The mayor of Paris has been slapped with a whopping €90,000 fine for appointing too many women in managerial positions. About 11 women and 5 men were promoted in 2018 to the City hall. This had apparently breached a 2013 national rule called the “Sauvadet law”, designed to bring about gender parity in employment.
Implemented in 2013, the Sauvadet law imposed a minimum rate of representation for men and women in senior management positions in public service, with neither sex permitted to exceed 60%.
Mayor Anne Hidalgo joked saying that the bureaucracy was suddenly afraid that the panel would become too feminist, and called out on the absurdity of the fine. “11 women, 5 men … The City of Paris was fined 90,000 euros because too many female directors were appointed,” she said on Twitter on Tuesday. “This fine is obviously absurd. Even more, it is unfair, irresponsible, dangerous. Yes, we must promote women with determination and vigour, because the delay everywhere in France is still very great,” she was quoted saying in a report.
“So yes, to promote and one day achieve parity, we must accelerate the tempo and ensure that in the appointments, there are more women than men,” she added. She went on to say that her government was working very hard to make sure that gender parity was being kept at the check, but added that she would take the cheque for the fine to the government in person, along with her deputy mayors and all the women working for her.