France struggles to shake off everyday sexism, particularly among young men
Despite the #MeToo movement, sexism remains at an "alarming" level in France with many young men seeing discriminatory or violent behaviour against women as acceptable, a report by France's High Authority on Equality (HCE) revealed.
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"Sexism is not decreasing in France. On the contrary, some of its most violent manifestations are worsening and the younger generations are most affected," the HCE wrote in its report. It described the situation as "alarming".
Based on a study of 2,500 people, the HCE, an independent, consultative body, found that while most respondents rejected sexism in principle, "they fail to reject it in practice".
While there has been "undeniable progress in women's rights" the HCE found that five years after #MeToo "French society remains deeply sexist in all spheres" with sexist stereotypes and clichés proving hard to counter, particularly among the 25-34 age group.
Forced to change behaviour
Thirty-seven percent of respondents said they had experienced non-consensual sex, including unprotected sex at the behest of their partner (12 percent) and sex under the influence of alcohol or drugs (7 percent).
Ninety percent of women questioned said they had altered their daily behaviour because of sexism – half had stopped going out, doing activities alone or dressing as they please.
Eighty percent of women questioned considered they were "less well treated" in their lives than men because of their gender.
'Masculinist' clichés
Men, however, found it difficult to "feel concerned" or did not feel personally responsible for sexist behaviour, the report found.
A quarter of them downplayed sexual violence saying "too much attention [was] being paid to sexual assaults".
The report highlighted "masculinist clichés" among the 25-34 age group – around 20 percent said you had to brag about sexual exploits "to be respected as a man" in society, while nearly a quarter of men said they "sometimes had to be violent to gain respect".
Regardless of age, 40 percent felt it was normal that women stop working to take care of children.
Only half of the under-35s judged the image of women in pornography was "problematic", compared to 79 percent of those aged 65 and over.
The HCE identified a male "backlash" across French society, with "masculinist raids" on social media aimed at "silencing or discrediting" women.
It attributed the worsening situation to new phenomena such as online violence, verbal abuse on social media and porn productions with "barbaric" content.
The vast majority of respondants said French authorities were not doing enough to tackle the issues.
Campaign to change mentalities
"Ordinary sexism is a breeding ground for violent sexism," HCE president Sylvie Pierre-Brossolette told French news agency AFP.
"To fight against it, we need to take measures that influence mentalities from a very young age."
She called for "massive action" in education and more stringent regulation of the online sphere.
She also advocated the creation of a public, independent authority to fight sexist violence in politics, after several MPs were embroiled in sexual harassment scandals last year.
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To change mentalities, the HCE recommended a ban on gendered toys for children and making public funding conditional for companies conditional on them respecting gender equality.
Pierre-Brossolette handed President Emmanuel Macron the report on the day France marked anti-sexism day.
After Macron received the survey, HCE ran an advertising campaign for public and private media with the slogan: "We don't always know how sexism begins, but we know how it ends".
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