In France, the wage gap between women and men persists, gender-based violence remains a public health issue, and gender diversity in leadership positions is progressing slowly. Two recent texts are changing the game: the European directive on pay transparency (2023/970/EU), whose transposition into French law begins in 2025, and the impact finance guide published by the AMF and the AFG in November 2024.
These regulatory and financial levers are reshaping the framework within which companies, local authorities, and associations operate for gender equality.
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Pay Transparency: What the European Directive Changes in Practice
The Professional Equality Index, in effect since 2019, already requires French companies to publish an overall score. Field feedback varies on its actual effectiveness: some organizations receive high scores while maintaining significant gaps in leadership positions.
The 2023/970/EU directive on pay transparency goes further. It requires employers to publish the gender pay gaps by job category and to take corrective actions beyond a certain threshold of unjustified disparity. Employees must be individually informed of the remuneration criteria that apply to them.
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For French companies, this transposition means a shift from an aggregated score logic to a detailed transparency obligation. Trade unions and associations like Future au Féminin will be able to rely on this data to document inequalities and push for targeted corrections, position by position.
Impact Finance and Gender Equality: A Still Under-Recognized Lever
The idea of conditioning investments on gender equality criteria is not new in the Anglo-Saxon world. In Europe, and particularly in France, it remained marginal until recently.
The guide published in November 2024 by the AMF and the French Association of Financial Management marks a turning point. It explicitly cites gender equality as a priority axis of impact finance, paving the way for so-called “gender lens” investment funds. These funds evaluate companies based on specific criteria:
- The composition of governing bodies and the proportion of women in executive committees
- The measured pay gaps and the corrective policies implemented
- The existence of measures to combat gender-based and sexual violence at work
Several asset managers are now integrating these criteria into their investment policies. The message sent to companies is clear: commitment to equality becomes a factor of financial valuation, not just a display of social responsibility.
The available data does not yet allow for measuring the direct effect of these funds on the practices of French companies. The mechanism is recent, and the first assessments will take time. However, the European regulatory framework is pushing in the same direction, which increases the pressure.
Stereotypes and Education: Where the Future Gender Mix is Shaped
Legal obligations and financial incentives act on existing companies. They do not address the issue of gender stereotypes that influence educational and career choices well in advance.
The underrepresentation of girls in scientific and technological fields remains documented. Conversely, care and education professions have a very low proportion of men. Professional diversity is built from school orientation, not at the time of recruitment.
Several local authorities have integrated targeted actions into their equality plans. The action plan of Strasbourg for women’s rights and gender equality, for example, aims to infuse all local public policies with a culture of equality, including in educational programs and access to sports activities.
What Media and Cultural Environment Convey
Stereotypes do not come solely from school. Media, advertising, and digital content reproduce gendered representations that influence aspirations from childhood. Research conducted by the UN on gender equality regularly highlights the role of the media environment in the persistence of inequalities.
Acting on representations requires coordinated engagement between public institutions, media, and the associative world. The commitment charters signed by certain editorial teams or digital platforms represent a first step, but their application remains difficult to verify.
Violence Against Women: The Legal Framework Facing Ground Limitations
The fight against gender-based and sexual violence is a central aspect of any commitment to women’s rights. France has strengthened its legislative arsenal in recent years, with measures such as the emergency phone and protection orders.
Field associations report ongoing difficulties: long judicial processing times, lack of emergency accommodation places, insufficient training of some first-line interlocutors. The legal framework exists, but its application remains uneven across territories.
Companies are now required to integrate the prevention of gender-based violence into their unique risk assessment document. The “gender lens” funds mentioned above include this criterion in their analysis grid, creating a loop of responsibility between the financial world and internal practices.
A Public Health Issue
Violence against women has direct consequences on the physical and mental health of victims, but also on their professional lives and economic autonomy. Addressing this issue solely from a criminal perspective ignores part of the problem. Health, education, and workplace prevention policies must work together.
Women who are building the future of equality are doing so on multiple simultaneous fronts: pay transparency, directing financial flows, education, and combating violence. None of these levers is sufficient in isolation. The European directive on remuneration and the shift towards impact finance create a new framework, but their effectiveness will depend on the ability of grassroots actors, associations, unions, and local authorities to seize it over the long term.