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Ex French PM blasts ‘insidious sexism’ that remains in politics

Elisabeth Borne, the second woman to serve as prime minister of France, on Friday denounced the "insidious sexism" that she said still permeated French politics.

Published: 8 March 2024 13:41 CET

Ex French PM blasts 'insidious sexism' that remains in politics

Former Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has spoken out about sexism in politics. Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP

Borne stepped down earlier this year in a cabinet reshuffle ordered by President Emmanuel Macron after less than two years in office.

“We don’t have the unbridled sexism” experienced by Edith Cresson, the first woman to head the French government, from 1991 to 1992, “but there is still a form of sexism that is undoubtedly more insidious”, Borne told broadcaster RTL on Friday, International Women’s Day.

Borne, 62, was the second woman to serve as prime minister after Cresson, steering Macron’s government between 2022 and 2024.

At Macron’s request, she resigned in January, replaced by 34-year-old Gabriel Attal, who became France’s youngest head of government. The new cabinet was criticised by some feminists as all of the senior posts – foreign affairs, interior, finance and defence – were now occupied by men.

Borne said women in politics were “constantly” compared to men.

“Men in politics, they all have an interest in imposing masculine codes, it eliminates the competition”, she added.

She also said that all candidates to succeed her were men.

“It’s as if commentators were saying to themselves: ‘We’ve just had a woman prime minister for 20 months, that’s it, we’re back to normal life’,” she said.

She said more work needed to be done to achieve genuine equality, in politics, business, and science.

Even when she handed over office to Attal on January 9th, Borne had made clear her resentment over sexism in French politics, saying “I have also been able to see quite often that there is still some way to go for equality between women and men.”

But she added in that ceremony in a message to women: “Hold on, the future belongs to you.”

On Friday, Macron oversaw abortion becoming a constitutional right at a special ceremony in Paris to mark the world first.

In a historic vote, a rare congress of both houses of parliament on Monday gave a green light towards making terminating a pregnancy a “guaranteed freedom” in the basic text, sparking celebration among feminists.

Borne said she was glad to see the inclusion of abortion rights in the constitution, calling it “a rather unusual moment of unity.”

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Azerbaijan vehemently rejects the accusation it bears responsibility for the riots that have led to the deaths of five people and rattled the Paris government.

But it is just the latest in a litany of tensions between Paris and Baku and not the first time France has accused Azerbaijan of being behind an alleged disinformation campaign.

The riots in New Caledonia, a French territory lying between Australia and Fiji, were sparked by moves to agree a new voting law that supporters of independence from France say discriminates against the indigenous Kanak population.

Paris points to the sudden emergence of Azerbaijani flags alongside Kanak symbols in the protests, while a group linked to the Baku authorities is openly backing separatists while condemning Paris.

“This isn’t a fantasy. It’s a reality,” interior minister Gérald Darmanin told television channel France 2 when asked if Azerbaijan, China and Russia were interfering in New Caledonia.

“I regret that some of the Caledonian pro-independence leaders have made a deal with Azerbaijan. It’s indisputable,” he alleged.

But he added: “Even if there are attempts at interference… France is sovereign on its own territory, and so much the better”.

“We completely reject the baseless accusations,” Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry spokesman Ayhan Hajizadeh said.

“We refute any connection between the leaders of the struggle for freedom in Caledonia and Azerbaijan.”

In images widely shared on social media, a reportage broadcast Wednesday on the French channel TF1 showed some pro-independence supporters wearing T-shirts adorned with the Azerbaijani flag.

Tensions between Paris and Baku have grown in the wake of the 2020 war and 2023 lightning offensive that Azerbaijan waged to regain control of its breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region from ethnic Armenian separatists.

France is a traditional ally of Christian Armenia, Azerbaijan’s neighbour and historic rival, and is also home to a large Armenian diaspora.

Darmanin said Azerbaijan – led since 2003 by President Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded his father Heydar – was a “dictatorship”.

On Wednesday, the Paris government also banned social network TikTok from operating in New Caledonia.

Tiktok, whose parent company is Chinese, has been widely used by protesters. Critics fear it is being employed to spread disinformation coming from foreign countries.

Azerbaijan invited separatists from the French territories of Martinique, French Guiana, New Caledonia and French Polynesia to Baku for a conference in July 2023.

The meeting saw the creation of the “Baku Initiative Group”, whose stated aim is to support “French liberation and anti-colonialist movements”.

The group published a statement this week condemning the French parliament’s proposed change to New Caledonia’s constitution, which would allow outsiders who moved to the territory at least 10 years ago the right to vote in its elections.

Pro-independence forces say that would dilute the vote of Kanaks, who make up about 40 percent of the population.

“We stand in solidarity with our Kanak friends and support their fair struggle,” the Baku Initiative Group said.

Raphael Glucksmann, the lawmaker heading the list for the French Socialists in June’s European Parliament elections, told Public Senat television that Azerbaijan had made “attempts to interfere… for months”.

He said the underlying problem behind the unrest was a domestic dispute over election reform, not agitation fomented by “foreign actors”.

But he accused Azerbaijan of “seizing on internal problems.”

A French government source, who asked not to be named, said pro-Azerbaijani social media accounts had on Wednesday posted an edited montage purporting to show two white police officers with rifles aimed at dead Kanaks.

“It’s a pretty massive campaign, with around 4,000 posts generated by (these) accounts,” the source told AFP.

“They are reusing techniques already used during a previous smear campaign called Olympia.”

In November, France had already accused actors linked to Azerbaijan of carrying out a disinformation campaign aimed at damaging its reputation over its ability to host the Olympic Games in Paris. Baku also rejected these accusations.