Hollande Gets A-Minus on Promise to Women on Egalite in Power
By Helene Fouquet - May 24, 2012 6:01 PM ET
French President Francois Hollande promised gender parity in his government and better access to power for women. He kept his word, sort of.
Europe’s second-largest economy now has an equal number of men and women in its cabinet of ministers for the first time. Still, women don’t hold the most critical ministerial posts and men account for more than 80 percent of Hollande’s powerful policy-making team at the Elysee presidential palace.
“Hollande has done a great job honoring his campaign promise of parity in the cabinet, but it looks like he doesn’t like to be advised by women,” Marie-Jo Zimmermann, a lawmaker from former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s party and head of the women’s rights committee at the National Assembly, said in an interview. “I give him an A-minus for his government. I can’t be too nice to him. But the jury is out when it comes to his team of close aides.”
Keeping his campaign pledge on parity was critical for Hollande ahead of the country’s legislative elections on June 10 and 17 that will determine if his Socialist Party gets control of the French Parliament. Winning over women, who account for 53 percent of the country’s electorate, will be vital to securing a majority in the lower house of the National Assembly.
Hollande, 57, named 17 women in his 34-strong cabinet of ministers. Yet Sylvie Hubac is the only woman in his eight- member core council of advisers that has the president’s ear, drafts and directs his agenda and the nation’s policy.
more:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-24/hollande-gets-a-minus-on-promise-to-women-on-egalit-in-power.html
DO SOMETHING!
| 