Record number of women and minorities in new French parliament

Long a bastion of white male power, France’s National Assembly now counts more women and members of visible minorities than any previous French legislature.

Among the 577 members of parliament elected in the country’s last general election in June,155 (27%) are women while nine belong to ethnic minorities.

By comparison, only 107 seats went to female candidates, and only one to a black candidate in Metropolitan France, in the previous election in 2007.

“We are making progress; parity between men and women has become a prominent issue now,” Réjane Sénac, a sociologist specialised in gender studies at Sciences-Po, told the AFP.

Overall, France, which was previously ranked 18th out of 27 European Union countries in terms of gender parity (measured as the proportion of women in parliament) is now in ninth position, with roughly 27%. The European average is 24.6%.   (france24.com)