Women’s Rights Groups Protest French Ministers’ Appointments - The New York Times
▻https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/07/07/world/europe/ap-eu-france-sexual-misconduct.html
The #MeToo movement had a mixed reception in France, where many celebrate the art of seduction and resented what they saw as American political correctness encroaching on French society. French feminists, who have long sought to battle women’s oppression in a macho culture, welcomed the movement as a breakthrough that allowed victims to speak out at last - though no powerful French figures lost their jobs as a result.
At Tuesday’s first protest, near the president’s Elysee Palace and the Interior Ministry, about 20 mostly masked demonstrators waved sparklers, raised their fists and chanted for the resignations of the new interior and justice ministers. A group of male police officers pushed them back.
Several dozen protesters gathered later in front of the columned Madeleine Church near the Justice Ministry for a symbolic “burial” of Macron’s promises to fight sexism and sexist violence.
“No rapist in the Interior Ministry, no accomplice in the Justice Ministry!” the activists shouted.
They described age-old challenges confronting women who are raped or sexually abused: Most are afraid to report what happened out of fear of their attacker or of being stigmatized. Some women who waited years to speak out were accused of opportunism. Only a small minority of cases reported to police reach trial, and much fewer result in convictions.
The government appointments are “a very bad message to all women,” said protester Karma Duquesne from Les Colleuses, a group that plastered the names and portraits of women killed by their partners around France and prompted Macron to order new measures against domestic violence.
Early in his presidency, Macron replaced ministers who were targeted by corruption investigations. Responding to the protests over the new ministers, Attal said: “There are investigations, they are ongoing, and that’s normal, we’re in a state of law. We cannot take it a step farther and say that because there are investigations, it will be impossible to serve in a government.”
#culture_du_viol_française #Darmanin #Dupont-Moretti #remaniement