Parity Reform in France: Promises and Pitfalls

Abstract

In the 299Os, a new social movement emerged in France to address the undmepresentation of women in elected bodies and to promote women's and men's equal representation, in French called parite'. On the eve of the twenty-first century, the movement achieved its main goal-constitutional reform. The purpose of this article is to present both the promises of the parity movement and the limits of the reform. During the 299Os, parity reform appeared as a tool to achieve sex-based political equality, but it was also seen as an indicator of feminist movement renewal and of improving French democracy. The legal texts adopted in 2999 and 2000 did not keep the promises of the movement. While the legal obligations and financial incentives in the reforms established new mechanisms for achieving parity between the sexes in elected ofice, they have not yet translated into actual parity in electoral outcomes.

The road not taken: Gender gaps along paths to political power

“…The impact of quotas on women's electoral political participation and representation is more mixed: Beaman, Chattopadhyay, Duflo, Pande, & Topalova (2009) find a significant impact on female candidacy, although only after repeated exposure to women leaders, and Bhavnani (2009) finds an increase in female candidacy in urban India. Candidacy quotas may not necessarily result in greater women's representation, due to the role of parties in undermining such quotas (Bagues & Campa, 2017;Baudino, 2003;Casas-Arce & Saiz, 2015). Other studies have shown important spillover effects such as fewer women being fielded in non-quota constituencies (see Sekhon & Titiunik (2012)'s reanalysis of Bhavnani (2009)) or changes in the quality of male candidates (Besley, Folke, Persson, & Rickne, 2017).…”

Gendered Political Opportunities? Elite Alliances, Electoral Cleavages, and Activity Choice Among Women's Groups in the UK, France, and Germany

“…Some women's groups in the UK also have mobilized around reproductive issues (Stetson, 2001). Significant distinctions between these countries are evident during the 1990s; German women's groups struggled to formulate united goals in light of unification whereas French groups became active about parity representation (Lemke, 1994;Baudino, 2008).…”

“…The women's movement in France is divided into 'wings' (revolutionary, syndicalist, and egalitarian -see Jenson & Sineau, 1994), is 'disorganized', and has been in 'decline' since the 1970s with the exceptions of grassroots projects (e.g. bookstores and cafes) and the parity movement which invigorated it, respectively, during the 1980s and 1990s (de Beauvoir, 1996;Robinson, 2001, p. 94;Baudino, 2008). Unification led to fissures in the German movement (from differing East and West perspectives, see Young, 1996), the movement has not been strong recently, and it consists of 'local grassroots projects' (as has been common in the movement's dominant radical strand) or 'professionalized [NGO] women's organizations' (Ferree, 1987;Lang, 2000;Lang, 2007, p. 138).…”

Electorally Threatening Women? Understanding Gender Quotas in the French Socialist Party

“…Parties now nominate women to winnable slots not because they have firm commitments to gender equality in politics, but because their lists will be struck down if they fail to do so. And observers have pointed out that the law has been particularly problematic in elections held at the municipal level (Baudino 2003;Bereni and Lèpinard 2004a,b;Bird 2002). First, as mentioned above, the law applies only to cities with more than 3,500 inhabitants, which means that in those places with smaller populations (or in about 95 percent of French cities and towns) parties can nominate as many (or as few) women as they please.…”