisia's rich contemporary history, Tawhida Ben Cheikh is also a symbol of the fighting spirit and the success of Tunisian women before and after independence.