Justifying Parity in France after the Passage of the so-called Parity Laws and the Electoral Application of them: The ‘Ideological Tinkering’ of Political Party Officials (UMP and PS) and Women's NGOs

Abstract

More than 10 years after the strategic alliance in 1996 between women politicians on the right and left around publication of the ‘Manifeste pour la Parité,’ a qualitative survey of French party officials and NGO leaders at the local and national levels shows pragmatic consensus on the necessity of using legislative means to promote gender equality in political representation. Most literature on the subject either analyzes the genesis of France's so-called parity laws or quantitatively assesses their effects, saying little about how the laws call into question France's traditional political norms. This study focuses on the rhetorical strategies used by party and NGO officials to render the laws consistent with their own, diverse ideological positions. This ‘ideological tinkering’ has a political dimension; it also reflects the importance of nation-centered rhetoric and a low degree of awareness of prior European-level actions in favor of parity in political representation.