The French gender equality minister who wants wolf-whistling to be a criminal offence
FRANCE’S new gender equality minister has called for wolfwhistling to be turned into a criminal offence.
Marlene Schiappa, a 34-yearold feminist and mother of two, wants to make it illegal to harass women in a public place – such as by asking for their phone number or whistling at them.
She has set up a female-dominated parliamentary working party to consider changing the law. Opponents have accused her of trying to ban ‘chat-up lines’ in a country famed for being romantic. They insist any laws would be impossible to enforce and risk clogging up the courts.
But Ms Schiappa, a member of President Emmanuel Macron’s En Marche! movement, said: ‘It is a cultural struggle to bring down the tacit consensus of acceptance of violence.
‘Nowadays, when a woman is whistled at in the street, insulted or followed, that’s not classed as an assault or harassment because there are no elements of proof.
‘The idea is to characterise street harassment so that the police can impose fines. We will create a new offence to define its contours, the evidence and the sanction – a spoken warning and then a fine.’
Ms Schiappa, who used to blog on life as a working mother and who allegedly writes erotic fiction – with titles such as Dare The First Time – under the pseudonym Marie Minelli, said there was a particular problem with sexism in high-immigrant areas of France.
‘There are places where you may feel uncomfortable when you are a woman,’ she said.
‘But it is not a question of stigmatising part of the population, or certain neighbourhoods, because this behaviour can appear anywhere and everywhere.’
Surveys have revealed that almost all French women have been harassed on public transport. Mr Macron pledged during his election campaign that he would end the problem.