Wolf-whistle in France and soon you will be £300 poorer

MEN who harass women on French streets with wolf-whistles or lecherous behaviour could end up being fined more than £300.

Plans for a new law of “sexual or sexist affront” aimed at outlawing France’s macho culture were set out by a parliamentary working group yesterday.

France is expected to pass the new law within months as concern continues to grow about sexual harassment and assaults that have come to light in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal. The government is expected to incorporate the recommendation within months.

Wolf-whistling, making obscene or insulting remarks or pestering women for their phone number would be penalised under the plans.

The cross-party group was commissioned by Marlène Schiappa, the gender equality minister, to define harassment and examine how police could enforce a new law against it.

A longtime ally of Emmanuel Macron, the president, Ms Schiappa said last September that new measures were needed to address the “grey zone between consented seduction and sexual aggression”.

After five months of deliberations, her panel is advising the government to broaden the scope of the new criminal offence to cover a range of behaviour causing an “intimidating, hostile or offensive situation” or “injurious to the dignity of others because of their gender or sexual orientation”. Fines would range from €90 to €350 (£79 to £308).

Belgium and Portugal are among a handful of countries that have already introduced legislation to ban such behaviour. Britain has broader laws in place against harassment in general.

Film stars attending the Césars awards ceremony in Paris tomorrow will wear white ribbons in support of the Metoo campaign.

The bill, to be submitted to the French parliament and cabinet by Ms Schiappa, will also set a minimum age of consent for sex.

Under existing French law, only children under five are automatically regarded as non-consenting. But recent cases have caused outrage because men who had sex with pre-teen girls were not charged with rape but with the lesser offence of sexual abuse of a minor.

Mr Macron has said tackling street harassment is a priority. “Women in the republic cannot be afraid to go out,” he said in November.