| Gisèle Halimi | |
| Term Start: | 13 April 1985 |
| Term End: | 1 September 1986 |
| President: | François Mitterrand |
| Predecessor: | Jacqueline Baudrier |
| Successor: | Marie-Claude Cabana |
| Office1: | Member of the National Assembly for Isère's 4th constituency |
| Term Start1: | 21 June 1981 |
| Term End1: | 9 September 1984 |
| Predecessor1: | Jacques-Antoine Gaur |
| Successor1: | Maurice Rival |
| Birth Name: | Zeiza Gisèle Élise Taïeb |
| Birth Date: | 27 July 1927 |
| Birth Place: | Carthage, Tunis, Tunisia |
| Death Place: | 7th arrondissement of Paris, France |
| Nationality: | Tunisian French |
| Alma Mater: | University of Paris Sciences Po |
| Spouse: | Paul Halimi (divorced) Claude Faux |
| Children: | 3 (including Serge Halimi) |
| Profession: | Lawyer |
Gisèle Halimi (born Zeiza Gisèle Élise Taïeb; 27 July 1927 – 28 July 2020) was a Tunisian-French lawyer, politician, essayist and feminist activist.[1]
Zeiza Gisèle Élise Taïeb was born in La Goulette, Tunisia, on 27 July 1927 to a modest, practicing Jewish Berber family (to Édouard and Fortunée "Fritna" Taïeb). She was educated at a French lycée in Tunis, and then attended the University of Paris, graduating in law and philosophy. She was first married to Paul Halimi and then to Claude Faux.[2] She died the day after her 93rd birthday, on 28 July 2020.[3]
In 1948, Halimi qualified as a lawyer and, after eight years at the Tunis bar,[4] moved to practise at the Paris bar in 1956.[4] She acted as a counsel for the Algerian National Liberation Front, most notably for the activist Djamila Boupacha in 1960, who had been raped and tortured by French soldiers,[4] and wrote a book in 1961 (with an introduction by Simone de Beauvoir) to plead her case.[4] She also defended Basque individuals accused of crimes committed during the conflict in Basque Country, and was counsel in many cases related to women's issues,[4] such as the 1972 Bobigny abortion trial (of a 17-year-old accused of procuring an abortion after having been raped),[4] 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 American military action in Vietnam.
In 1971, she founded the feminist group Choisir [5] to protect the women who had signed the Manifesto of the 343 admitting to having illegal abortions, of which she was one.[4] [6]
In 1972, Choisir formed itself into a clearly reformist body, and the campaign greatly influenced the passing of the law allowing contraception and abortion carried through by Simone Veil in 1974.
In 1981, she was elected to the French National Assembly,[4] as an independent Socialist, and was Deputy for Isère until 1984. Between 1985 and 1987 she was a French legate to UNESCO.[7]
In 1998, she was a founding member of ATTAC.[8]
Honorary member of the Order of Lawyers of Mexico in 1982.[9]
Personality of the Year Award from the Grand Jury of the International Distinction in 1983.
Minerva Award from the Club delle Donne, in the "Field of Politics and Social Engagement" section (Rome, October 1985).
Medal of the Paris Bar Association for fifty years of his career (April 2003).
| Title | English translation | Time of first publication | First edition publisher/publication | Unique identifier | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Djamila Boupacha | 1962 | Gallimard | |||
| Le procès de Burgos | The Burgos Trials | 1971 | |||
| La cause des femmes | The Cause of Women | 1973 | |||
| Avortement, une loi en procès | Abortion, a Law on Trial | 1973 | |||
| The Right to Choose | 1977 | ||||
| Viol, Le procès d'Aix: Choisir la cause des femmes | Rape, the Aix Trial: Choosing the Cause of Women | 1978 | |||
| Le Programme commun des femmes | The Common Women's Program | 1978 | |||
| le Lait de l'Oranger | Milk for the Orange Tree | 1988 | |||
| Une embellie perdue | A Lost Beauty | 1995 | |||
| La nouvelle cause des femmes | The New Cause of Women | 1997 | |||
| Fritna | 1999 | ||||
| La parité dans la vie politique | Parity in Political Life | 1999 | |||
| Avocate irrespectueuse | Disrespectful Counsel | 2002 | |||
| Le procès de Bobigny: Choisir la cause des femmes | The Bobigny Trial: Choosing the Cause of Women | 2006 | Preface by Simone de Beauvoir | ||
| La Kahina | 2006 | ||||
| Ne vous résignez jamais | Never Resign Yourself | 2009 | |||
| Histoire d'une passion | History of a Passion | 2011 | Plon | ||