In France, the
allocation of public funding to political parties is contingent on gender
equality requirements. By law, if the difference based on sex among candidates
put forward by political parties during the last parliamentary elections is larger
than 2%, public funding is reduced by 3/4 of this difference. Since the
inception of the system, French political parties have chosen to pay the
penalty rather than nominate more female candidates. During the 12th
legislature (2002-2007), political parties lost annually 7 million EUR; during
the 13th legislature (2007-2012) parties lost 6 million EUR per year; and since
the beginning of the 14th legislature (2012 to now) political parties have lost
annually 6 million EUR.
Although French media regularly report on the
amount of the annual penalties political parties have to pay, nothing has been
done since the inception of the system. Political parties prefer to pay fines
rather than opening candidatures for women.
