This collective brings together about sixty deputies, women and men, renamed “Les Simones”, like Simone Veil, or Simone de Beauvoir … “And because in a Simone car, things go faster than En Marche!” The word game is offered by the Modem deputy Pascale Fontenel-Person, who is holding a press conference on Thursday, December 9 with her colleague Sandrine Josso. With a message to deliver: that the majority be a little more inclusive. That it make more room for women but not only for photos, when it comes to making decisions in the Senate or the National Assembly, in the making of the law. “We each have subjects that are close to our hearts, that we master, that we wear, explains Pascale Fontenel-Person. And when we want to become a reporter of the law, we are told: ‘you are not ready enough’ “. “Still difficult to break the glass ceiling “, testifies one of his colleagues.
“We have to get in the car, we have to spend the second, that’s how The Simones was born with all the symbolism behind it” @f_person introduces the association’s presentation lunch @LesSimones_ in the presence of many deputies @sandrinejossoan pic.twitter.com/JBK5ymXELS
– The Simones (@LesSimones_) December 7, 2021
To believe “The Simones”, the observation is shared by Emmanuel Macron, however himself far from being exemplary on the subject. We are very far from parity in its first circle of advisers. Ditto for positions of responsibility in the majority: party leaders, presidencies of groups in Parliament, presidency of the National Assembly … What men! The wish expressed in 2017 to appoint a woman prime minister never materialized. A nod from elsewhere: the association Les Simones has as honorary president Édith Cresson, the only woman in Matignon.
The men of Macronie speak of false trials, arguing that gender equality was the great cause of the five-year term, that a law was passed no later than Wednesday December 8 establishing quotas for women managers in companies . The same people praise the quasi parity among the deputies of the majority, in the presidencies of committees in the Assembly, and in the governing bodies of En Marche.
Richard Ferrand, the President of the National Assembly, gave him the account of the appointments that depend on him: 23 women, 20 men. In particular at the head of the administrative services of the Assembly. Except that statistics are not enough. Because in politics, the symbol counts. Especially in a presidential election where the two main competitors of Emmanuel Macron are competitors: Valérie Pécresse, Marine Le Pen.
It’s been a few months that in the government, among councilors, we hear this concern: who to bring a strong female voice during the campaign? What profile of prime minister also if Emmanuel Macron is reelected? It was a minister who told me a few weeks ago: “If the president is renewed, there will necessarily be a woman in Matignon.”