France

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Population: 60,656,178
Capital: Paris
Language: French
Religion: Roman Catholic 83%-88%
Life Expectancy: 79.6 years
GDP per Capita: $ 41, 051 per capita

• A women dies every four days as a result of partner violence
• 215 women die a week from breast cancer
• In 1991 a constitutional amendment required political parties to put up 50% of women candidates in almost all local and national election
• Women did not receive the vote until 1944
• 82 percent of parliamentary seats are occupied by men.
• French women earn 26 percent less than men but spend twice as much time on domestic tasks.
• They have the most babies in Europe, but are also the biggest consumers of anti-depressants.


I found an article from the New York Times about women in France; here are what I thought were the most interesting quotes from it:

“A recent 22-country survey by the Pew Research Center summed it up: three in four French people believe men have a better life than women, by far the highest share in any country polled”


“French women are exhausted,” said Valérie Toranian, editor-in-chief of Elle magazine in France. “We have the right to do what men do — as long as we also take care of the children, cook a delicious dinner and look immaculate. We have to be superwoman.”


“Irrespective of income, parents get a monthly allowance of €123, or about $170, for two children, €282 for three children and an additional €158 for every child after that.”


“[I] try to stay longer than [my] male colleagues in the evenings. Otherwise, “everyone will just assume that I’m leaving because of my children and that I am not committed to the job.”

You can read the article yourself here
The article talks a lot about how women in France are expected to “do it all.” But for me “Doing it all” just sounds like so much, so where is the balance?
I think it’s really neat how France has free nursery and childcare for children not yet in school, I think that would make such a difference in people’s lives.
Also I found the fact that families get a government allowance depending on the number of children they have and no matter how much money they make extremely interesting. “Family allowance is paid to families with two or more dependent children living in France. It is neither means-tested nor related to previous employment periods. The amount of the family allowance as of 1st January 2010 is 32% of the monthly family benefit base (€124.54) for two children and 41% (€159.57) for each additional child.” link Interesting eh?