This is what emerges from the 2023 Annual Report on the state of sexism in France, from the High Council for Equality between Women and Men chaired by Sylvie Pierre-Brossolette, published on January 23, 2023. *
Indeed, five years after #MeToo, the inequalities between women and men in all spheres of society are massively recognized: 93% believe that women and men do not experience the same treatment in at least one of the spheres of society (work, public space, school, family, etc.). Only 20% of the population believe that women and men are equal in practice.
The daily experience of sexism
This experience of sexism on a daily basis is widely shared by women: 80% of them have already had the impression of having been treated less well because of their sex, whether in the street or on transport (57% ), the home (49%) and in the world of work (46%), but this score is only 37% for men…
A majority recount situations of “ordinary sexism”: 57% of women have already experienced sexist jokes or remarks. Within the higher socio-professional categories, it is even 2 out of 3 women.
In the world of work, 23% of women have experienced a pay gap with a male colleague in the same position or with equal skills and 13% experienced job discrimination (34% and 21% for managers).
9 out of 10 women surveyed claim to anticipate sexist acts and remarks from men and adopt avoidance behaviors so as not to suffer from them. Thus, they give up going out and doing activities alone (55%), dress as they wish (52%), take care not to speak too loudly or raise their voices (41%), or even censor their words. for fear of the reaction of men (40%). Nearly one woman in five (18%) finds it difficult to speak up in a group. 8 out of 10 women fear going home alone at night.
This induces a loss of self-confidence in women and has concrete consequences on their daily life and their professional career. For example, 35% of working women did not dare to ask for a promotion or a raise (44%, for CSP less).
Adherence to sexist stereotypes is still strong, especially among men
If the shared awareness of inequalities between women and men in society is very real, everyday sexist situations, “banal”, “insidious”, even “benevolent”, are partially accepted by the entire population. As highlighted in the HCE report and by way of example, only 49% of women and 37% of men find it problematic that a woman cooks every day for the whole family. A third of the population (27% of women and 40% of men) say it is normal for women to stop working to take care of their children. 65% of women and 77% of men (82% for men aged 65+) think men should protect women.
The Sexism Barometer highlights a significant divide between women and men. The latter are much less numerous than women to notice the unequal treatment of women compared to men and to consider sexist situations and stereotypes as problematic. Thus, 54% of men consider that men and women are treated in the same way in the media compared to 32% of women. Or, 57% of men consider that a man who comments on a woman’s dress is problematic compared to 77% of women. The men surveyed largely refuse to consider that there is a structural problem and they are 7 out of 10 to consider that we generalize by considering that “men are all sexist”.
A massive emergency plan proposed by the HCE
Faced with the worrying observation of a society still marked by a sexist culture and its manifestations, the HCE proposes a massive emergency plan, which attacks both mentalities and their harmful effects, and which proposes ways of improvement for more efficient public authorities.
In particular, the HCE claims the advantage of severity for any company or institution that does not put in place an effective system by moving “from an obligation of means to an obligation of results for equality policies”. Measures already implemented in the public sector (reduction of pay gaps, measures to combat moral or sexual harassment) should be required to be extended to the private sector and evaluated within three years. The equality index must extend to the public sector and the sanctions must go up to 1% of the wage bill in the event of non-compliance with the measures. Finally, “equal conditionality” criteria should be adopted in all public aid and funding so that no public money is distributed without compensation in terms of equality; systematize the development of gender budgets.
* “Sexism Barometer” conducted with the Viavoice Institute with a representative sample of 2,500 people aged 15 and over.
To access the report: here