Paris helped "too many" women to top positions

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The Mayor of Paris

Anne Hidalgo

and her colleagues on the way to the Ministry of Public Service

Photo: GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP

The city of Paris should pay a fine of 90,000 euros for allegedly too many women in management positions.

The basis is a French law that provides for offices to be awarded to at least 40 percent of each gender.

But now the French government has collected the penalty for "discrimination" against men.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said she was relieved on Wednesday, saying that the penance was "absurd."

The Ministry of Public Service had imposed the sentence.

It goes back to a law that obliges large cities to take equality into account when assigning management posts.

The penalty for the city of Paris related to the appointments in 2018, when eleven women and five men were appointed to management positions.

The quota of women was almost 70 percent.

A year later the law was changed.

It now provides for impunity if there is no overall inequality in leadership positions.

However, the city of Paris received a notification because it was about 2018, in which the original law was still in force.

Promotion of women as a »positive dynamic«

Mayor Hidalgo complained that with the many female appointments that year, the deficit in female management positions should actually be made up.

Amélie de Montchalin, the minister responsible for punishment, saw it that way.

It struck her that something was wrong with the "discrimination" allegation that her house had brought against Paris.

On the contrary, promoting women is a "positive dynamic," she explained.

The state will take this as an example.

You have invited Mayor Anne Hidalgo to tell her that the fine will not be due, wrote Montchalin on Twitter.

She has now announced that all future fines that do not meet the 40 percent target will flow into a new fund for professional equality in the public service.

The Paris Mayoress Hidalgo called the waiver of the penalty "positive".

She had previously discussed with the minister together with several women from the city administration.

The city now wants to donate the 90,000 euros saved to a hotline for female victims of violence.

Icon: The mirror

mrc / dpa / AFP