Paris city authorities have been fined for hiring too many women in senior positions, a decision derided as “absurd” by Mayor Anne Hidalgo on Tuesday.
The 90,000 Euros ($ 110,000) fine was demanded by the French Ministry of Public Service on the grounds that Paris City Hall violated national gender equality rules in its 2018 workforce.
“I am happy to announce that we have been fined,” Hidalgo said at a city council meeting, adding that she was “overjoyed” when she heard of the punishment.
Hidalgo said she was blamed because in 2018 eleven women and only five men were appointed to management positions at City Hall, meaning 69 percent of appointments went to women.
“The management of the town hall has suddenly become much too feminist,” laughed the socialist, who was re-elected at the helm of Paris last year for a new term.
According to the text of the ruling cited by the daily newspaper Le Monde, City Hall has violated a rule dating back to 2013, which states that one gender should not be responsible for more than 60 nominations for management positions.
– ‘Financing concrete actions’ –
Hidalgo said she would hand over the check for the fine to the government in person, along with her deputy mayors and all the women who work for her.
In a more serious tone, she added, “This fine is clearly absurd, unfair, irresponsible and dangerous”, adding that women in France should be “vigorously promoted because the backlog is still very great all over France”.
“Yes, in order to achieve parity one day, we need to accelerate and ensure that more women than men are employed,” she said.
Commenting on Twitter, French Public Service Minister Amelie de Montchalin of the ruling Republic on the Move party acknowledged that the fine had been imposed for 2018.
Since then, the “absurd” rule about equality in management has been dropped, she noted.
“I want the fine that Paris is paying for 2018 to fund concrete actions to promote women in public service. I invite you to the ministry to discuss them!” She said in a message to Hidalgo.
bat-sjw / cb / adp