In France it is generally assumed that women occupy a healthy position in the job market. All the graphs and statistics show rising lines and percentages. French women are working more and working longer hours than in days gone by.
Over the past 35 years female participation in the French job market has risen dramatically, from 58 percent in 1975 to almost 80 percent today. This is almost as much as in the Netherlands and in line with the European average.
No equality
So much for the good news, for critics argue that when it comes to equality in the workplace, the situation is still far from ideal. French women earn on average 30 percent less than men. In politics they are more or less invisible: fewer than one in five MPs are female.
Interestingly, French women do not have a preference for part-time work. Research shows that one in three French women with a part-time job would prefer to work more hours - most of them would even prefer to work full-time. By way of comparison, on average only one in six women in the EU say they would rather work more hours.
Tax breaks for kids
French women do work less once they have children. In France, this is also due to the tax system. Anyone who has children or increases the size of their family can count on tax breaks. These benefits are so sizeable that a married French woman with three children is thought to have no financial incentive to work at all.
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