Kaufer was born in Kraków on 26 February 1950 to Jewish parents who had escaped the Holocaust. The family moved to Brussels in 1958.[2][3] In 1968, she studied psychology at the Université libre de Bruxelles.[4] On 11 November 1972,[5] she took part in the journée des femmes in Brussels, which began her feminist activism.[6]
A member of the lesbian community, she commenced her activism with the group Biches Sauvages, which was later renamed Homo-L.[4] She took part in the foundation of a women's house on Rue du Méridien 79 in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode.[6]
After working for a cultural trade company for the majority of her career, Kaufer finished her career as a project manager at Garance, a non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention of gender-based violence and promotion of feminist self-defense.[7] She regularly contributed to the feminist magazine Axelle,[8] as well as occasionally to other publications.[9]
Irène Kaufer died in Brussels on 5 November 2022, at the age of 72.[10]
