This article is to share the history and details of women in the French Senate.
History
Women have been able to serve in political office in France since 1944. In 1997, only 5.9% of senators were women. In 2015, 25% of senators were women.
In mid-1999, an amendment was added to the French Constitution mandating gender parity in electoral candidates for senators.
General de Gaulle declared on June 23, 1942, that "all men and women will elect the National Assembly". Marthe Simard and Lucie Aubrac were appointed members of the Provisional Consultative Assembly of Algiers:. From 1944 to 1945, 16 women sat as delegates to this assembly Lucie Aubrac, Madeleine Braun, Gilberte Brossolette, , Claire Davinroy, , , , , Marie-Hélène Lefaucheux, Mathilde Gabriel-Péri, Pauline Ramart, Marthe Simard, Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier, , and Andrée Viénot.
In 1946, 6.69% of senators were women, and the percentage decreased until only 1.4% in 1971. As a result of the law of parity, in 2021 women made up a third of the senators.
+Women senators since 1946 Election Number of women Total number of senators Percentage 1946 21 314 6.7% 1971 4 283 1.4% 2001 35 321 10.9% 2004 60 331 18.1% 2008 75 343 21.9% 2011 77 348 22.1% 2014 87 348 25.0% 2017 115 348 31.8% 2020 121 348 34.8%
List of prominent female senators +NameTermRegionPartyMarthe SimardResistance RepresentativeLucie Aubrac1944Resistance RepresentativeJane Vialle1947–1948Ubangui-ChariAPEAN; Association for Evolution of Black AfricaÉugénie Éboué1946–1948GuadeloupeSocialist Party, RFPJacqueline Alduy1982–1983Pyrénées-OrientalesNot AffiliatedViviane Artigalas2017–Hautes-PyrénéesSocialist Party
Parliamentary group leaders YearsSenatorGroup1975-1978Marie-Thérèse GoutmannCommunist, Republican, Citizen and Ecologist group1979-2001Hélène LucCommunist, Republican, Citizen and Ecologist group2001-2012Nicole Borvo Cohen-SeatCommunist, Republican, Citizen and Ecologist group2012-Éliane AssassiCommunist, Republican, Citizen and Ecologist group2015-2016Corinne BouchouxEcologist group
References