In France, the Public Administration employs 49% of public servants, 2 millions and 100 thousand people. However even in the country that for years has been a model for the rest of Europe, the equality man-woman in the world of employment is a goal hard to reach.
A detailed study realized by the INSEE uploaded to 2010 reveals that the percentage of women employed in the Public Administration is in inverse proportion to the importance of the role filled. So, it happens that if in the lowest placement they are the 45,6% of the total, in the highest they are a little more than the 38%, and just the 22,7% of the management is a woman.
From the centre to the periphery the situation doesn’t change. To understand how things are going we have to refer to a recent study conducted by ENSAE which analyzes the placement and the employ of women in 49 Municipalities with more than 40.000 inhabitants, 34 inter communal structures also with more than 40000 inhabitants, as well as 61 Departments and 24 Regions.
At a first glance it is important to notice that women access to first management level (DGA in France) is just a little lower than the men’s. In a deeper analysis looking at the tasks in charge of the different directions, we can find deep and persistent gender differences. The 54,1% of women managers drive functional directions against the 39,7% of the men. In particular the women manage the direction such as financial, human resources or solidarity.
Moreover , in order to confirm how the phenomenon can be complex, we should have a look to the top management (DGS in French). In municipalities between 40.000 and 80.000 inhabitants and in the public bodies of inter communal cooperation (EPCI) between 40.000 and 150.000 inhabitants reveals a concentration of women as top managers. On the contrary, when urban centres are larger –
Municipalities with more than 80.000 inhabitants and EPCI with more than 300.000 inhabitants- there aren’t women as top managers.
The final analysis regards the relationship between the position held the volume of budget managed, number of subordinates and the missions entrusted to the General Directorate. The outcome?
In case that local authorities decide, for instance, to create separated general directions for human resources and finance, in the first case the 40% of the managers are women, while in the second case they are a 25%. The most important thing to notice is that if finance and HR are together there is a woman at the top just in the 12% of cases.
Contrary to popular belief, therefore, the “glass ceiling” is not unique. But many things: a set of obstacles women face in the entire professional career. And there is no doubt that great strides must be made in particular with regard to managerial roles. An example for all. In late 2009 the only two women DGS at the regional level were precisely in those regions where there is a political representation of women higher than the national average.
Without wishing to be an irrefutable demonstration of the correlation between political equality and equality of access to places of local functional, these items represent a definite set of indicators that suggest the existence of a link clearly associated with the central role played by elected in recruitment process and functional assignments of DGS in particular.
However, some recent news bodes well. A point in favor of women working has been marked with the recent pension reform law that recognizes, for the purposes of the retirement age, periods of interruption or reduction of the profession following the birth or adoption of a son, also introducing high benefits for parents of handicapped children. Statistically women are in their majority to benefit from these measures.
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