They are far from equal, but their number has increased. In France, last Sunday's municipal elections saw the arrival - or retention - of several women in the town halls of the country, including five in cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants. This is two more than in 2014. In terms of proportion, their percentage is increasing, with 18.3% of women mayors in these big cities, against 10.8% in 2014. What about our neighbors European? Are they doing better or worse than France in terms of parity in town halls?
Among the western European countries, France is rather a good student. Without being the best. Spain has the most women settled in its large town halls, with 12 posts occupied in 41 cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants, according to our surveys. Or a proportion of 29.3%. The most famous of these elected officials is the mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau (left), who arrived in 2015 at the head of the city of more than 1.5 million inhabitants. She was also re-elected in 2014 facing, in particular, Manuel Valls.
After France, the proportion is highest in Switzerland (10%), in particular because it has fewer cities. The figure remains low, however: only one woman is mayor in the ten major cities of the country. But it is not just any city: Corine Mauch (Swiss Socialist Party) has directed Zurich and its 415,000 inhabitants since 2009. She is also the first woman and the first openly gay person to hold this position.
Britain and Italy struggling
On the other hand, many of our neighbors have a percentage of women mayors below 10%. Like Belgium, with only two women elected (Mouscron, Vervies) out of the 21 mayors of the country's major cities (9.5%). Or Germany, with three women elected out of 53 (5.7%). Among these, we note Henriette Reker, elected independent in Cologne, which has more than a million inhabitants. At the bottom of the ranking is the United Kingdom (1.9%), with only one elected representative, Ros Jones (Labor Party) in Doncaster, out of 54 large cities, and two women in mayor positions in districts populated by more than 50,000 inhabitants (Newham, North Tyneside).
Italy, for its part, has only 2.8% of female mayors in its many large cities (4 out of 142), but stands out with Virginia Raggi (Five-Star Movement) at the head of Rome, its capital by almost 3 millions of inhabitants. Note also the presence of Chiara Appendino (Five-Star Movement) at the head of Turin, the tourist and economic heart of the north of the country with nearly 900,000 inhabitants.
For the moment, none of the European countries has reached parity in their town halls, if we rely on figures from the European Institute for Gender Equality, which depends on the European Union. Since 2011, it has followed the proportion of women mayors (or having equivalent roles, since all European cities and municipalities do not have the same type of administration) across the continent.
Newsletter - Essential news
Every morning, the news seen by Le ParisienI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more
According to the Institute, in 2019, Iceland was the country closest to the 50% of female mayors, with 34.2% elected on its territory. It was followed by Sweden, with a proportion of 30.8%, and Norway, with 22.6%. This figure should be kept in context, since the count does not distinguish small towns from large cities, unlike our calculations.
Across the European Union, the proportion of women mayors is still low, even if it has increased slightly, from 13.2% in 2011 to 15.4% in 2019, according to the Institute. A percentage that could slightly increase with the recent elections of women in France.