French presidential election - Is France ready to be led by a woman?

[Mass]

In about one year, Jacques Chirac will end his term, and is not, as far as I know, going to run again.

A new generation of political figures will come to power, mostly in their 50s and one of the interesting things is that one of the leading socialist figures is a woman, Segolene Royal.

Because France has had relatively few women in important political roles (one PM: Edith Cresson in the 80s, the courant Defense Minister is a woman, but she is not exactly well respected, IMHO. One of the most famous political figure was probably Simone Veil, a Health and Social Affair Minister, who pushed a restricted abortion legalisation law in the late 70s, it is a very exciting perspective to see a modern and fairly liberal woman in a position to become president (It is to me, at least).

She is profiled in the International Heral Tribune. The article is long, but well written, though the writer has sometimes troubles to think out of the mold of US politics.

Go Segolene.



http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/06/news/royal.php

Is France ready to be led by a woman?
By Elaine Sciolino The New York Times

FRIDAY, APRIL 7, 2006
PARIS Can this woman save France? Can Ségolène Royal, the politician with the elegant profile and stratospheric poll ratings, drive the Socialists to victory in next year's presidential election?

Certainly, in the political confusion that has gripped France in recent months - riots by immigrant youths followed by massive protests that turned violent - Royal, 52, is the only politician who looks good these days.

...

The media's interest in Royal is not accidental. Voters here are both disillusioned with President Jacques Chirac, who has been in office since 1995, and less than enthused by the gray-haired white men who have long run the opposition Socialist Party.

...

For her, the new jobs law, which would allow younger workers to be hired and fired more easily, is "a scandal" and "a form of violence" against the youth of France.

Asked in an interview late last month what she would do differently if she were in Chirac's shoes, she exclaimed, "I would be intelligent! Between the revolt in the suburbs last fall and the youth in the streets today, what a beautiful image of France we are giving to the world!"

...

Royal's domestic political strategy has been to carve out home-and-hearth issues that she promotes from her home base of Poitiers, where she presides over the Poitou-Charentes region of western France: saving the environment, improving schools, promoting opportunities for working women, creating facilities for the disabled.

...

But that sort of criticism can backfire badly in a country like France, where politics is still very much a domain of men. Indeed, her sharp rise in the polls dates from last September, when she told Paris-Match that she might run in the May 2007 presidential election, a declaration that was immediately dismissed as outlandish, even by some of her party brothers.

"Who will look after the children?" said Laurent Fabius, a former prime minister.

"The presidential race is not a beauty contest," said Jack Lang, another prominent Socialist.

Since then, Royal has seized opportunities to criticize her critics and assert her right as a woman to run.

"I was attacked violently - by men," she said. "They said, 'She's a passing fad.' 'She's the cherry on the cake.' 'This shows that politics is zero.' 'She has nothing to say.' 'She's not tough enough.' All this criticism feeds my popularity. Besides, the politicians who attacked me were unpopular themselves."

...

And it is not at all certain that she will win her party's nomination when it chooses a candidate in November. There are other hopefuls, including, awkwardly, François Hollande, her partner of 25 years who also happens to be the leader of the Socialist Party and the father of their four children.

"If I am the best-placed to win, I will be ready," she said in the interview. "If I am not the best-placed, I will not be a candidate. I have asked for nothing. But I am ready."

That Royal and Hollande never married has not posed a political problem thus far and, in some interviews, Royal has said that they will decide "as a couple" which one will seek the nomination. Still, she maintains an identity apart from her significant other. "What pleases the French people is my independence," she says, insisting at one point, "We are not a couple!"

...