L'égalité introuvable. La parité, les féministes et la République –

Presses de science-po 2007


Find this book.


For a review in English published in French politics, culture and society

For a review published in French in  Revue française de science politique

For a review published in French in Sociologie du travail

For a review in French in  The Canadian Journal of Political Science







Is gender equality an elusive quest? French feminists and female politicians believed that the invention of a new legal concept to define gender equality, the concept of parité (50/50 equality in numbers), would ensure, after two centuries of political exclusion, the inclusion of French women within the political system. The demand for parity, at first a marginal claim supported only by feminist activists, quickly became a consensual motto, unanimously accepted among the political elite, and it was seen as a remedy for the crises in political representation and republican institutions. After a decade of activism, a major constitutional and political reform introduced a 50% gender quota in political representation in France. Nevertheless, the implementation of the parity laws passed in 2000 did not bring gender equality into French politics. Data reveal that the gender gap has decreased among candidates for local elections but remains wide at higher levels of power, including the Senate and the National Assembly. Are these poor results the sign of a lack of political will to implement a well thought-out reform? Perhaps. However, this book argues that they are primarily an indication of the inherent limits of the concept of parity enshrined in the law.


Drawing on the fields of political sociology, law and society, social movements and gender studies, this book analyzes how various actors, in different contexts –international, European and national – attempted to define and legitimize the concept of parity. It shows how the radical aims of the first supporters of parity, who were in favor of an equality of outcome, were watered down and transformed into equality of opportunities as they tried to expand their constituency and legitimize their demand for gender equality more broadly, in the public sphere and in the parliamentary arena. Based in a careful study, both theoretical and empirical, this book identifies the central social and political factors that changed the meaning of the parity claim and altered the scope and effectiveness of the parity laws. In particular, it explores how political ideas and doctrines such as French republicanism become an important aspect of the opportunity structure for an identity claim such as the parité. The book documents the crisis of the French republican model and casts new light on the development of identity politics in France.  This analysis has wide relevance for understanding recent events such as the headscarf affair and the riots in the French suburbs

Gender quotas and gender equality policies

 

Chapters :


“Republican Universalism Faces the Feminist Challenge: The Continuing Struggle for Gender Equality”, (avec Amy G. Amzur) dans Brouard, Sylvain, Appleton, Andrew M. and Mazur, Amy G. (eds.), The French Fifth Republic at Fifty. Beyond Stereotypes, New York: Palgrave, 2009.


"Une politique publique d'égalité. La parité à l'épreuve de l'arène législative", in Les politiques du genre, Pierre Muller et Isabelle Engeli (dir.), Paris: L'Harmattan,  2008.


« Les paradoxes des discours féministes sur la parité politique », in Lagrave Rose-Marie, Gestin Agathe, Lépinard Eléonore, Pruvost Geneviève (dir.) Dissemblances, Jeux et enjeux du genre, Paris, L’Harmattan 2002.



Reviews:

Joan W. Scott, Parité! L'universel et la différence des sexes, Paris, Albin Michel 2005, published in Critique internationale, 2007.


Katherine A.R. Opello, Gender Quotas, Parity Reform and Political Parties in France, Lexington Books, Lanham, 2006, published in French Politics, Culture and Society

Articles:

« Faire la loi, faire le genre. Conflits d'interprétation juridiques sur la parité », Droit et société, 62, p.45-66, 2006.


« Identity without politics: how cultural politics shaped the implementation of the sex-parity law in French local politics », Social Politics, International Studies in Gender, State, and Society, 13 (1), 2006, p29-58.


« La parité ou le mythe d’une exception française », Pouvoirs,  111, p.73-85, 2004 (avec Laure Bereni). Téléchargeable ici


« ‘Les femmes ne sont pas une catégorie’ : les stratégies de légitimation de la parité en France», Revue française de science politique, 54(1), p.71-98, février 2004 (avec Laure Bereni). Téléchargeable ici 


« La parité, contresens de l’égalité ? Cadrage discursif et pratiques d’une réforme », Nouvelles questions féministes, 22 (3), 2003 (avec Laure Bereni).