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]
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 1967, she chaired the Russell Tribunal, which was initiated by Bertrand Russell and Jean-Paul Sartre to investigate and evaluate U.S. military action in Vietnam.[citation needed]
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 1972, Choisir evolved into a clearly reformist body, and its campaign greatly influenced the passage of the law allowing contraception and abortion carried through by Simone Veil in 1974.[citation needed]
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 |
Footnotes
- ^ Lawrence D. Kritzman; Brian J. Reilly; Malcolm DeBevoise (September 2007). The Columbia History of Twentieth-Century French Thought. Columbia University Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-231-10790-7. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
- ^ "De Tunis à Paris : la généalogie de Gisèle Halimi". rfgenealogie.com (in French). Retrieved 21 August 2024.
- ^ "HALIMI Gisèle [née ZEIZA Gisèle, Élise, Taïeb]". maitron.fr (in French). 5 April 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
- ^ "Gisèle Halimi". mairie7.lyon.fr (in French). 7 March 2022. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
- ^ "Gisèle Halimi : "À 12 ans, j'ai fait une grève de la faim parce que les filles servaient les garçons"". radiofrance.fr (in French). 28 July 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
- ^ "Gisèle Halimi - Sa bio et toute son actualité". www.elle.fr (in French). Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- ^ "L'avocate Gisèle Halimi, défenseuse passionnée de la cause des femmes, est morte". Le Monde (in French). 28 July 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Une vie : Gisèle Halimi". Brut (in French). 28 July 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- ^ Raylene L. Ramsay (2003). French women in politics: writing power, paternal legitimization, and maternal legacies. Berghahn Books. pp. 135–139. ISBN 978-1-57181-081-6. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
- ^ Le manifeste des 343 Archived 23 April 2001 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "France". UNESCO. 17 October 2007. Archived from the original on 19 October 2003. Retrieved 15 January 2010.
- ^ "ATTAC founding members" (in French). Archived from the original on 12 April 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
- ^ a b c d "HOMMAGE - Gisèle Halimi, de La Goulette au barreau parisien". le petit journal.
References
- An unlikely alliance. The Guardian, 12 August 2003. Accessed 2011-01-15.
Further reading
- General Paul Aussaresses, The Battle of the Casbah: Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in Algeria, 1955-1957. (New York: Enigma Books, 2010) ISBN 9781929631308.
- Natalie Edwards, The Autobiographies of Julia Kristeva, Gisèle Halimi, Assia Djebar and Hélène Cixous : beyond "I" versus "we". (Chicago: Northwestern University, 2005) ISBN 0542173042.
