About Tewhida Belshikh
Tewhida Ben Sheikh (Arabic: توحيدة بن الشيخ; also Tawhida Ben Cheikh, Taouhida Ben Cheikh) (January 2, 1909 in Ras Jebel – December 6, 2010) was the first modern Tunisian and North African woman to become a physician. She was also a pioneer in women's medicine, in particular contraception and abortion access. == Early years == Tewhida Ben Sheikh was born in Tunis, Tunisia. Her early education was at Tunisia's first public school for Muslim girls, Lycée de la rue de Russie, which was established by Tunisian nationalists and French occupation. While attending this school, Ben Sheikh was taught Arabic, French, the study of the Qur'an, and modern subjects. She travelled to the School of Medicine, Faculté de médecine de Paris to pursue her education, earning a degree in medicine in 1936. Upon her return to Tunis, she was given a dinner in her honour by local doctors. Tunisia was a French protectorate at the time. Ben Sheikh came from an elite Tunisian family which was socially conservative, and her widowed mother who raised alone her five children was reluctant to allow her to go to France after secondary school; however, her secondary school instructors and a doctor from the Louis Pasteur Institute of Tunis (Dr. Etienne Burnet), persuaded Ben Sheikh's mother that she showed significant promise.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.