The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, said that receiving a fine for employing too many women in senior positions in the city is “absurd”.
Hidalgo’s comments came after the French public services ministry asked him for a fine of 90,000 euros ($ 110,000), which he said Paris City Council broke the rules by endowing more women in 2018 than men.
“I am pleased to announce that we have been fined,” Hidalgo said during a city council meeting, noting that the fine was absurd, according to Yahoo News.
Hidalgo’s fine came as a result of staffing 11 women and only five men in managerial positions in 2018, Yahoo News reported.
“The city council leadership has suddenly become a feminist mass,” Hidalgo said with a laugh. He added that the fine brought him joy.
The rule, which was created in 2013, stated that no more than 60 per cent of new appointments to public service management positions should go to a single sex, according to the BBC.
“This fine is obviously absurd, unfair, irresponsible and dangerous,” Hidalgo said.
French public service minister Amélie de Montchalin analyzed the situation on Twitter and wrote that the “absurd” provision was repealed in 2019.
.@Anne_Hidalgo, the cause of women better merits! We repealed this absurd provision as early as 2019. I want the fine paid by Paris for 2018 to finance concrete actions of promotion of women in the public function. I invite you to the ministry to talk about them! https://t.co/QyIYA41mBv
– Amélie de Montchalin (@AdeMontchalin) December 15, 2020
“I want the fine paid by Paris in 2018 to fund concrete actions to promote women in public service. I invite you to the ministry to discuss them!” she said.