Maguy Kakon is a Moroccan

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

 author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

, politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 and real-estate consultant.

Biography

Maguy (Marie-Yvonne) Kakon was born to a wealthy Jewish

Jews

The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...

 family in Marrakech

Marrakech

Marrakech or Marrakesh , known as the "Ochre city", is the most important former imperial city in Morocco's history...

. Her parents, David and Dina Gabay, were one the wealthiest couples in the city. Her father was an industrialist. The family lived in an upscale apartment on a Marrakech's main boulevard. The family moved to Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 in 1971. After her marriage, she settled in Casablanca

Casablanca

Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...

.

In 2007, Kakon became the first Jewish woman to run for public office in Morocco. As head of the Social Centre Party

Social Centre Party

The Social Centre Party is a political party in Morocco.During the parliamentary election, held on 7 September 2007, the party did not win any seats....

 (Parti centre social), she ran in the 2007 Moroccan parliamentary election

Moroccan parliamentary election, 2007

Parliamentary elections were held in Morocco on 7 September 2007, the second of King Mohammed VI's reign. Voter turnout was estimated to be 37%, the lowest in Moroccan political history. There were 33 different parties and 13 independent candidates competing for 325 assembly seats...

, but failed to win a seat when her party did not pass the minimum electoral threshold. In 2009, she ran in Casablanca's municipal elections. In 2011, she announced that she would run in the oroccan parliamentary election, 2011|2011 Moroccan parliamentary election.

Maguy Kakon is married to Aime Kakon, one of Morocco's leading architects. They have four children. Kakon's mother and younger sister live in Holon, Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

.

Social activism

Kakon began her advocacy work under the auspices of the American Women's Club, the primary women's rights organization in Morocco. She is active in promoting education for women. She believes that educating women will change the face of Moroccan society.

Published works

• La Cuisine juive du Maroc de mère en fille (Jewish cuisine of Morocco: From mother to daughter)
• Traditions et coutumes des Juifs du Maroc (Traditions and customs of the Jews of Morocco)