For women like Sihem Ben Romdhane, the options used to be fewer. When she went to the police after beatings by her husband, they told her they would have to jail him.

So she would withdraw her complaints each time «because I don’t want my children to be without their father,» she said. Then last November, her husband started beating their 9-year-old son.

«I just could not take it anymore,» she said in Gafsa, the hard-bitten Tunisian mining town where she lives.

Ms. Ben Romdhane decided to leave and found refuge in a shelter in Gafsa for battered women. It is one of just a handful of shelters that opened in the country after a law passed last year outlawing a range of violent acts against women, as well as discrimination against them. The law also urged the opening of new shelters and other facilities to protect women.

Tunisia has always prided itself on being the most advanced Arab country when it comes to women’s rights. Women here have long had the right to divorce and gain custody of their children, and polygamy was abolished the year after the country became independent in 1956.

But in 2016, 60 percent of Tunisian women were victims of domestic violence, according to the Ministry of Women, Family and Children, with studies from nongovernmental groups suggesting the figure may even be higher. And 50 percent of women said they had experienced aggression in a public area at least once in their lives.

Legislators and activists say they are hoping to reduce those numbers. «Sometimes the women who come here ran away from a desperate situation with no luggage whatsoever, so we provide everything,» said Sonia Mhamdi, whose office helps women in distress before they are placed in shelters.

There are seven shelters in Tunisia, funded by the European Union. Most opened after the country’s Arab Spring revolution, which began in December 2010.

The legislation outlaws domestic rape and bars a rapist from marrying his victim in order to diminish his sentence. Police can face jail time if they refuse to take a woman’s abuse complaint or try to dissuade her. Even if the victim drops the charges, the investigation must go on.

Sexual harassment is punishable by two years in prison, and the law goes as far as to oblige any witness of violence against women to report it. It also sets up specific courts and judges dedicated to violence against women as well as special police units, mostly led by women.

«The new law is innovative because before, when the woman was abused and forgave the abuser, he would not be punished by law,» said Amor Yahyaoui, a general inspector for the Ministry of Justice. «Now even if the woman forgives him, he will face the law and he will be accountable.»

For Ms. Ben Romdhane, 45, the shelter in Gafsa helped her build a legal case against her husband and learn ways to protect herself.

«The women in the center provided me with legal assistance and also psychological support,» she said. «I know my rights, but I need support to be sure that my children will remain safe in the process and benefit from at least some help.»

Twelve women have come to the shelter since it opened last year. They stay anywhere from a few days to four months. The bedrooms also have beds for children and a roof terrace is walled for privacy from the neighbors. The shelter staff say they often play the role of mediator between couples or families.

There are signs of change. In February, the regional court sentenced a man under the new law to two years in jail after his wife accused him of repeated sodomy.

«Women and men come every day to the court for marriage issues and to ask for child support and women do not hesitate to complain about their violent husbands,» said Mohamed Khlefi, the public prosecutor of the Gafsa court. «It is not taboo anymore.»

Marital rape is outlawed, and shelters open.