Discrimination against women still exists in France, especially with “masculine” behaviors among young males, according to a report published on Monday by the French Higher Council for Equality. The Council indicated that “public opinion recognizes and criticizes the existence of discrimination on the basis of sex, but does not reject it in practice. Primarily in men.”
Despite the awareness that took place after the “MeToo” wave, discrimination against women still exists in France, especially with “masculine” behaviors among young males, according to what was stated in a report published on Monday by the French Higher Council for Equality, specifically requesting “the regulation of digital content.”
This independent advisory body noted in its report that “discrimination on the basis of sex is not declining in France. On the contrary, some of its most violent manifestations are exacerbating and affecting primarily the younger generations.”
The report added, “Five years after the Me Too wave, French society still suffers from discrimination on the basis of sex in its various circles,” public, private, professional and media.
The Council indicated that “public opinion recognizes and criticizes the existence of discrimination on the basis of sex, but does not reject it in practice, mainly among men,” according to the report, which is based on official figures and an index of the “Via Voice” institute that deals with 2,500 people from groups representing the French people. .
The president of the institute, Sylvie Pierre Brosollet, is scheduled to be a guest of French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday, on the occasion of the International Day against Discrimination on the Basis of Sex.
The French High Council for Equality is participating this week in an awareness campaign, and on Wednesday it will launch a “trial against discrimination on the basis of sex” to be held by the “Together Against Sex Discrimination” association, and it will be concluded by the French Minister for Gender Equality, Isabelle Romm.
masculine clichés” in people under the age of 35
And 80% of women express the impression that during their lifetime they have received less treatment than their male counterparts because of their gender, according to the report.
In addition, 14% of French women say that they have performed a “sexual act beyond their control,” and 37% say that they have faced situations without their consent in 14% of sexual relations, including having relationships without means of protection due to the insistence of the partner (12%, or 7% of women). Women who have had non-consensual sexual relations under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Discrimination on the basis of gender leads nine out of ten women surveyed in the report to give up certain things, including half of them giving up going out, doing activities alone, or wearing the clothes they want. Eight out of ten women fear going home alone at night.
Men, for their part, express the impression that they are “not concerned” with the issue, as they feel that they are not personally responsible for sexual behaviors, so that a quarter of them believe that what is said about sexual assaults is “exaggerated”.
The council warned of “the exacerbation of the situation with the emergence of new phenomena, including online violence, increasingly violent discourse on social networks, barbarism in many productions in the pornographic film industry, and the expansion of a male anti-feminist circle.”
He noted that the public authorities “do not show performance at the level of the challenges associated with these issues.”
Combating stereotypes of women in the digital sector
And while men over the age of 65 seem more “conservative” and adhere to the traditional distribution of roles between the sexes, the French Higher Council for Equality notes the existence of “masculine clichés” also among people under the age of 35, as a quarter of them consider that increasing respect sometimes requires violence. Half of them believe that the image promoted by pornography about women is not healthy, compared to 79% of men aged 65 years and over.
In its report, the Council called for “major measures” that include “regulating content in the digital sector to combat stereotypes, derogatory ways of representation, and scenes of violence that have become normal, especially in pornographic videos.”
The council also called for the creation of an “independent supreme body to combat gender-based violence in politics”.
The report recommended strengthening “judicial financial and human resources at the level of the legislative bodies charged with dealing with issues of violence within families, similar to the efforts in Spain,” where the government entrusted the parliament to launch the formation of a committee to research such specialized issues.
To change mentalities, the French High Council for Equality recommended banning advertisements for gender-oriented games and linking public aid to conditions linked to gender equality in institutions.
