Parity Between Men and Women in France

Nowadays, French society observes various inequalities. They can sometimes appear legitimate, especially in the economic and social areas, because they would only result from the individuals’ aptitudes and efforts; that would start with the same equal opportunities.

However, women are becoming more and more recognized by the French population, which in turn, gives them increasing respect and responsibilities. However, we can still wonder if women, since they are the main subject, play the same roles in French society as men.Are these inequalities the result of an intense research of efficiency, and thus necessary? In other words, is parity just an ideal that does not guarantee an optimal management of the French society, or just a demand that would restore social justice between male and female while benefit to the efficiency? In order to answer these questions, we will first address the issue of parity within the school system, then within the job market, and finally study parity within politics in France before we take a look at the French Government’s plan to create more equality.We will first look at a brief chronology of the women’s right in France will help us understand the evolution of this parity. To begin, one should know that in most civilizations, women have played a minor role in politics and in the histories of these populations. Now concerning the French society, Marie de Gourmay was the first woman who really advocated parity between the two sexes in 1622.

Women used to have to wait for her husband to die in order to receive an inheritance due to the laws of the Revolution in 1790, where the wife would then obtain the same rights as the male children (Vie Publique).It is only since the nineteenth century that events in favor of such parity increased: in 1850, a law (the Falloux law) forced towns under 800 inhabitants to open a special elementary school for girls. Jules Ferry made elementary school mandatory in 1882. Then, in 1863, a first law is passed to protect working women (they would not be able to work in mines, nor on Sundays anymore). At the beginning of the twentieth century, women finally obtained rights within their own families: in 1907, married woman who have a job are allowed to keep the money they earn, and in 1915, if the husband is missing, they can be in harge of the parental authority.

Finally, since the mid-90s, women have rights that considerably set them equal to men: in 1944, they received the right to vote; in 1970, they became equal to the father when it comes to parental authority; and in 1971, a law forced employers to give an equal salary to both sexes for a same job (Wikipedia). Unfortunately, many disparities still subsist between men and women in France. Since it is the place where individuals form their personal and intellectual identities, the French educational system is what we should first take a look at.First of all, we have to recognize that from an academic point of view, girls have surpassed the boys.

Women have been receiving more and more diplomas from higher levels of education. Before the 80s, the changes made to improve parity were made in secondary education as well as the first years of college, but then after the 80’s these changes were more directed towards higher levels of education (women being more numerous there since 1981). In 2001, more than half of the students were women but the way they were divided was unequal.According to the Ministry of National Education, Youth, and Community Life, both boys and girls tend to concentrate their studies in areas that are commonly stereotyped with their gender. Indeed, two thirds of the pharmacy, medical students, and superior technicians with a services concentration are women, just like they represent three fourths of the art, literature and languages students (INSEE). These proportions are inversed for physical activities, sports, engineer schools, technical sciences, and industrial and computing formations.

Moreover, a study concerning schooling rate among the 16-21 years old French population, which represents the period of time school is not obligatory anymore until legal majority) illustrates that girls are sent to school more than boys, no matter how old they are. There is also an evolution towards more parity in fields not really feminized (such as engineer schools, preparatory classes to higher education institutions with competitive entrance examination), and a more important feminization of the fields already associated with females such as literature, art, etc (Ministry of National Education, Youth, and Community Life).Unfortunately, the parity observed in education is not applied in the job market. An equal professional insertion is still difficult for young women, and in opposition to their higher success at school.

We can notice that the employment rate is more important among women than among men in France, with 8 million unemployed women in 2008. They also have a lower activity rate: 65. 5% versus 74. 6% for men in 2008.

Moreover, one third of them have a part-time job, which leads to a higher poverty rate: 7. 4% versus 6. 9% (INSEE).As a consequence, women live in more precarious life styles and are sources of various social and economic issues. Thus, there is no economic independence for women and therefore no equality for them.

Finally, even though women are very active, the activity rate considerably decreases along with the number of dependent children. Women are consequently more qualified than men, but there is a waste of human capital in France. Now concerning salaries, with equal diploma and experience, women were still paid 27% less than men in France.Also, in the French private and semi-public sectors, the average salaries of full-time working women in 2000 were equal to 82% of the ones earned by men (INSEE).

In addition, the higher the wages, the bigger the revenue differences, which are increasing. It is also important to mention that the access to managerial jobs is more available to males than females. However, in order to increase parity between men and women within companies, a “Label Egalite” was created in 2004 by the Social Cohesion and Parity French Ministry.Thus, in 2005, 17 firms were labialized as providing equal employment for both genders such as PSA, Peugeot Citroen, Airbus France, Cetelem, Deloitte, EADS Astrium, Matra Electronique, Orange, etc. The question still remains, why are there so many inequalities? Although more women have a higher education diploma than men, these diplomas inevitably lead to jobs that pay less.

Women tend to study in literary or social courses that do not have many job opportunities or job security; which forces women to become simple employees such as saleswomen, cashiers, home cares, housekeepers, etc.Moreover, French society and male mores make the women responsible for taking care of domestic chores, which is still something present in the population’s mindset. This is why the women activity rate in France considerably decreases when they start having children. Due to the discriminatory behavior by some employers, women are given fewer opportunities because they believe the female worker will become pregnant and leave the company. There is also something provided by the French society that does not encourage omen to be more dynamic, and creates difficulties for couples and single-parent families to find a nanny for their children: the parental allocation.

Parental allocation is a government sponsored act that offers support for financially struggling families with multiple children. Although this act was meant to offer help it encourages some women to continue their domestic life and give up on the labor force since they are receiving financial support. However, the situations observed above are far from appropriate to describe the French political scene.Indeed, it remains a masculine sphere and even though Segolene Royal did well during the last presidential elections, most of the French population is not ready for such parity yet. Despite the promulgation of a law on June 6, 2001, that favorably changed the role of women in the French political system, there is still a light evolution of the number of women in charge of political responsibilities. They only represent 14% of the mayors in 2008; less than 25% of the Senate in 2008; 18% of the Parliament in 2007 and 36.

7% of the Sarkozy government in 2010 (INSEE).Even though political parties are subjected to financial penalties by the French law, the march towards parity is still slow. A reason is that people against parity between men and women argue that the principles on which the French Democracy is based only recognize an abstract citizen, which cannot be defined by a social, cultural and even less religious or sexual characteristic. Selecting representatives, is then against the equality principle.

No matter what their sex is, representatives speak for the people they represent, whether they are men or women.This is why everything here suggests that unfortunately, real parity within politics is now just a utopia that will not be reached soon. However, because of all the feminist movements that are more and more important in France, the Government starts to actively put some plans into action. For instance, in July 2010 the French First Minister, Francois Fillon renewed the Observatory of Parity between women and men’s term for three more years.

Mr. Fillon was particularly proud that the Parliament passed a law on May, 29 to reinforce prevention and punishments against women abuse.According to him, the struggle against inequalities between sexes is one of the government’s priorities. He also asked the Observatory to focus on three major topics during the next three months: the professional and wage equality, the articulation of professional and familial lives, and the access to professional and political responsibilities. In the same press release, the First Minister also mentioned a new project law concerning an equal representation of both men and women within boards of directors in France.

Finally, he asked for some consultation with the trade unions professional organizations about professional equality, in order to present new legislative changes within the end of the year. To conclude, we can say that on the educational level, the disparities observed at the beginning of the century no longer exist, and even better, are reversed: girls do better at school than boys. Within the job market, inequalities subsist and are getting deeper when the wages are higher, even though they tend to decrease.Finally, the biggest disparities are observed in the French political sphere, where because of its “unconstitutionality” parity will be difficult to reach. However, the government seems to be willing to make efforts to improve parity between men and women in France, so all we have to do now is to wait and see the results. Like every major social change it will take some time, but it is definitely not something impossible, especially when we know all the things women have already obtained by fighting for them.Works Citedhttp://www.statapprendre.education.fr/insee/par/pouvoir/pouvoirnational.htmhttp://www.education.gouv.fr/cid4006/egalite-des-filles-et-des-garcons.html