Sihem Habchi

Sihem Habchi (born 9 May 1975 in Constantine, Algeria) has been the presiding president of Ni Putes Ni Soumises (Neither Whores nor Submitted) since June 2007, and is a member of the High Authority of the Battle against Discrimination and for Equality (HALDE). Born of Algerian immigrant parents, Sihem Habchi followed a course of study in secondary school and university that primarily involved linguistics and multimedia. She obtained a specialized degree in the field of multimedia at the Pierre-et-Marie-Curie University in Paris, in 2001. After having taught French abroad to an audience predominately made up of women undergoing rehabilitation, she launched into multimedia production and oriented her research toward educational methods and multimedia directed at children. In March 2003, like thousands of French women and men, she joined the women’s March for equality and against the ghetto. For five weeks, through 23 cities, and under the deliberately provocative slogan “Neither Whores nor Submissives,” five women and two men called for public attention and action regarding the condition of girls in poor neighbourhoods. The March commenced symbolically in Vitry-sur-Seine where the young Sohanne, victim of misogynism, was burned alive in a dumpster in a Balzac city neighbourhood. This first march obtained its objective: to break the silence, as evident of the more than 30,000 people who turned out to march behind the “Ni Putes Ni Soumises” banner, until the annual International Women's Day, 8 March 2003. Sihem Habchi told her story and that of the myriad women with whom she had grown up. All, like her, had known constant discrimination which victimized young boys and girls. It was for these many reasons, as well as due to a great desire to set off change in society, that Sihem Habchi joined Fadela Amara and her team in April 2003. She was one of 14 “Mariannes of Today”, displayed on the face of the National Assembly from 12 July to 31 August 2003. This exposition was highly symbolic in terms of identification with republican values.