Rise of sexism: "For many men, quotas are unacceptable and promote incompetents"

Women have good access to positions of responsibility, and to be able to speak out to denounce abuses (and we finally listen to them)... Sexism is not weakening in France.

In any case, this is the finding of the High Council for Equality (HCE), which unveiled the results of the second “Sexism Barometer” on Monday January 23.

Thus, women are as numerous as last year to declare having personally experienced sexist situations (80%).

These mainly take place in “spheres perceived as particularly unequal”: the street and transport (for 57%), the home (49%), or the world of work (46%).

Brigitte Grésy, expert in gender equality issues and former president of the HCE, deciphers for

the multiple manifestations of sexism in society.

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Madame Figaro

Alas, no.

It must be said that the notion of sexism - which therefore designates prohibited acts - has known for several years a form of tolerance and blindness.

That's what made a hand to the buttocks could just be considered a provocation.

For a long time, people did not put words to actions.

We didn't say: "that's a rape", "this, a sexual assault".

In fact, there was a form of trivialization and euphemization, but also a denial of the seriousness of these things which nevertheless always created suffering.

But, at one point, in 2015 more precisely, there was great progress: in France, we defined what sexism was...

In this, France was a pioneer.

It is almost the earliest country in this field;

the Council of Europe even followed us afterwards, in 2019. We defined sexism but above all we described it in its various manifestations: sexist humor, incivility… In total, we distinguished six.

Clearly, we wrote the score, the notes that make up the song.

Result: today, decryption is easier to do.

The fight against sexism then entered the business, in particular through the definition of sexist action in the Rebsamen law.

Then, other qualifications followed: sexist contempt, acts with a sexist connotation in sexual harassment... In other words, the word "sexism" entered the law and speech, which made people aware .

More unprecedented perhaps: the phenomenon worsens among 25-34 year olds.

In this age group, 23% of men consider in particular that it is sometimes necessary to be violent to be respected (compared to 11% of the total male population)...

This is what is quite alarming but fascinating in this barometer.

We see that among the younger generation, there is both a new awareness of what is called gender identity, and at the same time a kind of consolidation of heavy stereotypes that want to somehow fix in granite so-called ancestral behaviors.

Sexism is much harder to unmask than before

Brigitte Gresy

Are these new figures from the HCE not to be put into perspective insofar as everyone today is more aware of ordinary sexism and therefore more inclined to denounce them than before?

This is in itself the problem of all barometers, especially those of “feeling”: the more people are given the tools to identify a phenomenon, the more they denounce it and the more the figures rise.

But what we observe with this new HCE report is that sexism is expressed differently, it adapts.

It's like a soft dough: when it falls on one beak, it forms elsewhere.

Today, as we can clearly see, sexism is mutating and has new features.

Admittedly, we have a better awareness of the phenomenon, but it is constantly disguised and extreme vigilance is needed to detect it.

How does he express himself now?

He is much harder to unmask than before.

It is more or less insidious, more or less hostile.

Before the big launch of dedicated public policies at the end of the 1980s, sexism was directly hostile.

It was thoughts like: “Women can't drive”, “they're bad at math, bad at sports”… But in a way, it was rather easy to reply.

And then, public policies for equality arrived and with them, the emergence of “we can no longer say this kind of thing”.

This is where sexism has become increasingly insidious, subtle and even “benevolent”.

For example: we talk about female leadership, which would be "warmer", more empathetic, while skills are not

Are women equipped in the same way to respond to them?

No, and that is why we must always ensure that we work on two levels: individual and collective.

Some women are more targets because of their gender identity, their age, their social condition… They take “the full face”, without many tools to react.

A single mother in her forties who is employed by a company will not necessarily have the same skills as a young independent woman who is a manager and who has the time to attend conferences on feminism.

For many men, quotas are inadmissible and promote incompetents

Brigitte Gresy

The HCE is also concerned about a “

Masculinism (1) was already there before.

We had seen its demonstrations in Quebec and spotted these men who refuse to allow women to gain power and who do not want society to evolve.

Why ?

First, there is the rise of women's discourse, which for some men is intolerable;

and then, there is a fear of seeing the best positions occupied by women, the fear of being ejected from the family because as these men have never been at home, the children have gotten into the habit of not see their fathers… For many men, quotas are inadmissible and promote incompetent women.

In short, many still rear up and tighten on ancient beliefs, those who have been fed sexism, and this from the schoolyard.

What is more, their observation is reinforced by new tools:

social networks, the system of revenge and the violent use of porn.

The philosopher Cynthia Fleury says something that I find very true: “Social networks are the place of ordinary hostility”.

And that's what happens with masculinists.

They use the networks, which give them a false sense of freedom and impunity, to convey their ideas and thus discredit women.

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What was the impact of

Some men feel weakened, sometimes in danger.

Some pretend not to understand the demands and anger of the #MeToo movement for fear of losing their privileges.

This resistance is explained by the fact that they only see things to lose and not things to gain.

More parity, a better distribution of tasks... The gain for them is not desirable.

For example: a man who devotes more time to his family and less to his work is still not valued.

Because society is still frozen by a patriarchal domination that assigns roles and injunctions to women as well as to men.

While women have thwarted many of these injunctions, men dare not do so.

This would mean going towards what is devalued, that is to say the feminine.

Do this sexism and the interplay of sexual stereotypes appear from childhood?

Yes, from the playground, sexism is present.

From childhood there is the “peer gaze” and in adolescence it is even worse.

It's time for orientation and going towards feminine and therefore discriminatory professions, it's a double disqualification: social (because the so-called "feminine" professions are badly paid by default) and symbolic (we leave the " men's club").

To change things, it would already be necessary to ensure equal representation in places of power and institutions.

And then, renew education because the school continues to manufacture gender inequalities.

There is nevertheless progress, reassure us...

Of course, we are seeing very significant progress.

If only this awareness thanks to #MeToo or the Grenelle of domestic violence.

So yes it is progressing.

In the professional field in particular, women executives have made great progress, but a pocket of resistance remains.

And what's blocking it is deep, entrenched sexism and it's going to take a very long time to change the situation.

(1) Masculinism is an ideology based on the idea of ​​problematic masculinity.

"Masculinity is defined there as an identity that can be lost and therefore must be protected," explains Mélanie Gourarier, an anthropologist researcher attached to the CNRS,

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