The elections of Sunday June 28 are a hope for gender parity in politics. Half of the 10 largest cities in France will thus be headed by women mayors. An evolution that must continue.
Anne Hidalgo is not the only mayor to declare victory in the municipal race. Half of the ten largest cities, Strasbourg, Lille, Paris, Marseille, Nantes are today in the hands of women politicians. A fact that L'obs reveals, and which pulls, even if the fight is not over, towards expected equality. The other five cities were won by the ecologist Grégory Doucet in Lyon, Jean-Luc Moudenc (LR) re-elected in Toulouse, Christian Estrosi (LR) re-elected in Nice, Michaël Delafosse elected in Montpellier, and the ecologist Pierre Hurmic in Bordeaux .
In municipalities with 100,000 inhabitants, 12 mayors are women, according to France Inter.
More precisely, in addition to Anne Hidalgo (PS) in Paris, you have to count on Johanna Rolland (PS) in Nantes, Jeanne Barseghian (EELV) in Strasbourg, Martine Aubry (PS) in Lille and Michèle Rubirola (PM) in Marseille , even if for the latter the decision is not entirely recorded, it will be necessary to wait until July 3 to be certain of his election.
These bastions are not the only ones to see change, other cities are being led by women and for the first time!
Anne Vignot, environmental candidate of a left-wing coalition conquered the town hall of Besançon, which has been owned by men until now. The same is true for Léonore Moncond'huy (EELV) in Poitiers, Maider Arosteguy (LR) in Biarritz, Delphine Labails (PS) in Périgueux, or Isabelle Assih in Quimper, at the head of a union list PS -PCF-PRG.
Laurence Rossignol, senator and ex-Minister of Women's Rights, could not but rejoice at this news: "Already Nantes, Rennes, Paris, Lille were headed by women at the head of the left team and environmentalists. beautiful reinforcements than Besançon, Strasbourg and Marseille. " For her part, Anne-Cécile Mailfert, president of the Women's Foundation, also wanted to congratulate the winners: "bravo ladies!".
The tree that hides the forest ?
Nothing is at stake, because if the big cities start to feminize, women remain mayors of villages: 18% in municipalities with less than 500 inhabitants and only 11% for those between 30,000 and 100,000 inhabitants, according to documents from the General Directorate of Local Authorities (DGCL). On the other hand, women are more present in municipal councils: 29% among the first assistants, 38% for the second assistants and 43% among the other assistants and councilors.
For Christophe Bouillon, president of the association of small towns of France, the APVF, interviewed by France Culture last January, "there is really still a lot of pedagogy and education to do, and above all, we must point the finger at those who convey this type of message through sexist remarks, sexist attitudes or a slightly different look "
"There are sexist acts, there are also sexist remarks. It is a whole. I believe that the words are also sometimes violent and the remarks are stupid. We are still today with men who, when they have to judge a chosen one, do it on dress, on criteria which have nothing to do with the missions which one entrusted to them. ", he added.
Still on France Culture, Mariette Sineau, honorary research director at Science Po and at the CNRS, author of "Women and power under the Fifth Republic" had expressed her opinion on the presence or not of women in town halls: "The laws which have gradually deployed the joint system, since the constitutional reform of 1999, have facilitated the access of women to municipal councils, because they impose, during the list elections, a man-woman alternation from the beginning to the end of the list. Whereas for the election of mayors, there is no joint constraint. Previously, the gap was not as great between the proportion of women at the base and that at the head of municipal executives. The explanation is twofold. Firstly, there is no joint constraint for the mayors. Second, the head of the municipalities represents a strong power issue. And therefore, it is a coveted function, very competitive, and therefore it is a bit the law of the strongest, that is to say the most endowed with political resources, the most combative, the best known of the voters . "
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