On the occasion of International Women’s Rights Day, Nice Premium interviewed the candidates in the cantonal elections. It was an opportunity for them to reflect on the efforts made or still needed for women in politics.
The parallel between International Women’s Rights Day and the cantonal elections was easily made. Nice Premium asked four questions to each of the candidates. Four of them responded to us: Roseline Grac (Left Party, 5th canton), Dominique Boy-Mottard (Radical Left Party, 7th canton), Juliette Chesnel-Le Roux (Europe Ecology – The Greens, 8th canton) and Dominique Estrosi-Sassone (UMP, 14th canton).
Nice Premium : What do you think of the position women occupy in the political landscape?
Roseline Grac: It is obviously insufficient. We are one of the European countries where women are least represented in Parliament. We are even behind Italy. The presence of women in political institutions can certainly come from the law, and the one on parity is a very good thing. But it should mainly come from democratic practice and usage, which political parties need to implement. Nonetheless, let’s highlight the existence of notable political and/or union figures, such as Martine Aubry, Marie Georges Buffet, Cécile Duflot, or the current leader of the FSU.
The territorial reform carries the major risk, due to the voting system, of worsening the situation and dealing a blow to parity, and therefore, to women’s political representation, and consequently to democracy as a whole. That’s one of the reasons the Left Front fiercely opposes it.
Dominique Boy-Mottard: We cannot deny that progress has been made since 2000 with the parity laws. But their effectiveness varies depending on the voting system.
When dealing with a list system (proportional with a majority bonus), as is the case for municipal and regional elections, gender equality is necessarily respected because otherwise, the list cannot be registered. That’s why now, we have reached a presence of 48% of women in the municipal councils of municipalities with over 3,500 inhabitants and regional councils. However, 86% of mayors are still men, and there is only one woman among 22 regional presidents.
When it concerns a single-member majoritarian system (where one votes for a person and not for a list), the principle of parity is only enforced through financial penalties (resulting in a reduction of public aid to the parties), which is evidently less dissuasive. That’s why we still have only 18.5% of women in the National Assembly and only 13.1% of women in departmental assemblies! Imagine that among the fourteen cantons of Nice, I am the only female general councilor, and out of the fifty-two elected officials in the Alpes-Maritimes, we are only six! It’s true that the incumbents are often quite entrenched (particularly in rural cantons), having been elected for many years: consequently, their parties do not want to take the risk of changing candidates. That can be understood, but it makes it difficult for female candidates and, more generally, the new generations to emerge.
There is still much to be done to achieve true access for women—who represent half of the electorate—to elective mandates and ensure their presence in executive responsibilities (only 6% of them head Departments).
Juliette Chesnel-Le Roux: Women are certainly present in politics at the activist level.
They are also active in party structures. There are a number of national secretaries (or presidents) for example in the PS, FN, and Europe-Ecologie-Les Verts.
It’s at the level of electoral representation that they are unable to make their mark. They are significantly more present in minority parties, for which the financial penalty is too heavy to bear (referencing the June 2000 parity law).
But in major parties, probably due to the non-renewal of mandates, women, as well as “visible” minorities, are more challenged to be nominated for “winnable” positions.
Women are represented at 13.1% in general councils and the progress is very slow; at this rate, without legal obligation, it would take 70 years to achieve parity.
18.5% in the National Assembly
21.9% of senators
…which are single-member elections. The law does not require a parity presentation of men and women (except for senators).
In list elections, the 2000 law on parity requiring paritarian lists, the rate is notably more normalized:
48% in regional councils (including 38% of vice-presidents)
35% of municipal councilors.
They represent half of the French population and their representation is very, too weak.
Dominique Estrosi-Sassone: We see that, even if progress has been mainly made thanks to the parity law, being a woman in politics is a continual battle. Especially when it touches more significant responsibilities, higher in political hierarchy. Being a female local elected official is somewhat less complicated because there we have the possibility to respect the parity law. It’s found, for example, at the legislative level, deputies, and even ministers and state secretaries; although there is still much to do, and even if we always say we want to bring more diversity and feminize the political sphere, we see that this parity is not yet truly achieved in its majority. In any case, considering what women represent in society as a whole, their representation in political life is not significant.
NP: Do you think that the electorate/media can sometimes be sexist?
D.B-M: I do not think the electorate is sexist, or else we would have to consider that the French are more sexist than many other nations, which, not only in Europe but worldwide, have not hesitated to entrust the highest state responsibilities to women.
But I believe some political leaders are sexist, perhaps not fundamentally, but more pragmatically, simply because they want to maintain their position and women represent additional competitors for them.
Regarding the media, it is evident they have never spared women who reached the highest state levels. This was the case for Edith Cresson, whom François Mitterrand appointed as Prime Minister, and also for Ségolène Royal, when she was in a position to win the last presidential election. I am not saying these women were void of flaws, far from it, but it seems they were scrutinized far more closely than men in the same situation. Moreover, the attacks often had a slightly mocking and contemptuous tone that is rarely allowed with men.
J.C-LR: No, the electorate is not sexist. It is the traditional political machines that are timid and believe it. The media are increasingly less sexist. The comments heard during Edith Cresson’s time would no longer be accepted and are no longer appropriate today.
D.E-S: Yes. I think so. As for the media, I don’t know too much. Perhaps not sexist, but they still view it through a narrow lens, as we say. They focus more on the celebrity aspect rather than truly on the value women can bring in certain respects. Secondly, regarding the electorate, I don’t think the electorate itself is genuinely sexist in this context. I think, however, that within the political world itself, within the corporate world, there can still be behaviors that are sexist and macho on both sides.
R.G: Certainly, as the media are merely a reflection of society. Ostracism, xenophobia, racism are present in our society. Some parties that were once republican are even using these impulses to serve their electoral interests. Because there may not be more sexist discrimination than social or ethnic discrimination. The question is more global, and the answer concerns the fight for equality between men and women and among people.
NP: What should change for natural parity to be established?
D.E-S: I think it’s a matter of evolution, mentality, and also circumstances. I think at such levels, there must be women with their life paths, with the responsibilities they can have, who are in the right place, at the right time concerning nominations. Whether in large companies or, for instance, ministerial positions, it is true that it is often also a series of circumstances. But I think that, given today, we have a larger pool among elected local officials, allowing me to think that this pool, which is still quite young, will enable these women to occupy higher functions and positions in the political hierarchy.
R.G: There is no natural and/or spontaneous parity. It’s up to women to seek it and win it, as it is essentially a struggle and the result of a power balance. This question, moreover, transcends the political parity framework; it touches on the issue of equality in general, whether in terms of wage equality, the right to self-determination, the right to decision-making, the right to education, etc. All these disparities will disappear from politics once women’s struggles have eradicated them from society. And the involvement of women in the overthrow of dictatorships in the Maghreb, where they fight for equal rights for all, clearly shows that women’s emancipation is also crucial for the emancipation of people.
J.C-LR: To evolve things, it would be necessary to limit mandates over time. To make room for women, young people, and diversity figures, renewal must be enforced.
Also, banning simultaneous mandate cumulation (general councilor and deputy) would renew a good portion of elected officials.
A status for the elected official, enabling a return to civilian life, should also be established.
NP: Will France ever elect a woman President?
J.C-LR: There is no doubt about it. Other countries have taken the step. Internationally respected figures, such as Eva Joly, are entirely capable of holding the position.
D.E-S: Yes. I think French people are ready today. It won’t be because it will be a woman president of the Republic, but because the French will find, through the presence of a female candidate, all the competencies that a future head of state can have. I think that’s it; it’s not about electing a woman per se, but finding the competencies through a candidate, whether man or woman. And thus, under those conditions, there is no reason why a woman should never become President of the Republic one day.
R.G: Of course! And in this respect, albeit slowly, the revolution of stereotypes is underway. Why should France deprive itself any longer of competencies that other countries haven’t? For instance, Finland, Israel, Argentina, Brazil, or England?
However, it’s worth noting that today, appointing a female President would not, in itself, resolve the economic and social issues our country faces, but rather the advent of power by social transformation forces fundamentally breaking with the exhausted capitalist system that ruins people and devastates our planet.
D.B-M: I want to believe it. There’s no reason why what has happened elsewhere, including in countries with less longstanding democratic traditions than ours, shouldn’t occur here. And she will become President because voters will have judged her competent to take on this enormous responsibility, not because she is a woman. It might even happen sooner than we think. Who knows?
