Paris – Paris City Council has received a fine of 90,000 euros ($ 109,408) for appointing too many women to positions in 2018, in breach of a law aimed at ensuring gender balance. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo called the fine “unfair” and “absurd” on Tuesday during a city council meeting.
A 2013 law designed to ensure women have better access to high-level jobs in the civil service requires a minimum of 40% of appointments for each gender.
In 2018, 11 women and 5 men – representing just over 30% – were appointed to the top positions in Paris City Council, which led the civil service ministry to impose the fine.
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“I am delighted to announce that we have been fined,” Hidalgo of the Socialist Party said during Tuesday’s council meeting. “The city council leadership has suddenly become a feminist mass.”
“This fine is obviously absurd, unfair, irresponsible and dangerous,” Hidalgo said.
According to BBC News, French Minister of Public Services Amélie de Montchalin responded with a tweet in which the law was changed in 2019, avoiding fines for too many men or women in any public office, as long as a general balance is achieved. of gender.
Montchalin promised that the fine collected from Paris City Council – which still applies as the 2018 contract was made before the law was changed – will go to “concrete actions” to improve gender parity in the country. .