Country report, gender equality : how are EU rules transposed into national law? : France [2024]

France has a long-standing tradition of legislating for gender equality in the field of employment and professional life. The principle of equality between men and women was first recognised in 1946 in the Preamble to the French Constitution. The law of 11 February 1950 first regulated the principle of equal pay between men and women and states that this principle must be incorporated into collective agreements. In 1972, in order to integrate ILO Convention No. 100 into the French system, the principle of equal pay for work of equal value for men and women was introduced into the Labour Code. Since then, at least 14 laws have been adopted dealing with gender equality. Despite this important legislative framework, the implementation of the European Directives on equality has had a very profound influence on pushing the French legislature to address new issues and to adopt new measures, albeit sometimes with significant delays. For example, until May 2008, the main concepts of EU gender discrimination law had not been properly implemented in France, as French legislation included no legal definition of the concepts of direct and indirect discrimination, although the courts had applied the European definitions in some gender case law. If we look at the basic structure of the French legal system, it is important to note that the principle of equality between women and men has a constitutional value. Recently, following the reversal of Roe v Wade in the United States, the French Assembly introduced a bill to recognise a constitutional right to abortion in October 2022. It was first rejected in 2022 by the Senate, which preferred to refer to the freedom to terminate a pregnancy instead of vindicating a right to abortion. On 12 December 2023, the Government introduced its own constitutional bill, referring to the freedom to terminate pregnancy, at the General Assembly and following the General Assembly's adoption, the proposal was accepted by the Senate on 28 February 2024. The Assembly and Senate met in congress on 8 March 2024 and adopted the constitutional amendment. This is a historic moment since France is the first country in Europe to adopt a constitutional protection of procreative rights.