France Appoints Moroccan Jewish Woman as New Culture Minister

[Ognir]

France has named a Jewish woman as its new culture minister.

Audrey Azoulay was named last week during a Cabinet reshuffle.

She is the daughter of Andre Azoulay, an adviser to Moroccan King Mohammed VI, and writer Katia Brami. She is a native of Morocco.
In 2014, Azoulay, 43, was named culture and communications adviser to President Francois Hollande, after serving as a civil administrator and in leadership positions in France's National Center of Cinema.


http://forward.com/news/breaking-news/333893/france-appoints-jewish-woman-as-new-culture-minister/#ixzz40pdUOJaK

[rmstock]

Arab women at the top of European governments
Arabi21  Friday, 15 January 2016 12:53
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/resources/profiles/23356-arab-women-at-the-top-of-european-governments

  "Over the past few years, women of Arab origins have been appointed to
   important positions in European political life. In this report, we will
   mention the four most well-known women, one Palestinian and three
   Moroccans.
   
   Khadija Arib

   
   
   The Dutch-Moroccan [pictured above], Khadija Arib, was elected on 13
   January as Speaker of the Dutch House of Representatives. This is
   unprecedented in the Netherlands, which has a population of 17 million,
   about 380,000 of whom are of Moroccan origin.
   
   Arib, who has been an MP for the Dutch Labour party since 1998, with a
   short break between 2006 and 2007, received 83 of the 134 votes.
   
   She was born in Morocco in 1960 and came to the Netherlands when she
   was a teenager. She was elected as speaker after her predecessor,
   Anouchka van Miltenburg, resigned in December due to the Teen Drug
   Dealer agreement, which also led to the resignation of the minister of
   justice among others.
   
   The Dutch Labour party is considered the second largest party in terms
   of seats in parliament, 36, after the Liberal party, led by current
   Prime Minister Mark Rutte, which has 40. The two parties form the
   current ruling coalition.
   
   Arib is not the only political official of Moroccan origin to be
   appointed to a prestigious position in the Netherlands; Ahmed Aboutaleb
   has been Mayor of Rotterdam, the country's second largest city, since
   2009.
   
   Sawsan Chebli
   
   
   
   Sawsan Chebli is a Palestinian Muslim immigrant currently serving as
   the spokeswoman for the German Foreign Minister.
   
   Chebli, who is from an uneducated Palestinian family, has succeeded in
   becoming the first woman not of German origin to act as a policy
   adviser on intercultural issues to the Berlin city administration.
   
   On 24 January 2014, Chebli was appointed as the German foreign
   ministry's spokeswoman, making her the first Muslim woman in German
   history to occupy this prestigious position.
   
   She is the first Arab and second Muslim to be appointed to an important
   position in the new German government, after Aygul Ozkan, of Turkish
   origin, was appointed as the minister of immigration affairs, refugees
   and integration in Germany. A first for Germany.
   
   Chebli's family was forced to move to Lebanon after the Arab-Israeli
   war in 1948. They lived in Lebanon for nearly 20 years before they
   immigrated to Germany, where Sawsan was born. She is now 35 and grew up
   under difficult conditions, as she remained stateless until she was 15.
   
   Her parents did not support her educational path as they were
   illiterate and only spoke Arabic at home. In spite of being raised as
   the eleventh of 12 children, she was able to overcome her difficult
   circumstances and earned her high school degree and went to university
   to study political science. Her choice of studies was not a
   coincidence, as Sawsan says. The fact that she grew up as a Palestinian
   refugee allowed her to understand at a young age how politics could
   contribute to determining the fate of an entire family.
   
   Najat Vallaud-Belkacem
   
   
   
   Najat is a French politician who held the position of minister of
   women's affairs and official spokeswoman for Jean-Marc Ayrault's
   government during Francois Hollande's presidency, from 16 May 2012 to 2
   April 2014. She was then appointed minister of women's affairs and
   minister of youth affairs and sports in Manuel Valls's government.
   
   Belkacem is considered a model for the success of immigrant Arab women
   in France, given the fact that she is the youngest minister in the
   French government and is handling women's affairs as well as youth and
   sports' affairs, along with her tasks as the official government
   spokeswoman.
   
   The 36-year-old, who always appears smiling, is a dual national of
   France and Morocco. She was born in the village of Bni Chiker, in the
   Nador province in northern Morocco. In 1982 she left and moved to
   France with her mother to follow her father, who worked as a labourer
   in Leon. She has six siblings and comes from an impoverished family.
   
   She excelled in her studies and continued her higher education
   specialising in law and political science. After she obtained French
   citizenship at 18, she started planning her professional career.
   Belkacem started her career working as a legal advisor at a law firm in
   the State Council in Leon. She joined the Socialist party in 2002 and
   worked as an advisor in the office of Gerard Collomb, mayor of Leon,
   who was also a member of the French Senate.
   
   After Hollande won the presidential elections in May 2012, Belkacem was
   appointed minister of women's affairs and official government
   spokeswoman. This made her the youngest minister in Jean-Jacques
   Ayrault's government. The Guardian newspaper called her "the new face
   of France" as she represents a new young generation.
   
   Rachida Dati
   
   
   
   Rachida Dati was born on 27 November 1965 and she's a French politician
   of Moroccan origin. Her father is Moroccan and her mother is Algerian
   and she is considered the first woman of Arab origin to be appointed as
   a minister in the French government.
   
   Dati was a spokesperson for the Nicolas Sarkozy government during the
   2007 presidential elections, and served as the Keeper of the Seals and
   minister of justice in Francois Fillon's first and second government
   from May 2007 to 23 June 2009. She was also elected as mayor of the
   seventh arrondissement of Paris on 29 March 2008 and has been a member
   of the European Parliament since 14 July 2009.
   
   She was born in the city of Saint-Remy to an impoverished and
   uneducated immigrant family. Her father was a bricklayer and she was
   the second child of 12 children. She worked as a nurse's assistant to
   fund her education, in which she excelled, and studied law at
   Pantheon-Assas University, and a Masters in Economics and Company
   Management.
   
   In 2002 she began to make a name for herself in politics through
   Nicolas Sarkozy, who was minister of interior at the time. He appointed
   her as an advisor on an anti-delinquency project. Dati acted as the
   link between Sarkozy and the youth in the French suburbs, which
   witnessed widespread of acts of violence in late 2005. She played a
   vital role in improving relations between Sarkozy and the immigrant
   communities in French suburbs.
   
   In 2006, Dati joined the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party led
   by Sarkozy. In 2007, she was appointed as spokesperson for Sarkozy
   during his battle in the presidential elections. After his victory, he
   appointed her minister of justice, making her the first Arab to occupy
   that position in a European country. She served in Francois Fillon's
   first and second governments until she stepped down in May 2009. "