Dec. 16 (UPI) — The city of Paris was fined more than $100,000 Tuesday for appointing too many women to senior positions.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo on Tuesday tweeted that she and the other women in the city government would personally travel to the Ministry of Public Service to deliver the check. Under French law, each gender must account for at least 40% of government positions.
“So there will be many of us,” she said.
The city appointed 11 women and five men as senior officials in 2018, meaning 69% of the positions are held by women.
Hidalgo said the aim of the appointments was to “promote and one day achieve parity” with men throughout the government overall.
“In Paris, we are doing everything to make it a success and I am very, very proud of a large team of women and men who carry together this fight for equality,” she said.
A law enacted in 2019 allows the fine to be waived if the new hires do not lead to an overall gender imbalance in the government, which is true of Paris as women still make up 47% of senior executives. However, the change came too late to prevent the city from facing a fine.
French Minister of Public Service Amelie de Montchalin called the provision absurd and said she wanted the fine to be put toward “concrete actions to promote women in the public service.”
“The cause of women deserves better!” Montchalin wrote on Twitter.
