She was the Secretary of State for Urban Policies in the liberal Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) government of French Prime Minister François Fillon.

Amara was born to Algerian Berber Kabyle parents in an emergency housing district of Clermont-Ferrand, Puy-de-Dôme, which she later described as a shanty-town.

[citation needed] Regarding the situation there for women she said, "daughters, sisters, cousins, female neighbours must either act like submissive but virtuous vassals, or be treated like cheap whores.

In 1983 she took part in a mass demonstration of the Beurs (French of North African origin), and from 1986 on she was an activist within the civil rights organisation SOS Racisme.

On 19 June 2007, although still a member and a municipal councillor of the Socialist Party, she was appointed Secretary of State for Urban Policies in the 2nd UMP government of French Prime Minister François Fillon.

[4] André Gerin, who headed the commission to study the burqa, stated in an interview with The Economist, "We will not accept that a particular religion: Islam or anything else, occupying the public space and dictating its rules over civil society.

"[7][8] The Guardian stated, "This battle came to a head during the furore surrounding France's controversial 2004 law banning headscarves in schools.

[13] Chenut's Forward to Fadela Amara's book cites Françoise Gaspard's work on the subject, "Women's rights, she argues, are better served by not banning the headscarf.

On page 94, Amara explains her reasoning for her opposition to the headscarf in public schools, that emancipated educated French Muslim women: 22–24  had apparently made the wrong choice, blaming the public school system for not teaching them to make the right choice, "In the late 1980s...I was among those who said that these young women should not be excluded.

She goes on to argue that any attempt to ban the headscarf will be met with violent: 99  opposition, "The effect will be the reverse of what we hoped for, the peaceful coexistence of different religions within a common secular framework.

Amara claimed that Islamic fundamentalists paid women to wear veils to make it seem like it was more normal.

This position was criticised on a French lawyers blog where he cited already enacted laws which provide this desired protection: Articles 222-18[16] and Article 222–13,[17] the author of the blog argues that the current laws are already effective but that the burqa ban would be inadequate to protect women from domestic violence.

[20] Amara's position was very unclear as she both advocated for an act that strictly prohibited the practice under penalty of law and for women to maintain the freedom to choose.