“Our motto is to say that the state is back for women,” assured the Secretary of State for Gender Equality, Marlene Schiappa , Tuesday closing a “Tour de France of equality ” launched in October.
This citizen consultation has identified a series of local initiatives that will be generalized, she said. “Fifty measures” will be presented at an interdepartmental committee Thursday, chaired by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe.
For example, a “referent equality” will be named in each school in September 2019, an initiative inspired by a high school in Val-d’Oise.
A platform to geolocate emergency accommodation
Local contracts will also be signed between prefects, magistrates, hospitals and associations to set up a system of “network alert” to better identify spousal violence, as is done in Angouleme.
A geolocation platform for emergency shelter for female victims, accessible only by professionals (associations, emergency doctors, social workers …) will be developed to help them find a refuge.
“Two thousand places of accommodation will be reserved in 2018, with support for these women and their children,” said Ms. Schiappa, this Wednesday in the National Assembly.
Remove the wage gap “within three years”
In a forum published by Liberation , associations grouped in #stopVFF (stop violence against women) have on their side asked for “additional financial support and means” to strengthen their actions.
The government has already announced Wednesday evening, after a consultation between Prime Minister Philippe and social partners, that companies with more than 50 employees with “unjustified” differences in wages between men and women would be punished from year 2022 . They will be liable to a financial penalty of up to 1% of their payroll.
This measure will be included in the law on social reforms (unemployment insurance, apprenticeship, vocational training) that Muriel Pénicaud must submit to the Council of Ministers at the end of April.
Starting in 2019, dedicated software, free of rights, will be deployed in companies with more than 250 employees, and in those of 50 to 249 by 2020, to detect unjustified wage gaps.
The Minister of Labor has set the goal of eliminating, “within three years”, the 9% wage gap between men and women in equivalent positions. “It’s been 35 years” that the law guaranteeing the principle of equal work, equal pay “is not respected, it’s amazing,” she said indignantly.
3:40 pm: the time when women “start working for free”
As every year, a rally is organized Thursday in Paris, Place de la République to protest against inequalities wages, followed by a demonstration for the rights of women.
A “giant karaoke” will take place at 3:40 pm, at the time “where women begin to work for free”, on the tune of Dalida’s song “Words, Words” .
It’s about “targeting the policy of Emmanuel Macron, strewn with strong speeches and big sentences but not followed by strong acts , ” says Ana Azaria, president of Femmes Égalité, member of the collective 8mars15H40 composed of 29 feminist associations and unions.
#MaintenantOnAgit
Another rally was scheduled for Wednesday evening at the Trocadero, organized by the #NowOnAgit movement , in the presence of the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo and the Minister of Culture Françoise Nyssen, with the Eiffel Tower illuminated with the colors of this campaign.
On 21 March, a bill against gender-based and sexual violence must be presented to the Council of Ministers. It aims to make it possible to verbalize sexual harassment in the public space (the “sexist outrage” ), to set at 15 the age below which a minor can not be considered as consenting to a sexual relation with a major, and extend the limitation period for rapes against minors.
The Secretary of State will also be on the scene Wednesday in Bobino, with the former ministers of right and left, Roselyne Bachelot and Myriam El Khomri, for a representation of the “The Vagina Monologues” . This play, written by American playwright and feminist Eve Ensler based on women’s stories, was premiered on Broadway in 1996 before it became a success story around the world.
