France on course to close its gender pay gap – by 2234

If present trends continue, France will not close its gender pay gap until 2234, according to new research from a feminist group, published on the day when French women begin working for 'free'.

Published: 3 November 2021 13:19 CET

France on course to close its gender pay gap - by 2234

Photo: Damien Meyer/AFP

Wednesday, November 3rd at 9.22am marked the moment when French women begin working ‘for free’ until the end of the year – the symbol of the gap between wages for men and women.

And the gap is actually widening, according to research by feminist group Les Glorieuses. Economist and group founder Rebecca Amsellem told France Inter “at this rate, we’ll obtain equality in 2234”.

According to Eurostat, the gender pay gap in France went from 15.6 percent in 2015 to 16.5 percent in 2021, despite several measures implemented by the French government.

In 2019 for instance, Equalities minister Marlène Schiappa and Labour minister Muriel Pénicaud implemented the index Egapro. Firms with at least 50 workers are now compelled to calculate and publish their gender pay gap.

Unequal pay “reaches all women in all business sectors,” said Amsellem. “Gender pay gaps are the highest in well-paid jobs, but women are hit no matter the area”.

“With the same job and the same experience, women are less paid than men. It’s a pay gap of about 10 percent,” Amsellem told France Inter.

This year, women in France will be working for free from November 3rd at 9:22 a.m. until the end of 2021.

Les Glorieuses have created the hashtag #3Novembre9h22 and a petition.

A few months away from the 2022 Presidential elections, the group is also calling out to candidates from all parties for propositions in favour of equal pay.

Les Glorieuses have three main propositions to reduce the gender pay gap in France: the creation of a shared parental leave, a pay rise in sectors where women are the most numerous, and the application of the principle of “equalconditionality” with the creation of an equal pay certificate. This means that firms will only have access to a public contracts, public subsidies or a loan from the state if they apply equal pay for equal work.

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France has in recent weeks been shaken by a series of attacks on schoolchildren by their peers, in particularly the fatal beating earlier this month of Shemseddine, 15, outside Paris.

The far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party has accused Attal of not doing enough on security as the anti-immigration party soars ahead of the government coalition in polls for the June 9th election.

Speaking in Viry-Chatillon, the town where Shemseddine was killed, Attal condemned the “addiction of some of our adolescents to violence”, calling for “a real surge of authority… to curb violence”.

“There are twice as many adolescents involved in assault cases, four times more in drug trafficking, and seven times more in armed robberies than in the general population,” he said.

Measures will include expanding compulsory school attendance to all the days of the week from 8am to 6pm for children of collège age (11 to 15).

“In the day the place to be is at school, to work and to learn,” said Attal, who was also marking 100 days in office since being appointed in January by President Emmanuel Macron to turn round the government’s fortunes.

Parents needed to take more responsibility, said Attal, warning that particularly disruptive children would have sanctions marked on their final grades.

OPINION: No, France is not suffering an unprecedented wave of violence

Promoting an old-fashioned back-to-basics approach to school authority, he said “You break something – you repair it. You make a mess – you clear it up. And if you disobey – we teach you respect.”

Attal also floated the possibility of children in exceptional cases being denied the right to special treatment on account of their minority in legal cases.

Thus 16-year-olds could be forced to immediately appear in court after violations “like adults”, he said. In France, the age of majority is 18, in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Macron and Attal face an uphill struggle to reverse the tide ahead of the European elections. Current polls point to the risk of a major debacle that would overshadow the rest of the president’s second mandate up to 2027.

A poll this week by Ifop-Fiducial showed the RN on 32.5 percent with the government coalition way behind on 18 percent.