A record number of women have been elected into the French parliament.
Of the 577 newly elected members of parliament, 223 were female. Female representation now stands at 38.65 per cent in the National Assembly.
President Emmanuel Macron’s Republic on the Move (LREM) party has had a significant impact on the level of female representation. Nearly half of the party is now made up of women, following on from Macron’s gender equality bid.
In May, it was announced that exactly half of LREM’s parliamentary election candidates were women.
At the time, they also revealed that 52 per cent of their candidates came from outside the political circle and were of varying ages.
The announcements go towards fulfilling their pledge set in January, that half of the parties’ candidates would be women and half would be from outside the political establishment.
However, LREM is not the only party making waves in terms of gender equality. The Democratic Movement Party’s female representation is now at 46 per cent, while France Insoumise stands at 41 per cent and the Socialist Party is at 38 per cent.
Speaking to Reuters, Catherine Barbaroux, acting president of the LREM, said, “For the first time under the (postwar) Fifth Republic, the National Assembly will be deeply renewed – more diverse, younger.”
“But above all, allow me to rejoice, because this is a historic event for the representation of women in the National Assembly.”
Frances Scott, founder of Britain’s 50:50 Parliament campaign, was pleased by the progress. She said, “It looks like France is leading the way in terms of this democratic imperative.”
“The evidence suggests that having more women in parliament leads to more informed and more responsive decision-making.”
“It leads to a better parliament.”
The news in France follows on from Britain’s own record after the General Election.
A record-breaking number of female MPs were voted into the House of Commons. The number of female MPs rose from 191 to 200, and there are now 207 women in Parliament.
It was also revealed that the House of Commons will be more diverse. There are more ethnic minority, disabled and LGBT MPs than ever before.
