In fifteen years, mentalities have changed. And obviously those of French politicians too. After the election of Valérie Pécresse to the Les Républicains primary on Saturday, many male members of her party expressed their support for the now candidate for the next presidential election. The boss of senators LR Bruno Retaillleau described her as a “modern” woman and “an asset” for this 2022 campaign. For his part, Xavier Bertrand assured that all were “united behind her to turn the page of the five-year term of Emmanuel Macron ”. A sign of this union, Michel Barnier and Philippe Juvin were also present at LR headquarters.
This enthusiasm of the male sex, Ségolène Royal obviously did not benefit from it in 2007 when she was appointed to represent the Socialist Party in the presidential election. “It is clear that the politicians around Valérie Pécresse were very correct, present. What I never had: the socialist tenors at the time all shunned, except a few ”, she declares in the columns of the Parisian. “We were before #MeToo and a former Prime Minister could call me a dead end. This contrast moved me, ”she adds.
We do not wonder “who will look after the children” of Valérie Pécresse
Dead end, that was the name of the book published in 2007 by Lionel Jospin about him. The one who arrived in the second round of the presidential election against Nicolas Sarkozy remembers Laurent Fabius wondering “who will look after the children?” ”Or even the demeaning and infantilizing little names like that of“ snipe ”.
Ségolène Royal has no doubts, “if a right-wing man made such a sexist statement about Pécresse, he would be punished, released from the countryside!” “. And the former candidate to conclude, still in the columns of the Parisian : “The men in my party were not ready. Much more shaken than those of LR today to see a woman walk past them. “