Authorities in the city of Paris have been fined for employing too many women in senior positions, a decision scoffed at as absurd by Mayor Anne Hidalgo on Tuesday.
The French Ministry of Public Services demanded a fine of 90,000 euros (£ 81,000) on the grounds that Paris City Council had breached national rules on gender parity in the 2018 workforce.
“I am delighted to announce that we have been fined,” Hidalgo, a member of the Socialist Party, said at a town hall meeting, adding that he had been filled with joy when he learned of the sentence.
Hidalgo pleaded guilty because 11 women and only five men were appointed to managerial positions in the city council in 2018, meaning 69% of the appointments were for women.
“Suddenly, the city council leadership has become too feminist,” said Hidalgo, who was re-elected for a new term at the helm of Paris last year.
According to the text of the ruling cited by Le Monde, the city council violated a rule dating back to 2013 that states that one sex should not represent more than 60% of candidacies for managerial positions.
Hidalgo said she would bring the fine check to the government in person, along with her deputy mayors and all the women who worked for her.
Taking a more serious tone, she added: “This fine is obviously absurd, unfair, irresponsible and dangerous,” and added that women in France should be promoted vigorously “because the gap across France is still very large.”
“Yes, to one day achieve parity, we need to speed up the pace and ensure that more women are designated than men,” she said.
In response to Twitter, French public service minister Amélie de Montchalin of the ruling La République En Marche party acknowledged that the fine had been imposed for 2018.
Since then, the absurd rule on parity in management had been repealed, he noted.
“I want the fine paid by Paris in 2018 to fund concrete actions to promote women in the public service. I invite you to the ministry to talk about it, “he said in a message to Hidalgo.