France’s equality watchdog has called for an “emergency plan” to combat widespread sexism that is affecting youths in particular, amid concern that the country’s education system is failing to foster gender equality from a young and vulnerable age. While online exposure to pornography is cause for particular alarm, experts say the sexist “backlash” is also evidence that feminist themes have made important inroads, stirring vibrant – if often acrimonious – debates.
Five years into the #MeToo movement, and almost six years after President Emmanuel Macron declared gender equality the “Grand Cause” of his first mandate, France’s main equality watchdog has offered a scathing assessment of the country’s progress on the matter.
