Edith Cresson, the only one to have occupied the post of Prime Minister, castigates the “machismo of the political class” French in an interview with the JDD. This observation is also shared by Les Républicains MEP Nadine Morano: “It is true that in the political class, there is still a lot of macho on which we must fight”, she says on Cnews. While the rebellious deputy Clémentine Autain judges, on BFMTV, that “the clock is ticking” for the place of women in politics.
If we first look at elected women, there are only 29% of women in the Senate and 39% in the National Assembly. Even if the law obliges the parties to respect parity among the candidates they present, not all parties necessarily comply. Then there is always the “glass ceiling”. For example, in the Departmental Councils, gender parity is almost perfect. And yet, out of a hundred departments, only about twenty are headed by a woman.
On the government side, parity is progressing a little faster, but there is still a long way to go. If we go back in time, there were only 12% of women in the government of Pierre Mauroy in 1981. We reached almost a third in 2007 and it was only in 2012, under François Hollande, that France had its first government. truly equal, according to the High Council for Equality between Women and Men. A parity since, always more or less respected, but sometimes judged by facade with in particular the sovereign positions given in priority to men or ministerial cabinets which still remain essentially male.
Elsewhere, in Europe, it is not much better. Today, in 27 countries of the European Union, there are only five women at the head of a government. This is the case, for example, in Denmark, Lithuania and even Finland.
Helsinki is also the country to have appointed the most women at its head: four in total, a record within the European Union. Conversely, eight countries have never had a female head of state or government, for example Spain or Italy.