Paris WorldWide #9

France rose to fourth place globally
in ministerial parity, but is only 46 th
in the parliamentary field. Far behind
the Finns and the Swedes but
well ahead of the United States, who
ranks, respectively, 29 th and 73 rd , and
China, at 65 th and 54 th .
A similar trend can be seen in the business
world, where things are evolving
but slowly. According to the International
Labour Organisation (ILO),
women own and operate more than
30 percent of businesses globally. But
this figure plummets at the multinational
level, where women account for
only 2.8 percent of the leaders of listed companies
in Europe and only 4.8 percent of U.S. Fortune 500
companies. The first female CEO in the American
ranking is Mary Barra, the head of General Motors,
at number 6. Media-savvy Marissa Mayer, the CEO
of Yahoo, is ranked 561st. Meanwhile France fares
even worse, with not one CAC40-listed company currently
headed by a woman. Though this will change
next year with the appointment of Isabelle Kocher at
« Devoir prouver
que l’on est
capable de gérer »
“Having to prove
you can handle it”
the helm of Engie (formerly GDF Suez).
Frenchwoman Christine Lagarde knows
the realities of politics and economics as
well as anyone. The current Managing
Director of the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) worked at the law firm
Baker & McKenzie for more than 20
years, where she became the first female
Chair in the company’s history. In 2007,
Lagarde was appointed French Minister
of Economic Affairs, Finance and
Employment, a first for a woman. According
to Marc Vanghelder, Lagarde’s
former communications advisor, “When
she arrived at Bercy, she found a heap
of files on her desk. People were just waiting for a
slip-up. Within four days, Lagarde had read and annotated
everything and could present a budget. As a
woman in this position, she knew she had no room
to make mistakes.” Lagarde makes no bones about
her “woman of power” status and the difficulties it
raises. “When I became a leader...I believed that if I
failed to take advantage of the opportunity to speak
about uncomfortable issues at the top partner echelon,
such as unequal pay, the complete absence of
remuneration during maternity leave, the ridiculous
discrepancy of female associates to male associates,
it would have been cowardly and irresponsible to
women. I have not changed views since,” she confided
to Figaro Madame last March.
Talking about the anomaly of being a woman in a
man’s world is no longer taboo. Sandrine Rousseau,
the spokesperson for Europe Écologie Les Verts
(EELV), recently published a book titled, somewhat
humorously, Manuel de Survie à Destination
des Femmes en Politique (A Survival Manual
for Women in Politics; Les Petits Matins Editions,
March 2015). “Of course, parity has alleviated the
massive discrimination against women, but we still
face myriad small details that must be overcome
every single day to prove to voters and colleagues
that we can handle it,” says Rousseau, who was an
economist before being elected Vice President of the
Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, in 2010.
© NASA
© Britta Pedersen/dpa/Corbis - © Women’s Forum
MAKING A NAME FOR YOURSELF
“With parity, women have taken it on themselves to
restore meaning to politics, to exercise power in a
different, more gentle and down-to-earth way. But
that has had a counter effect: the return of more
traditional stereotypes about femininity,” says
specialist Frédérique Matonti. “When the media
talks about a female politician she is presented as
a mother or a spouse, her outfits and her physique
are discussed. The latest example: the campaign
for the Paris Municipal elections (in 2014), often
touted as a duel between Anne Hidalgo, the Andalusian
with a radiant smile, and the ethereal Nathalie
79 - paris Worldwide septembre/octobre
september/october 2015