Paris – Paris City Hall has been fined 90,000 euros ($ 109,408) for appointing too many women to top positions in 2018, in violation of a law aimed at ensuring gender balance. The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, scoffed at the fine as “unfair” and “absurd” on Tuesday at a meeting of the city council.
A 2013 law designed to ensure that women have better access to senior positions in government requires a minimum of 40% of appointments for each gender.
In 2018, 11 women and 5 men – representing just over 30% – were appointed to top positions in Paris City Hall, prompting the Ministry of Civil Service to impose the fine.
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“I am happy to announce that we have been fined,” Hidalgo of the Socialist Party said at the council meeting on Tuesday. “The management of the town hall has suddenly become much too feminist.”
“This fine is clearly absurd, unfair, irresponsible and dangerous,” said Hidalgo.
According to BBC News, French Public Service Minister Amélie de Montchalin responded with a tweet noting that the law had been amended in 2019, avoiding fines for too many men or women in public office, provided there is still an overall balance between men and women.
Montchalin vowed that the fine collected from Paris City Hall – which still applies as the 2018 recruitment took place before the law was changed – would be spent on “concrete actions” to improve gender equality in the country.