in brief: paris elects its first female mayor
For the first time ever, the race for the Mayor of Paris was all female. And (gasp) a woman won!
The two largest political parties in Paris’ candidates were Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, of the centre-right Union pour un Mouuvement Populaire (UMP), and Anne Hidalgo of the Parti Socialiste (PS). Hidalgo triumphed, claiming 54.5 per cent of the second round votes.
Usually, French politics is not entirely woman-friendly; however, Paris is proving itself to be rather progressive in terms of gender politics.
However, despite these wonderful first steps, there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of gender equality. According to Julia Mouzon, founder and CEO of Femmes et Pouvoir, (Women and Power), ‘What is happening in Paris is the tree that hides the forest…the problem for women in French politics is not to be elected but to be designated by their party. They somehow don’t trust women to give them the legitimacy to run a race on their behalf.’
The French media also tend to be suspicious of female candidates. According to Sandrine Leveque, a Parisian social scientist, ‘the skills of female candidates are often questioned in spite of their qualifications. Such questions are never asked when we have a male candidate… “Will she be up to the job? Will she fit the job? Will she survive?”’ It will be interesting to see how Hidalgo deals with the French media’s scrutiny as she undertakes her new role. Although, some may argue, that this intense scrutiny of female political candidates is not exclusive to the French media, but rather a global phenomenon.
As the new Madame la Maire, Hidalgo will run the city of more than 2 million people, a budget of $10.5 billion, and more than 500,000 employees. Hidalgo ran on a platform that promised ‘major investment in housing, transport and green spaces, with the aim of reversing a middle and working class exodus to the suburbs. She has promised to create 10,000 new social housing units and 5,000 kindergarten places’, according to the reports from the Telegraph.
It is great to see such progress as more women take control of major cities worldwide.
