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Law of 6 June 2000 (France)

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Loi sur la parité
XIe legislature
  • Loi tendant à favoriser l'égal accès des femmes et des hommes aux mandats électoraux et fonctions électives
Territorial extentFrance
Enacted byPresident of France
Enacted6 June 2000
Legislative history
Bill citationNOR: INTX9900134L
Introduced byGouvernement Lionel Jospin
Passed3 May 2000
Related legislation
Text of the law
Summary
Promotes gender parity in electoral mandates and elected offices, covering electoral law and human rights

The Law of 6 June 2000 is a French law aimed at promoting equal access for women and men to electoral mandates and elected offices. Known as the "parity law," it mandates that political parties present an equal number of male and female candidates for municipal, regional, senatorial, and European Parliament elections. For these elections, lists that fail to comply with parity requirements are not registered. For legislative elections, the law is incentivized rather than mandatory, with financial penalties imposed on parties that do not present at least 50% female candidates.[1]

With this law, France became the first country in the world to adopt a parity system for single-round elections.[2]

History

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20th century

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An ordinance issued by General de Gaulle on 21 April 1944, titled "Ordinance on the Organization of Public Authorities in France After Liberation," stipulated that "women are voters and eligible under the same conditions as men."[3]

On 21 April 1944, during the October 1945 elections, 33 women were elected as deputies, representing 5.6% of the total deputies.[4]

In 1977, Françoise Giroud proposed in her 100 Measures for Women a limit of 85% representation for one gender in municipal elections.[5]

In 1982, Gisèle Halimi, founder of Choisir la cause des femmes, proposed an amendment to a bill on municipal election organization, limiting the proportion of seats held by one gender to 70%. The Socialist Party adjusted this to 75%. The law was adopted on 27 July 1982. However, deputies challenged an unrelated article before the Constitutional Council. In November 1982, the Council upheld the law but struck down the quota amendment, deeming it unconstitutional for categorizing the French population into eligible persons and voters.[6] The United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, ratified by France on 14 December 1983, marked a significant step. It obligated states to take appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all areas, allowing differential treatment of women and men.[5]

In 1992, Françoise Gaspard, Claude Servan-Schreiber, and Anne LeGall published Au pouvoir citoyennes! advocating for a parity law that affirms gender equality rather than differences. This concept of equality was incorporated into the constitutional law of 8 July 1999. Women's associations, such as Demain la Parité, founded in 1994 by Françoise Gaspard, Claude Servan-Schreiber, and Colette Kreder, emerged to defend parity. This network included feminist organizations like the Association française des femmes diplômées des universités, Elles aussi, Union féminine civique et sociale, and Union professionnelle féminine. The idea of quotas was abandoned.[5]

In 1993, Colette Kreder, Françoise Gaspard, and Claude Servan-Schreiber published the first study on women's participation in legislative elections. The first round on 21 March 1993 included only 1,015 women out of 5,169 candidates, or 19.6%.[5]

On 19 November 1993, the "Manifesto of the 577 for a Parity Democracy," signed by 289 women and 288 men, was published in Le Monde.[7]

In 1994, women comprised only 5.6% of the French Parliament, compared to a European average of 11.6%, ranking France second-to-last, ahead of Greece.[6] At the initiative of Choisir la cause des femmes, a proposal was submitted to the National Assembly and Senate to amend Article 3 of the Constitution to state, "Equal access for women and men to political mandates is ensured by parity."[6]

On 7 April 1995, the Conseil national des femmes françaises and Colette Kreder, for Demain la Parité, organized the "Presidential 95: Women Enter the Campaign" event at the Palais des Congrès in Paris, attended by over a thousand representatives of women's associations. Major presidential candidates, Jacques Chirac, Édouard Balladur, and Lionel Jospin, addressed activists demanding mandatory parity on electoral lists.[8]

In 1996, with women's representation in assemblies stagnant at 6%, Yvette Roudy published the "Manifesto for Parity" in L'Express.[9] Signed by ten women from both left and right—Michèle Barzach, Frédérique Bredin, Édith Cresson, Hélène Gisserot, Catherine Lalumière, Véronique Neiertz, Monique Pelletier, Yvette Roudy, Catherine Tasca, and Simone Veil—it marked a bipartisan effort.[10]

21st century

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Constitutional Law No. 99-569 of 8 July 1999 amended the Constitution to affirm that "the law promotes equal access for women and men to electoral mandates and elected offices."[10] The Law of 6 June 2000 implemented this constitutional amendment through various measures.[9] It mandated strict gender alternation for single-round election lists and alternation in groups of six for two-round elections. The law does not apply to cantonal elections, municipal elections in towns with fewer than 3,500 inhabitants, or senatorial elections in departments with fewer than three senators. For legislative elections, parity is optional, but parties failing to field 50% candidates of each gender face fines.[11] France became the first country to adopt a parity system for single-round elections.[2]

In 2014, the parity law's outcomes were mixed. Parity was achieved in regional councils, municipal councils of towns with over 3,500 inhabitants, and the European Parliament. However, results were disappointing for two-round, single-member elections, as financial penalties were not sufficiently dissuasive.[12]

In 2009, financial penalties for non-compliance with parity in legislative elections totaled €5 million.[13] Between 2012 and 2017, penalties reached €28 million, or 8% of total party funding.[14] Many parties opted to field male candidates and accept reduced funding.[7]

The Law of 2 August 2014 doubled the financial penalties for non-compliance to encourage greater adherence.[1]

In the 2017 legislative elections, women's representation surged, with 224 women elected, comprising 38.8% of the National Assembly—a historic high.[15][16] This positioned France among the top 20 countries for women's representation in their primary legislative chamber.[17]

In the 2017 senatorial elections, anti-parity strategies by political parties limited progress, with women's representation rising slightly from 25% to 29.2%.[18]

In the 2022 legislative elections, parity remained unachieved, with women comprising 37.3% of deputies, a slight decrease from 2017.[19]

Legislative background

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  • Ordinance of 21 April 1944, Article 17 states, "Women are voters and eligible under the same conditions as men."[20]
  • United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), adopted on 18 December 1979 and ratified by France on 14 December 1983. Articles 7 and 8 mandate equal participation in political and public life at national and international levels.[21]
  • Constitutional Law No. 99-569 of 8 July 1999 on gender equality amended Articles 3 and 4 of the 1958 Constitution, adding that the law "promotes equal access for men and women to electoral mandates and elected offices" and that political parties contribute to this principle.[22]

Subsequent key legislation

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  • Law No. 2007-128 of 31 January 2007 extended parity obligations to regional and municipal executive designations (for towns with 3,500+ inhabitants) and increased penalties for non-compliance in legislative election candidacies (75% of the deviation from the average).[23]
  • Constitutional Law of 23 July 2008, No. 2008-724, modernized Fifth Republic institutions, adding to Article 1 of the Constitution: "The law promotes equal access for women and men to electoral mandates, elected offices, and professional and social responsibilities."[24]
  • Law for Real Equality Between Women and Men, No. 2014-873 of 4 August 2014, doubled financial penalties for non-compliance with parity in party funding.[25]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Repères juridiques" [Legal Landmarks]. haut-conseil-egalite.gouv.fr (in French). Archived from the original on June 30, 2013. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
  2. ^ a b Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. "Atlas of Electoral Gender Quotas". idea.int. Archived from the original on June 1, 2017. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
  3. ^ Joignot, Frédéric (June 11, 2017). "Quatre-vingts ans de lutte en faveur de l'égalité hommes-femmes à l'Assemblée nationale" [Eighty Years of Struggle for Gender Equality in the National Assembly]. Le Monde (in French). ISSN 1950-6244. Archived from the original on June 11, 2017. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
  4. ^ "Statistical Landmarks" [Repères statistiques]. haut-conseil-egalite.gouv.fr (in French). Archived from the original on March 27, 2019. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
  5. ^ a b c d Scott (2005, p. 8)
  6. ^ a b c Halimi, Gisèle (1994). "Femmes: la guerre la plus longue" [Women: The Longest War]. Le Monde diplomatique (in French). No. 150. Archived from the original on November 24, 2016. Retrieved July 18, 2025.
  7. ^ a b Mossuz-Lavau, Janine (April 1, 2005). "Histoire et enjeux de la loi sur la parité" [History and Issues of the Parity Law]. Revue Projet (in French) (4): 80–86. doi:10.3917/pro.287.0080. Archived from the original on September 24, 2014. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
  8. ^ Bereni, Laure (2015). "La bataille de la parité. Mobilisations pour la féminisation du pouvoir" [The Battle for Parity: Mobilizations for the Feminization of Power]. Lectures (in French). Paris: Economica. doi:10.4000/lectures.18638. Archived from the original on March 11, 2018.
  9. ^ a b Directorate-General for International Policies (July 2, 2017). "The Policy on Gender Equality in France" (PDF) (in French). No. 22540. p. 5.
  10. ^ a b Chemin, Anne (August 7, 2007). "Rétrocontroverse : 1992, la parité et l'égalité des sexes" [Retrocontroversy: 1992, Parity and Gender Equality]. Le Monde (in French). ISSN 1950-6244. Archived from the original on December 19, 2014. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
  11. ^ "Lois pour la parité politique : un dispositif contraignant, des résultats contrastés" [Political Parity Laws: A Binding System, Mixed Results]. vie-publique.fr (in French). Retrieved March 6, 2024.
  12. ^ "70 ans après l'obtention du droit de vote des femmes, ouvrons un 2ème acte de la parité pour un réel partage du pouvoir" [70 Years After Women's Suffrage, Opening a Second Act for Parity in Power Sharing]. haut-conseil-egalite.gouv.fr (in French). April 15, 2014. Archived from the original on May 29, 2014. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
  13. ^ André, Michèle (June 10, 2010). "Il faut sauver la parité" [We Must Save Parity]. senat.fr (in French). Archived from the original on November 8, 2014. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
  14. ^ "Parité des candidatures aux élections législatives de 2017 : une quasi-stagnation en dépit du renforcement des contraintes légales" [Parity in Candidacies for the 2017 Legislative Elections: Near-Stagnation Despite Strengthened Legal Constraints]. haut-conseil-egalite.gouv.fr (in French). Archived from the original on April 30, 2025. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
  15. ^ "Forte progression de la représentation des femmes à l'Assemblée" [Significant Increase in Women's Representation in the Assembly]. inegalites.fr (in French). June 19, 2017. Archived from the original on February 22, 2018. Retrieved September 17, 2017.
  16. ^ "Législatives 2017 : 224 femmes élues, un chiffre historique" [Legislative Elections 2017: 224 Women Elected, a Historic Figure]. Le Monde (in French). June 19, 2017. ISSN 1950-6244. Archived from the original on June 19, 2017. Retrieved September 17, 2017.
  17. ^ Mérieau, Eugénie (June 20, 2017). "La Ve République reste profondément sexiste" [The Fifth Republic Remains Deeply Sexist]. Le Monde (in French). ISSN 1950-6244. Archived from the original on June 20, 2017. Retrieved September 17, 2017.
  18. ^ "Elections sénatoriales 2017 : Les stratégies anti-parité des partis politiques freinent l'accès des femmes au pouvoir" [2017 Senatorial Elections: Anti-Parity Strategies by Political Parties Hinder Women's Access to Power]. haut-conseil-egalite.gouv.fr (in French). September 25, 2017. Archived from the original on September 30, 2017. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
  19. ^ "Part des femmes députées siégeant à l'Assemblée nationale en France de 1958 à 2022" [Proportion of Women Deputies in the French National Assembly from 1958 to 2022]. statista.com (in French). Archived from the original on December 29, 2019. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
  20. ^ "Ordonnance du 21 avril 1944 portant organisation des pouvoirs publics en France après la Libération" [Ordinance of 21 April 1944 on the Organization of Public Authorities in France After Liberation]. legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  21. ^ "Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women". un.org. Archived from the original on October 9, 2004. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
  22. ^ "Loi constitutionnelle n°99-569 du 8 juillet 1999 relative à l'égalité entre les femmes et les hommes" [Constitutional Law No. 99-569 of 8 July 1999 on Gender Equality]. legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  23. ^ "Loi n°2007-128 du 31 janvier 2007 tendant à promouvoir l'égal accès des femmes et des hommes aux mandats électoraux et fonctions électives" [Law No. 2007-128 of 31 January 2007 Promoting Equal Access for Women and Men to Electoral Mandates and Elected Offices]. legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  24. ^ "Loi constitutionnelle n°2008-724 du 23 juillet 2008 de modernisation des institutions de la Ve République" [Constitutional Law No. 2008-724 of 23 July 2008 on the Modernization of the Institutions of the Fifth Republic]. legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  25. ^ "Loi n°2014-873 du 4 août 2014 pour l'égalité réelle entre les femmes et les hommes" [Law No. 2014-873 of 4 August 2014 for Real Equality Between Women and Men]. legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved July 17, 2025.

Bibliography

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  • "Text of the Law" [Texte de la loi]. legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved March 6, 2024.
  • "Constitutional Council Decision No. 2000-429 DC: Quotas by Sex" [Quotas par sexe]. conseil-constitutionnel.fr (in French). 2000-05-30. Retrieved 2024-03-06. Dalloz 2001, somm., pp. 1837-1838, note Nathalie Jacquinot; AJDA 2000, p. 653, note Jean-Éric Schoettl; Les Cahiers du Conseil constitutionnel, 2000 (9), p. 10; Revue française de droit constitutionnel, 2000 (43), p. 561, note Nathalie Jacquinot; Les petites affiches, 2000, 17 October 2000, p. 20, obs. Bertrand Mathieu et Michel Verpeaux; Annuaire international de justice constitutionnelle, 2000 (Vol.XVI), pp. 689-690, 693-694, 695-696, 697-698, note Jean-Christophe Car
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