On July 28, 2025, La Poste issued a stamp bearing the image of Gisèle Halimi, a lawyer and feminist figure who passed away five years ago.
Throughout her life, Gisèle Halimi (1927-2020), born Zeiza Taïeb, was a passionate defender of women's rights, a committed and profoundly free spirit. She was born in Tunisia, in a stifling patriarchal society. From a very young age, she rebelled against the predetermined destiny imposed on her by her family, beginning with the tradition that held that a girl was less important than a boy. At the age of 10, she did not hesitate to go on a hunger strike to refuse to serve her father and brothers at table, and won her case. Her first feminist victory...
Halimi studied law in France and became a lawyer at the Tunis Bar in 1949.
A leading figure in the anti-colonialist struggle, she worked for the independence of Tunisia and Algeria (1956), before continuing her legal career in Paris. She argued major cases that contributed to changing attitudes and laws. These include the Djamila Boupacha case in 1960, which exposed the French army's torture practices, and the iconic Bobigny trial in 1972, where she defended a minor tried for having an abortion following rape: a decisive step towards the legalization of abortion (1975).
A lawyer, feminist, and politician for several years, Gisèle Halimi was notably active in the association Choisir la cause des femmes (Choosing the Cause of Women), which she founded with Simone de Beauvoir. But she also fought against American war crimes in Vietnam, supported Basque ETA militants during the Franco dictatorship, and defended the cause of the Palestinian people.
Gisèle Halimi left us this piece of advice: "Never give up." This was the guiding principle of her life.
