Proposed law on professional equality: the Movement is moving the law!

The bill "aimed at accelerating economic and professional equality", put forward by LREM MP Marie-Pierre Rixain, President of the Delegation for Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities between Men and Women, was debated at the National Assembly. The Impact France Movement was able to contribute positively to this text by proposing 3 amendments to go further.

43% of companies with more than 1,000 employees have less than 2 women in their top 10 earners

Declared a "great cause" of the French President's five-year term, equal pay for women and men still has a long way to go. The results of the professional equality index for companies with more than 50 employees published on 8 March 2021 reveal that 43% of companies with more than 1,000 employees have fewer than two women in their ten highest earners.

It is also known how the health crisis has been detrimental to women's careers. According to a report published by the Women's Foundation in April 2021, the first lockdown was a missed opportunity to rebalance domestic and childcare tasks. As a result, 70% of women feel that the health crisis will penalise them in their careers.

Decisive steps still need to be taken and the pandemic must not be allowed to overshadow the fight against gender pay inequality.

While the Impact France Movement welcomes the provisions presented to :

• Increase transparency around the publication of the results of the Gender Equality Index by companies (publication of all indicators instead of just the overall score);
• Promoting women's access to the highest positions
• Move towards greater gender diversity in the granting of BPIFRANCE funding

We must go further. The Impact France Movement proposes 3 amendments to the bill under discussion:

• Make it compulsory for companies to publish their commitments to improve their score on the gender equality index in a transparent manner every year

• Increase transparency on the number of women in the highest paid positions in all companies with more than 50 employees to accelerate women's access to the highest positions (in the proposal under discussion, only companies with more than 1,000 employees are required to publish a gendered picture of the 10% of the highest paid positions)

• Make the granting of financing by Bpifrance conditional on the publication of the Professional Equality Index and on obtaining a score higher than the minimum required threshold of 75/100. This would make it possible to make Bpifrance the bank of transition, to value the concrete commitments of companies in favour of equality and to respond to the strong expectations of citizens in terms of the exemplarity of the State.

The entrepreneurs of the Impact France Movement are committed to implementing these proposals in their companies from September 2021.

[UPDATE OCTOBER 2021]

The Movement's mobilisation has been echoed by MPs from all sides and almost all parliamentary groups have tabled amendments inspired by or directly taking up our proposals. Among them, one was adopted in the text and aimed at making the granting of BPI France financing conditional on the publication of the professional equality index for all companies with more than 50 employees. The Senators also retained this provision in the text.

A step forward which shows that the State can accelerate the commitment of companies through an Index. From professional equality to climate and inclusion, the mobilisation continues!