What happened:
The city authorities of Paris have been fined for having too many women in senior roles, a move that the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, deemed absurd. The public service ministry of France demanded that the Paris city hall pay a fine of €90,000 (Rs. 17,627,348) for breaking national rules on gender parity in its 2018 staffing. A, 2013, ruling cited by French newspaper Le Monde stipulates one sex should not account for more than 60% of nominations to management positions. Apparently, the Paris city hall violated that rule. Mayor Hidalgo said she and the city authorities have been fined because 11 women and only five men were named to management positions in city hall in 2018, so 69% of the appointments went to women. “The management of the city hall has, all of a sudden, become far too feminist for them”, she remarked. “I am happy to announce that we have been fined”, she added sarcastically. Hidalgo stated that she would take the cheque for the fine to the government in person, along with her deputy mayors and all the women working for her. Hidalgo said “This fine is obviously absurd, unfair, irresponsible and dangerous,” and that women in France should be promoted with “vigour because the lag everywhere in France is still very great”. “Yes, to one day achieve parity, we must speed up the tempo and ensure that more women are appointed than men,” she said. Amélie de Montchalin, France’s public service minister, responded to Anne Hidalgo on Twitter acknowledging that the fine had been levied for 2018, and that since then the absurd rule on parity in management had been repealed. “I want the fine paid by Paris for 2018 to finance concrete actions to promote women in the public service. I invite you to the ministry to discuss them,” she said in a message to Hidalgo.