France ‘still deeply sexist’, report finds

PARIS: Sexism remains at an “alarming” level in France with many young men judging discriminatory or violent behaviour against women to be acceptable, a report published on Monday found.

Based on a study of 2,500 people France´s High Authority on Equality (HCE), a consultative body, found that while most respondents bemoaned sexism in principle, “they fail to reject it in practice”.

French people had become more aware of gender inequality, partly thanks to the #MeToo movement, but “bias and gender stereotypes, sexist cliches and everyday sexism are still commonplace”, it said

“The report shows a French society that remains deeply sexist in all its spheres,” the HCE said. Some of sexism´s most violent manifestations were actually getting worse, it said, especially for the younger generation.

While older men often remained stuck in conservative views on male and female roles in society, younger men sometimes displayed aggressively macho tendencies, the report said.