The campaign dominated by war and the cost of living in Ukraine has shown little for gender equality, but feminist organizations and academics are nonetheless working to highlight the major challenges facing women in the country, including feminism, Gender Islamophobia is included. Pay inequality and precarious employment.
“Progress has been made. We can’t deny it,” says Moul Noir, a member of the #NousToutes (All of Us) group that campaigns against gender-based violence in France. But Noir says that with violence against women Related policies are being “sprayed”, including Introducing fines for street harassmentwill not succeed without profound reforms such as addressing the role of the justice system.
As part of the 2019 National Investigation into Domestic Violence, a government analysis found that 80% complaints dropped by public prosecutors. And in a case that has come to symbolize the police force’s failures to tackle domestic violence, 31-year-old Chanez Daud was ex husband murder outside her home last year, when police first failed to inform her that she had been released from prison – where she served a sentence for violence against her – and then to follow up on a subsequent complaint of assault. For. fail to
The Interior Ministry declined to respond to CNN’s request for comment on the police force’s treatment of domestic violence cases. restrictions imposed on government representatives during the presidential campaign period.
From 2017, 640 women Have been killed by a current or former partner, according to the voluntary organization Femicides, which compiles its statistics from media reports.
As well as calling for mandatory training for police and all public officials to deal with intimate partner violence, Noir says #NousToutes is based on former President Jacques Chirac’s highly successful public awareness campaign. campaign advocates. program on road safetyThis included frequent public messages from Elysee and saw a 40% drop in road deaths.
For many French feminists, Macron’s choice of hard-right Gerald Darminin as interior minister in 2020 is an original sin that has been hard to forgive. was the gatekeeper under investigation of rape When given a job, through which he is responsible for the police force. The appointment prompted hundreds of women to take to the streets in protest.
“The message that was sent was absolutely shocking,” says Le Chambonsel, host of the French politics podcast. Ashes and book author More women in politics!For feminists, “after that it was done, finished, over,” she says.
A lawyer for Darmanin dismissed the allegations as baseless And Macron defended his decision on the presumption of innocence, saying he trusted the minister.man manThe investigation was closed in 2021 and prosecutors formal dismissal request earlier this year.
Dormanine was also the “public face” of France.separatismThe law, passed in 2021, gave the government new powers to close mosques, exercise greater control over religious charities and NGOs, and in some cases refuse homeschooling. The law was intended to strengthen official Republican values and combat Islamic extremism, but civil rights advocates say it was a cooling effect The Muslim population more broadly, in a country where exclusively veiled women have often been the target of debate over the Lacet, the French version of secularism.
“The law is undermining and reshaping most civil liberties,” says Rim-Sarah Aloune, a legal scholar and researcher at the University Toulouse Capital. “It affects a whole range of people, but the law was designed to frame and control Muslims. And the first victims will be Muslim women.”
recently TweetMacron’s rival in the second round, the far-right Marine Le Pen, depicted his proposal to write “the fight against sectarianism” in the French constitution with the image of a disguised woman with a dim face.
Le Pen, who describes herself as a feminist, has worked to soften her image in recent years.
“She has deliberately implemented a strategy of feminization,” says Chambonsel, adding that the leader of the Régionment Nationale has “normalized” her party and talked about promoting more women in her campaign. Before the 2012 election, 19% of women said they would vote for the far-right according to the polling group ifopAfter 10 years this figure has increased to 34%.
One Analysis The manifesto of all 12 presidential candidates by a team of postgraduate students at the University of Science PO described Le Pen’s program in gender equality policies, which highlights gender equality measures, “Feminist“. in “letter to french womenPublished on International Women’s Day, Le Pen pledged to deport immigrants who engage in street harassment when she became France’s first female president.
In the midst of rising inflation, Le Pen is campaigning hard on the cost of living. But she is one of the few candidates who has not proposed an increase in the minimum wage, a policy that will have a huge impact on women who have 59% people employed on this salary. Macron’s Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire vows to raise the minimum wage €25 per month from this summer.
Leftist candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon has proposed a further increase of €131 per month. in broader gender equality ProgramShe has also pledged an allocation of €1 billion sought by feminist organizations to tackle domestic violence.
Many women earning minimum wage”essential staff“The country became dependent during the pandemic in occupations where the workforce is almost entirely female, such as home care, nursing and social work.
“During the health crisis, we have appreciated and admired the merits of all these essential jobs, which are occupied by women,” says the economist. Rachel Silver from the University of Paris-Nantre, which directs the Labor Market and Gender Research Group. “But we don’t recognize their value.”
Silvera says that while women have been hit by Kovid-19 in the last two years, France has survived so far. Mass dropout from workforce The expansion of partial unemployment payments was seen in other countries during the health crisis. But at 16%, France’s gender pay gap The EU average is slightly above 13%.
For the next presidency, Silvera says the best way to reduce economic inequality between men and women would be to increase wages in these heavily feminized occupations. So far, Macron’s gender equality policies have helped put women “at the top of the pyramid,” she says.
World Economic Forum estimates, it will take time 52 years To bridge the gender gap in Western Europe. That’s ten times longer than the next president, who will have to break through gender inequality. There may be many more “grand reasons” to come before France achieves its founding ideal of equality.