Gender Discrimination In France

France is composed of around 63,136,180 inhabitants, and 51.5% are women. French women have also a higher life expectancy than men. (Ministère des Droits des femmes, 2012) Even though they seemingly have a comparable situation with men in France, the female gender is still the target of discrimination and abuse, especially in the world of world.

a. Women’s situation in France

Women have always been victims of discrimination by the all kinds of systems: political, juridical, educational and others.

Nowadays, a current female problem is the fact that around 25% of jobs in France holding by women are part time jobs. (Gender Equality in France, 2012) The reason to explain those alarming figures is unfortunately not a reason by choice. Most of the time, women have to regrettably accept a part-time job rather than a full-time job, due to the difficulty to find one. Companies usually prefer employing men for such positions. The explanation is extremely discriminatory. Most of the time, it is called glass ceiling1. Women cope with different forms of discrimination. Firstly, most of the managers are more likely to select a male applicant compared to a female applicant for natural reasons. A woman, during her life, will probably have children. This natural desire to be mothers will therefore generate maternity leave. During that period of time, the manager in charge of the female employee will need to find a substitute person for the job. This replacement will lead to high costs, loss of time and potential management problems. (Gender Equality in France, 2012) That is the main reason why managers prefer choosing the easiest solution.

In addition to natural discrimination, women also experience discrimination concerning wages. It is cal...

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...ttention concerning gender could be done but a specific clause was written up to implement provisions concerning pregnancy, nursing or pre-natal and post-natal rest. The Commission disagreed with this clause. It considered it as discriminatory and not in accordance with the Directive. The Commission provided proceedings, which related to a complete implementation of that Directive. Moreover, by the adoption of the Article 19 in 1983, the French Republic had failed to fulfil its obligations under the Treaty. French government therefore lost in front of the European Court of Justice. (ECJ, 1988)

These two cases of law are examples of fight against gender discrimination. However, the newt part will prove that France still has a long way to go before completely eradicating this issue. Some other countries are more advanced than France, but they are not perfect at all.