Salima Ghezali

Algerian lawyer and feminist who pioneered legal reforms to advance women's rights in North Africa.

Salima Ghezali, born in 1948 in Algiers, is a trailblazing lawyer and activist who transformed gender laws across North Africa. As Algeria's first female justice minister (1994-1995), she spearheaded the 2005 Family Code reforms, which granted women equal inheritance rights and marital autonomy. Her work extended to international advocacy, co-founding the Arab Women's Organization (2002) to combat gender-based violence. Despite facing death threats from extremist groups, she continued publishing legal analyses like Women's Rights in Islamic Law (2008). Ghezali's efforts inspired Tunisia's 2017 gender equality law and Morocco's 2004 family code revisions. Explore her legal strategies in Human Rights Watch reports or her TEDx talk here.