International Womens' Day - the French perspective

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8 March 2001 was International Women's Day, and French trade unions, associations and ministries took the opportunity to take stock of the status of women in both family and working life, through a series of campaigns, events and publications.

In a variety of events and publications around International Women's Day on 8 March 2001, French associations, trade unions and government ministries all highlighted not only the progress that has been made in terms of achieving equality between men and women but also the many disparities that still exist on the domestic and employment fronts.

The Mix-Cité gender equality association used International Women's Day to launch an information campaign on the sharing of domestic and parental tasks, designed to back up demands for a genuine post-natal paternity leave scheme of at least two months for new fathers, based on the Swedish and Finnish models. Simultaneously, the National Action Group for Women's Rights (Collectif national pour le droit des femmes) - which is an umbrella body bringing together 15 or so trade union, political and feminist organisations - launched a major campaign under the slogan "Time for life!" (Du temps pour vivre!). This campaign is aimed at promoting equality at work and at home and also at rallying public opinion in support of Afghan women.

The CGT-FO trade union confederation issued a special International Womens' Day edition of its publication Info Femmes, reasserting the importance of making the drive for sex equality an integral part of the day-to-day struggle for dignity, "fraternity" and equal rights for all.

The CFDT confederation organised a number of regional initiatives, including forums, debates and workshops on the issue of employment equality between men and women. Similarly, a special forum on women's situation in the workplace was held on the CFDT web site between 5 and 9 March.

CGT described 8 March 2001 as a day for the social advancement of both men and women. While highlighting the divergent situation of men and women at the workplace, the union confederation called for action to "reduce the major disparities between men and women in order to promote sustainable employment equality at work". CGT commissioned seven writers from differing walks of life to produce short narratives based on the stories of various women who had experienced inequality or hardship at work or at home. This compilation, entitled "Did you say equality?" (Vous avez dit égalitée?) aimed to highlight to the public the inequalities suffered by women. It also served as a springboard for discussion during a week-long series of debates on the status of women at work organised by CGT from 27 February to 2 March.

On 8 March 2001, the Ministry of Employment and Solidarity released a study highlighting inequalities between men and women within couples and in family life, and comparing the French and Swedish models. It points out that "while women in both countries devote more time to domestic tasks than to paid employment, the disparity remains particularly marked in France, with a differential of 10 hours per week."

Work organisation, parental leave and domestic task-sharing by men and women are to be considered by Ségolène Royal, the Deputy Minister for the Family, at a conference on family issues to be held in June 2001. Her aim is to lay a basis for "domestic equality" by setting up an attractive parental leave scheme for fathers - in other words, a life-long parental leave scheme enabling fathers to alternate between employment and time with their families.