Second in a family of seven children, Najat Belkacem was born in the Moroccan countryside in 1977 in
Bni Chiker, a village near
Nador in the
Rif region. Her grandmothers were respectively
Spanish and
Algerian.
[2] In 1982 she joined her father, a building worker, with her mother and elder sister Fatiha, and grew up in the suburbs of
Amiens.
[3] She graduated from the
Institut d'études politiques de Paris (Paris Institute of Political Studies) in 2002. At the
Institut she met Boris Vallaud, whom she married on 27 August 2005.
[4]
She joined the
Socialist Party in 2002 and the team of
Lyon mayor
Gérard Collomb in 2003, leading actions to strengthen local democracy, the fight against discrimination, promotion of citizen rights, and access to employment and housing.
Elected to the Regional Council of Rhone-Alpes in 2004, she chaired the Culture Commission, resigning in 2008. In 2005, she became adviser to the Socialist Party. In 2005 and 2006 she was a columnist for the cultural programme
C'est tout vu on
Télé Lyon Municipale alongside Stéphane Cayrol.
In February 2007 she joined
Ségolène Royal's campaign team as a spokeswoman, alongside
Vincent Peillon and
Arnaud Montebourg.
In March 2008 she was elected
conseillère générale of the
Rhône department in the
cantonal elections with 58.52% of the votes in the second round, under the banner of the Socialist Party in the
canton of Lyon-XIII.
On 16 May 2012, she was appointed to French President
François Hollande's cabinet as Minister of Women's Rights and
spokeswoman for the government.
She supports having the French government force Twitter to filter out hate speech that is illegal under French law, such as speech that is
homophobic.
[5] Regarding
same-sex marriage in France, she has stated that its legalisation is a matter of "historic progress".
[6]
She describes herself as a "non-practicing Muslim".
[7]
kwa hisani ya wekipidia