French Women Seek to Feminize Political System
Saying France’s motto, “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,” falls short of reality, 10 female politicians launched a campaign Thursday to feminize the country’s male-dominated political system through a constitutional amendment.
France gave women the right to vote as late as 1945 and trails other European nations in its proportion of women in Parliament, according to official figures.
“It is time to get rid of these stereotypes and other remnants of the past by feminizing the republic,” the women said in a manifesto published in the weekly L’Express.
Prime Minister Alain Juppe told the magazine that he was open to the idea of a national referendum on revising the constitution. But he added that the special Equality Watch commission he set up last year is still studying the matter.
Juppe, who took office in May 1995, won kudos from female politicos for naming a dozen women to his Cabinet and setting up the Equality Watch commission to identify barriers to sexual equality and recommend ways of eliminating them.
But by November, he was in the doghouse after dismissing eight of the women in his government in a Cabinet reshuffle.
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