Sophie Bessis

Sophie Bessis (Arabic: صوفي بسيس , 1947) is a Tunisian-born French historian, journalist, researcher, and feminist author. She has written numerous works in French, Spanish, and English on development in the Maghreb and the Arab world, as well as on the situation of women and sociocultural inequalities to which they are subjected. She is the recipient of the Paris Liège literary prize and was honored in Tunisia as Commandeur of the Order of the Republic.

A history scholar and former editor-in-chief of the weekly magazine Jeune Afrique, Bessis has worked as research associate at the Institute for International and Strategic Relations (IRIS) in Paris and Deputy Secretary-General of the International Federation for Human Rights Leagues (FIDH). She has taught political economy of development at the Department of Political Science at the Sorbonne university and the Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (INALCO). Further, she has been a consultant for UNESCO and UNICEF and has carried out numerous missions in Africa.