Paris mayor fined for violating equality law by hiring too many female directors

The City of Paris was fined for violating gender equality in the appointment of directors: too many women managers were hired at the same time by the mayor Anne Hidalgo, as reported by the newspaper Le Monde, although it was done to close a gap (currently women fill 47% of director roles). 

The City Hall, as later communicated by the mayor herself in live streaming, had to pay 90,000 euros for violating the law Sauvadet in 2018, which imposes a minimum rate of each sex for appointments to management positions in the civil service.

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In 2018, the City of Paris had opened nominations of senior management for a total of 16 people.  But out of these 16 people appointed, there were only 5 men, in violation of the law that imposes a minimum of 40% for each sex. 

Le Monde recalled that the 2019 Civil Service Transformation Act established an exemption to the fine if too many women or men are appointed at the same time, if this does not imply an imbalance between the positions held.  The Councillor for Human Resources of the Mayor Anne Hidalgo, Antoine Guillou, has described as the fine as “paradoxical", which goes to punish the appointments "that have allowed us to catch up with a delay”.

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Hidalgo, mayor of the French capital since 2014, the first woman to hold the post, called the decision "absurd, unjust, irresponsible and dangerous" and, speaking at the City Council, said she was "happy" to have been fined: "We must promote women because there is still a lot of delay in France and it is everywhere." 

Hidalgo announced that she will deliver the check for the fine in person to the government, along with all of her deputy mayors and the women on her staff.  In a tweet, Civil Service Minister Amelie de Montchalin, a member of La République En Marche, wrote: "The struggle of women deserves more. 

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We have repealed this absurd provision from 2019.  I want to use the money from the fine to finance ‘concrete actions to promote the role of women in public services.’  The minister then invited Hidalgo to discuss these projects together.

Ph: Frederic Legrand - COMEO / Shutterstock.com