If the female employment rate in Brussels compared to the rest of Belgium is too low, it is due to the "Mediterranean family model" which has roots in the capital.
This was claimed in an interview with TV Ln24 by the Minister of Labor of the Brussels Region,
Bernard Clerfayt
.
"Many women are still in a Mediterranean model, whether they are Italian, Moroccan or Turkish in origin. It is a family model where the man works and the woman stays at home to take care of the children," said Clerfayt, sparking the wrath above all from the Greens and the Socialists and a shower of criticism on social media.
Clerfayt is a member of the French-speaking Democratic Front (a liberal-inspired party) and has been the mayor of Schaerbeek since 2001, a municipality in Brussels with a very high concentration of migrants, especially Turkish and Moroccans.
The minister's words went around the web and local media sites in a matter of hours, also attracting the attention of the Belgian federal government.
"Really, where to start? What is the Mediterranean model? And above all, closing one's eyes to objective structural reasons is disconcerting," protested Zakia Khattabi, Moroccan-born federal climate minister, via twitter.
"Dear Bernard Clerfayt, also in this case there are objectively and structurally more obstacles to the employment of women, especially of foreign origin. It is on this that we must work, instead of repeating stereotypes", pressed the Secretary of State of the Region of Brussels - and member of the Greens - Barbara Trachte.
In a statement, the federation of the Socialist Party of Brussels recalled that "in the capital, more than one in three families is made up of a single parent, 86% of whom are women,
that the wages of low-skilled jobs are indecent and do not cover all the costs of childcare.
And that, moreover, the coverage rate of nursery schools in the Brussels region is only 30%". Yet, on Twitter, Clerfayt did not retract, on the contrary. Responding to one of the many users who targeted him, the owner of the regional Ministry of Labor has relaunched: "I have always fought against inequalities by giving a name to things.
Describing a fact does not mean stigmatizing it and I work every day to promote the employment of all women in Brussels".
