Nicolas Sarkozy and Women

Abstract

This article examines the electoral support that President Nicolas Sarkozy has enjoyed from French women, his appointment of women to positions of responsibility, and the public policies initiated by him that affect women's lives. In his 2007 election victory, Sarkozy enjoyed similar levels of support among both sexes among most age groups, though older women tended to favor him more than their male peers. In the run-up to the 2012 elections, support for him was generally lower among women than among men. Sarkozy's term of office opened with a fanfare, trumpeting a government composed equally of men and women. By the end of his five-year term, the proportion of women in government had fallen to scarcely a quarter. Regarding economic inequalities between men and women, despite a number of measures favoring women in the business world, Sarkozy's five-year term largely failed to deliver the changes promised by him as a candidate in 2007.

Keywords:

• Sarkozy
• Women
• Parité
• Inequality
• Rachida Dati
• Rama Yade
• Fadela Amara.

Notes

1. On the “religion effect,” see Michelat and Simon (1977); on the “work effect,” see Mossuz-Laveau and Sineau (1983).

2. On the evolution of gender over a century-long period, see Mossuz-Lavau (2009).

3. Ni Putes Ni Soumises is a feminist movement, created in France on 13 April 2003 by Fadela Amara and her team, which in 2007 gained consultative status with the UN. This movement combats violence committed against women and, in particular, traditions that hinder integration, encourage women to wear the veil, and are used to deprive girls of the opportunity to attend sex education classes and the freedom to control their own bodies. It also fights against all types of communautarisme (ethnic self-segregation).

4. The Harkis were native Muslim soldiers engaged as auxiliaries in the French army from 1957 to 1962, during the Algerian war of independence.

5. In the cantonal elections of 2011, 13.8 percent of those elected were women (compared with 13.4 percent in 2008 and 10.9 percent in 2004). This was hardly a spectacular advance.

6. Translator's note: This Declaration forms part of the Constitution of the Fifth Republic.

7. In 2006, more than 13,200 voluntary terminations were carried out on minors in France. This figure, which was higher than in previous years, is considered by some doctors to be and under-estimate.

8. A full discussion of this issue can be found in Mossuz-Lavau (2009).