Gisèle Halimi

Gisèle Halimi (born Zeiza Gisèle Élise Taïeb, Arabic: زايزا جيزيل إليز طيب; 27 July 1927 – 28 July 2020) was a Tunisian-French lawyer, politician, essayist and feminist activist.^[1]

Gisèle Halimi
Halimi in 2009
Permanent Representative of France to UNESCO
In office 13 April 1985 – 1 September 1986
President	François Mitterrand
Preceded by	Jacqueline Baudrier
Succeeded by	Marie-Claude Cabana
Member of the National Assembly for Isère's 4th constituency
In office 21 June 1981 – 9 September 1984
Preceded by	Jacques-Antoine Gaur
Succeeded by	Maurice Rival
Personal details
Born	Zeiza Gisèle Élise Taïeb (1927-07-27)27 July 1927 La Goulette, Tunis, Tunisia
Died	28 July 2020(2020-07-28) (aged 93) 7th arrondissement of Paris, France
Nationality	Tunisian French
Spouse(s)	Paul Halimi (divorced) Claude Faux
Children	3 (including Serge Halimi)
Alma mater	University of Paris Sciences Po
Profession	Lawyer
Signature

Biography

Zeiza Gisèle Élise Taïeb was born in La Goulette, Tunisia, on 27 July 1927 to a practicing Jewish Berber family. Her father, Edouard Taïeb, began as a courier in a law office before becoming a notary clerk and then a legal expert. He was naturalized as a French citizen in 1928.^[2] Her mother, Fortunée "Fritna" Mettoudi, conformed to society's expectations of traditional womanhood, which Halimi cited as the reason for her own early feminist engagement.^[3] When Gisèle was born, her parents hid her birth for three weeks because at that time giving birth to a daughter was perceived as a curse.^[4] At 12 years old, she refused to wait on her brothers and went on a hunger strike to protest the gender roles enforced by her family. At 15, she refused to marry a rich oil merchant much older than herself.^[5]

She was educated at a French lycée in Tunis, then attended the University of Paris, graduating in law and philosophy. She had three sons: Serge, a journalist, and Jean-Yves, a lawyer, from her first marriage to Paul Halimi, and Emmanuel Faux, a journalist, from her second marriage to Claude Faux.^[6] She died the day following her 93rd birthday, on July 28, 2020.^[7]

Career

In 1948, Halimi qualified as a lawyer and, after eight years at the Tunis bar,^[8] moved to practise at the Paris bar in 1956.^[8] She acted as a counsel for the Algerian National Liberation Front, most notably for the activist Djamila Boupacha, who had been raped and tortured by French soldiers,^[8] writing a book in 1961 (with an introduction by Simone de Beauvoir) to plead her case.^[8] She also defended Basque individuals accused of crimes committed during the conflict in Basque Country. Halimi served as counsel in many cases related to women's issues,^[8] such as the 1972 Bobigny abortion trial (of a 17-year-old accused of procuring an illegal abortion after having been raped),^[8] which attracted national attention.

In 1971, she founded the feminist group Choisir (To Choose)^[9] to protect the women who had signed the Manifesto of the 343 admitting to having had illegal abortions, of whom she was one.^[8][10]

In 1981, Halimi was elected to the French National Assembly,^[8] as an independent Socialist and served as Deputy for Isère until 1984. Between 1985 and 1987, she was a French legate to UNESCO.^[11]

In 1998, she was a founding member of ATTAC.^[12]

Honors

Honorary member of the Order of Lawyers of Mexico in 1982.^[13]

Personality of the Year Award from the Grand Jury of International Distinction in 1983.^[13]

Minerva Award from the Club delle Donne, in the "Field of Politics and Social Engagement" section (Rome, October 1985).^[13]

Medal of the Paris Bar Association (April 2003).^[13]

Works

Title	English translation	Time of first publication	First edition publisher/publication	Unique identifier	Notes
Djamila Boupacha		1962	Gallimard	ISBN 978-2070205240
Le procès de Burgos	The Burgos Trials	1971		ISBN 978-2070279487
La cause des femmes	The Cause of Women	1973		ISBN 2-246-00028-9
Avortement, une loi en procès	Abortion, a Law on Trial	1973		ISBN 2-246-00028-9
The Right to Choose		1977		ISBN 0-7022-1433-7
Viol, Le procès d'Aix: Choisir la cause des femmes	Rape, the Aix Trial: Choosing the Cause of Women	1978		ISBN 978-2070353989
Le Programme commun des femmes	The Common Women's Program	1978		ISBN 2-246-00572-8
le Lait de l'Oranger	Milk for the Orange Tree	1988		ISBN 0-7043-2738-4
Une embellie perdue	A Lost Beauty	1995		ISBN 2-07-073788-8
La nouvelle cause des femmes	The New Cause of Women	1997		ISBN 2-02-031973-X
Fritna		1999		ISBN 2-259-19134-7
La parité dans la vie politique	Parity in Political Life	1999		ISBN 2-11-004376-8
Avocate irrespectueuse	Disrespectful Counsel	2002		ISBN 2-259-19453-2
Le procès de Bobigny: Choisir la cause des femmes	The Bobigny Trial: Choosing the Cause of Women	2006		ISBN 2-07-077515-1	Preface by Simone de Beauvoir
La Kahina		2006		ISBN 2-259-20314-0
Ne vous résignez jamais	Never Resign Yourself	2009		ISBN 978-2-259-20941-0
Histoire d'une passion	History of a Passion	2011	Plon	ISBN 2-259-21394-4