One year after her death, the archives of the great lawyer and activist for the cause of women and the emancipation of colonized peoples Gisèle Halimi (1927-2020) make their entry into the National Archives, by the will of her three sons, Jean-Yves Halimi, Serge Halimi and Emmanuel Faux.
In addition to her work as a lawyer, Gisèle Halimi was Member of Parliament for Isère (1981-1984), Ambassador of France to UNESCO (1985-1986) and Special Advisor to the French delegation to the United Nations General Assembly. Founder in 1971 alongside Simone de Beauvoir of the «Choosing the Women’s Cause» movement in the wake of the «343 manifesto», her personal involvement in trials like those of Bobigny in 1972 or Aix-in Provence in 1978 are decisive steps for the recognition of the right to abortion and for the recognition of rape as a crime.
Committed at European level (she was notably a candidate in the European elections of 1994), she proposed and supported until the end of her life the introduction of the most favoured European clause in European regulations.
Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, Minister of Culture, thanks the sons of Gisèle Halimi who bequeath to posterity the archives of their mother, an important source to shed light on the history of women and their struggles in the XXe century.