“There is still a glass ceiling to cross,” says historian Mathilde Larrère

Despite effective laws on parity, the historian notes that men are mainly chosen to “be mayor” or at the head of “municipalities”.

“There is still a glass ceiling to cross”says Mathilde Larrère, lecturer at Gustave-Eiffel University in Marne-la-Vallée (Ile-de-France), specializing in the struggle of women throughout history on franceinfo Sunday April 21, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the obtaining of the right to vote and eligibility for women in France.

“There is a lot to do regarding the place of women in the city”, she continues. Today, 20% of women are at the head of town halls or departments. While “the laws on parity allowed, especially for list ballots, equality”it is still men who are mainly chosen for “to be mayor” or at the head “community agglomerations”observes the historian.

“In the last municipal elections, 80% of finance or public works deputies, responsibilities that we consider to be masculine, are men”, explains Mathilde Larrère. Conversely, “80% of deputy mayors for early childhood” are women. They are therefore always “assigned to political responsibilities that are considered to correspond to their gender”.

Nearly 150 years of struggle

For the historian, obtaining the right to vote is “the result of almost 150 years of continuous struggle” of women, like Jeanne Deroin, the first candidate for legislative elections in France in 1848, despite her ineligibility. She signed a “very beautiful profession of faith”according to Mathilde Larrère, in which the candidate believes that a “assembly which would be made only of men” can’t “legislate for the whole of society”.