Main French parties ignore female quota

An electoral paradox has been created by a French law that says political parties must put forward at least as many female candidates as males in next week's parliamentary elections.

If the parties do not, the state contribution to their electoral expenses will be cut by the percentage by which they fail to meet the target for women candidates.

One consequence of the law is that traditionally male- dominated parties such as the far-right National Front and the hunters' party, the CPNT, which need the public subsidies, are running a high percentage of women candidates. The mainstream parties, including the centre-right UMP (Union pour la Majorité Présidentielle) and the Socialist Party, which have other public and private sources of cash, are flouting the regulation.

Only 19.7 per cent of President Jacques Chirac's UMP candidates in the 577 constituencies nationwide are women. The Socialist Party has only 36 per cent – a poor score, considering the Socialist-led government of Lionel Jospin was the party that pushed through the parity law.

The Greens are top of the parity class, with more women candidates than men, 210 to 194. The cash-strapped National Front has 273 women and 290 men, and the CPNT 184 women to 217 men.

The law responded to long-standing complaints about the barriers to women in French politics. Women were deprived of the vote until 1944. The outgoing French parliament has only 10.9 per cent women members, the second lowest in the EU and 59th in the league table of male-female parity in parliaments worldwide.

So does the law really signal a feminist revolution? Far from it, according to a leading French feminist, Florence Montreynaud, who has been against it from the outset.

"This law is a scandal, a hypocrisy, a perversion of the system. It does nothing to address the main issues at the root of the parity issue in politics such as the sharing of household chores," she said.

"Women will never have equal access to a career in politics until we see an evolution in the job itself. They cannot seriously be expected to bring up a family, take care of the housework, and be free to attend meetings late at night."

The laxity on the part of larger parties is explained by a loophole in the law. Financial aid is also assigned according to the number of deputies each party wins. This cash remains untouched, whatever the gender of the candidates. Smaller parties who win few, if any, seats are dependent on a €1.70 (£1.08) subsidy for each vote won, which is cut pro rata if they fail to present at least 50 per cent women candidates.

Réjane Sénac-Slawinski, the head of the agency that monitors the implementation of the parity law, insists that its results are in line with long- term objectives.

The first application of the law was in the municipal elections in 2001 when 47.5 per cent of all councillors elected were women. Ms Sénac-Slawinski said: "The municipal elections saw a massive introduction of women into politics.

"One can no longer claim that women are deprived of political experience."