Women Today in French Society

Abstract

Based on an overall review of the historical and legal status of women in France, especially from the second half of the twentieth century to the present, this chapter deals with French women’s position in today’s context. In terms of gender equality, significant disparities remain between men and women’s opportunities in French society. During the twentieth century, numerous advances for women took place in professional, educational, and political domains; nevertheless, efforts remain to be made in order to go beyond the basic equal rights established in recent decades and achieve real equality between women and men in French society. In this chapter, we are particularly interested in the tensions that exist between social groups of both sexes. The issues that delineate these tensions are constitutive of these social groups. The two fundamental issues of male domination are based on the control of reproduction and the sexual division of labor. Thus, this chapter specifically focuses on the psychosocial roles of women, both in the private and public realms of French society, as well as the developmental level of the standardized definition of femininity throughout life.