This system replaces the Nantes council for gender equality created in 2015. The approval of its launch in the municipal council questioned elected officials from the right and the center, who are calling for “deep, real and concrete actions”.
Le Figaro Nantes
The objective of the mayor of Nantes is not new: to make the city of Dukes the first non-sexist city in France. To achieve this, an innovative system was approved by the municipal council on Friday October 13: the creation of a non-sexist city network. “We propose to strengthen and animate networking in the territory to achieve this objective.» commented during the session the elected leftist Mahaut Bertu, deputy for Equality, the non-sexist city, the fight against discrimination and associative life.
This structure replaces the Nantes Council for Gender Equality initiated in 2015. “A process was initiated from June 2022 to June 2023 to rethink this body», continues the elected official. In the 2022 equality activity report, it is specified that with this new network, “it is no longer a question of restoring or preserving equality between women and men, but of “uprooting” inequalities by fighting against sexism… In all its forms.» The launch is planned for November 2023. It is a “tool for mobilizing stakeholders for the territory“.
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Opposition abstains
This launch did not fail to provoke a reaction from the elected representatives of the Mieux Vivre group in Nantes (right and center). In a previous deliberation devoted to the presentation of the equality activity report for 2022, opposition councilor Pauline Weiss had already wondered whether transforming the matrimony days into heritage, renaming the school maternal, or “change the name of the equality council to a non-sexist city network” go “really bring things», particularly on the question of the invisibility of women in certain public spaces. The advisor deplored a lack of “deep, real and concrete actions“.
She added another layer during the deliberation devoted specifically to the non-sexist network: “we are questioning because the deliberation of a page where there is an allocated budget of €25,000, we do not have indicators, we do not have elements to know concretely when the objective is achieved“. His group also abstained: “we are currently on a launch with few elements so we are indeed waiting to be able to check what can be done on this subject“. “We are not against it but we are not necessarily in favor of the way in which they approach the subject“, she explained to Figaro.
The main thing is to take stronger action on very concrete things that prevent women in particular from being safe in our city today.
Foulques Chombart de Lauwe, opposition municipal councilor
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Right-wing elected official Foulques Chombart de Lauwe, who recently announced his candidacy for 2026, also stepped up to the plate. “Our deep conviction is that today we don’t really need advice, advice on overnight stays, accessibility, networks, support… We have it, it can be useful at times, but this passion for structures, for superstructures, misses the essential. The main thing is to take stronger action on very concrete things that prevent women in particular from being safe in our city today.“. He then attacked “the question of the light in the city . You claim to have upgraded the lights that lead to the banana shed. Make the journey alone at 2 a.m., I do not recommend if you are a woman to do it alone. If you are a man, too.”
“Our city and metropolitan teams have already worked on a lighting plan», retorted the elected representative of the majority Gildas Salaün, delegate for commerce and the city at night. The latter, on the contrary, spoke of a “scope, on a national scale, recognized as being exemplary in this area» by inviting his opponent to return to the sector “eyes open“. The first deputy Bassem Asseh, in charge of security, regretted the attitude of the opposition: “abstain while we put in place a system for Nantes residents who experience sexism; abstain from the fact that we open a space for them so that they can express their ideas, and that these ideas can be studied, and that this democratic dialogue can allow‘arrive at better decisions, I find that distressing“.
PS Mayor Johanna Rolland in turn defended the initiative of her majority: “women, associations, actresses and actors who fight for gender equality say they need it [d’un réseau]. So yes, it is absolutely a necessity because it is a demand for land“. A discrimination observatory is also being created and should be created by 2024.
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