The feminist newsletter Les Glorieuses, launched in fall of 2015, has a bone to pick about pay inequality in France.
The collective group, made up of women and men who believe “beyond the fundamental notion of feminism but rather the empowerment of all women in society”, has made an appeal to French women to stop working on Monday, November 7, at exactly 4:34:07 pm. Why the extra seven seconds? From this point in the calendar, according to the calculations, women work for free until the end of the year.
The World Economic Forum’s 2016 Global Gender Gap Report, which looks at 144 countries, revealed that it would take until the year 2186 (or 170 years) to achieve pay equality in France and elsewhere, where men earned 23.5% more than women in 2015. The study did indicate, however, that France was fifth overall in the countries that improved the most in closing the gender gap last year.
Les Glorieuses are not just asking the 13.8 million women in the French workforce to stop working on Monday but also to sign a petition for equal pay.
The WEF report also showed the US dropped 17 spots, from 28th to 45th over last year, citing greater “transparency measures in determining income”. Imagine what could happen after the November 8 elections.