Legislative: women in “historic” decline in the National Assembly

Published on: 06/22/2022 – 16:32 Not only do men continue to largely dominate the French hemicycle, but the share of women deputies fell after the legislative elections of 12 and 19 June. In question, political parties which still do not respect the law on parity and place men in priority in winnable constituencies. France 24 paints a picture of good and bad students. The National Assembly elected on Sunday June 19 still does not look like France. The hemicycle remains very largely dominated by men with only 215 women deputies out of 577 deputies, against 224 in 2017. “A historic drop”, regrets the spokesperson for Dare feminism, Fabienne El-Khoury. “The number of women elected to the National Assembly is falling for the first time in decades of progress.” And for good reason, the legislative elections of 2017 marked a record for French national representation, compared to 2012, when only 155 seats were occupied by female deputies. Parity has therefore declined since the previous legislature with only 37.26% of women this time, against 38.8% five years ago. Women are “under-represented” in politics even though they constitute 52% of the French population and 52% of those registered on the electoral lists, underlines Fabienne El-Khoury. A delay which is partly explained by the non-respect of the law on parity. This text voted in 2000, with an increased fine in 2014, penalizes the political parties which do not respect the equality in the number of the candidatures presented. Under this law, the public allocations of each party, calculated on the basis of the number of votes obtained in the legislative elections, are reduced from a 2% deviation from parity. “The law does not oblige, it only constrains”, notes Dare feminism. “There are therefore political parties which prefer to pay rather than have women candidates.” The PCF and Les Républicains, less good pupils Thus, at the end of the previous legislative elections, six parties, including La France insoumise (LFI), had been hit in the wallet for not having presented as many women as men in the National Assembly. LR had been deducted around 1.8 million euros in 2018 from its public allocations for having invested only 40% in women in 2017. A record fine which did not serve as a lesson to the right-wing party, since this year again, Les Républicains presented only 39% of women. It is therefore not surprising to see only 29.03% of LR deputies for this new legislature. But in terms of parity, according to our calculations*, the French Communist Party (PCF) is unquestionably the worst student with only 16.66% of elected women, closely followed by the centrists of the UDI who do not count than 20% of women deputies. Taken as a whole, the Nupes presents 43.07% of women elected, but within La France insoumise (LFI) – sanctioned during the previous legislature with around 252,000 euros in penalties – women are proportionally less well represented in the palace. Bourbon, with a score of 33.77%, which places it behind the National Rally (37.07%). Women remain a minority in the National Assembly. © Graphic studio France Médias Monde Only one French party has more elected women than men. It is Europe Ecology-The Greens (EELV) with its 54% of deputies. As for the presidential majority, its score remains honorable, but not yet equal with 42.22% for Renaissance (ex-LREM) and 40.11% for the MoDem. Women hampered in their political ascent For Fabienne El-Khoury, parity would gain ground if the parties played the game by agreeing to present women in winnable constituencies, in which they tend to place male candidates. “Men are often better known to voters, and more recognized within their own party with a power relationship in their favor”, she analyzes, underlining the many obstacles “to fight” for the rise of women in political parties. “There are still too many testimonies of sexual and sexist harassment within parties and on social networks. Women candidates are more frequently victims of it, especially on Twitter. This can deter women from running.” parliamentary groups Another index of the place of women in politics, the higher one rises in the executive functions of the assemblies, the fewer women there are. “It’s always the same scenario, men have the monopoly of the presidency of parliamentary groups, only one woman had been appointed to this position out of the seven political groups [de la précédente législature]. And what about the presidency of the National Assembly”, regrets the activist of Dare feminism. A claim which seems to have been heard by the Renaissance party. The presidential party has just appointed the elected of Yvelines Aurore Bergé president of the deputies of the group, and this from the first round of an internal vote.Former deputy president of the group, she succeeds Christophe Castaner, who failed at the polls on Sunday, against all odds.With AFP*France 24 carried out several checks and integrated into the ranks of LREM, LR, PS, LFI elected officials labeled various left / center / right by the Ministry of the Interior.