The Socialist mayor of Paris announced she will pay roughly $110,000 in fines for placing too many women in high-level positions, boasting that the city government has become “too feminist.”
“I am happy to announce that we have been fined,” said Mayor Anne Hidalgo, a member of the Socialist Party, during a City Council meeting.
“The management of the city hall has, all of a sudden, become far too feminist,” she added.
The Civil Service Ministry issued the fine, reasoning that the hirings are in violation of a 2013 law that requires no more than 60% of nominations go to one gender. In 2018, 11 women and five men were placed in high-level city hall positions, which means women hold 69% of the posts.
Hidalgo said she will take the fine’s payment to the government herself, along with the women who work for her.
“This fine is obviously absurd, unfair, irresponsible, and dangerous,” she said, adding that women should be promoted with “vigor because the lag everywhere in France is still very great.”
“Yes, to one day achieve parity, we must speed up the tempo and ensure that more women are appointed than men,” she said.
