Mamia Aïssa was born in 1922 in Haouz village, near Bensekrane in the Tlemcen Province of Algeria to Elabdli Aïssa. When she was four years old her family had to flee because her father was wanted by the police. They moved to Oujda, Morocco, but as her father was a supporter of Ben Badis they moved again to Ghazaouet. Both parents were supportive of women's education and Aïssa, after completing her primary education was sent as a boarder to the high school in Mascara in 1935. During that time, she became interested in women's rights and wrote a paper on the emancipation of Muslim women. When she graduated in 1942, her father took her to the only university in Algeria to enroll in midwifery classes. They arrived almost simultaneously with the invasion of Algiers during the North African Campaign of World War II. Postponing her schooling, they left the capital and she taught for a year before returning to school and completed her training as a midwife.