SEVENTEEN women who have served as Ministers in France say they will no longer be silent about sexual harassment in politics. All 17 signatories to a declaration are present or former Ministers. Among them is Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund and France’s former Finance Minister. On Monday, the Deputy Speaker of the French National Assembly, Denis Baupin, resigned over allegation of sexual harassment which he denies, media report said.
In the declaration, the women politicians call for a toughening of the law against sexual harassment on women while demanding setting up a specialist desks in police stations to deal with such complaints. Examples of some of the sexual harassment suffered by the women are also given in their complaint. It explains that Fleur Pellerin, who was culture minister in Francois Hollande’s Socialist government from 2014 until February this year, rarely suffered harassment until she was appointed to office. But after her first appointment in the government, she evaded direct answer to a journalist’s question whether she was given the job because she was a beautiful woman. She however said “They feel entitled to have a laugh and to make unwelcome gesture such a patting a women on … . Another former woman minister said some women are not offended but others are very offended and are now speaking out.
The Deputy Speaker of the French National Assembly reportedly groped one female Green Party member and sent explicit messages to others, alleges a former Green Party colleagues in interviews with local media.
Sexual harassment is something not only endemic in France; it has grasped the entire world in its vile clutches. From the USA to the Philippines, it is at work in many forms in political establishments and at other high society. In our country single young women in vulnerable situation often face it but there is no such allegation so far from our political establishment and our socio-cultural background is not also permissive about it.
We must say when French feminist leader like Christine Lagarde has made the issue public with others holding similar high position in French political system, it really speaks out the terrible condition in which women rights and liberty are violated in a country which claims to be the citadel of human liberty in modern time. There is no doubt that ordinary women are treated even worse in the French society if powerful women like Lagarde feels she was not treated fairly by her male colleague.
In our view their complaint must be fairly investigated following the resignation of the Deputy Speaker of the French National Assembly on charge of sexual harassment. French women must be equally treated without prejudice.
