Fadela Amara

Fadela Amara is a French politician and feminist of Algerian descent who held the post of Secretary of State for Urban Policies. She was born in 1964 to Muslim parents in an emergency housing district in central France inhabited mostly by North African immigrants, and witnessed the repression of women and governmental prejudice. At 16, she became an activist and went on to establish several feminist groups. She was elected a municipal councillor as a member of the Socialist Party in 2001 and supported the 2003 law prohibiting women from wearing Muslim headscarves in schools. She led a march in response to the murder of a young Muslim girl, spawning the popular feminist organization Ni Putes Ni Soumises (Neither Whores Nor Submissives). Though a Socialist, she was chosen as Secretary of State for Urban Policies by the conservative Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) government.