This is a first in France. An institution, in this case the High Council for Equality between women and women, published Thursday a vast inventory of sexism in France. And, having gone through the 134 pages, one thing is clear: despite the accelerator that represented the emergence of the MeToo movement, things continue to move slowly and the "ordinary sexism" to flourish . And its first victims remain largely women. All criminal offenses combined, 89% of the victims of sexist acts committed in 2017 are women and 91% of implicated are men, insists the report.
Another spectacular figure: 1.2 million women were injured in one year. Yet, and this is also one of the lessons of this study, prosecutions and convictions remain rare in what will be called "ordinary sexism", that excluding the most serious acts, such as sexual assault or rape . Why ? Because the people who are the victims seem to have integrated the trivialization of these practices. However, remedies exist, institutions protect and texts sanction.
On the street or on public transport
Express your refusal or disapproval. The aggression of Marie Laguerre last year brought to light a sad phenomenon: insults and sexist behavior in the street. The young woman, bothered by a man in Paris with strong sexual allusions before being slapped, had become the symbol of women who dare to say no to "sexism in everyday life". The State Secretariat for Gender Equality, for whom the fight against sexism in all its forms is a priority, has listed the behavior to adopt in case of reflection or sexist behavior in the street or on public transport (express your refusal, challenge passers-by or users, threaten the stalker, pretend to know someone ...), but take care nevertheless to specify that these tips will "probably not be used in all cases "," each person and each situation being unique ".
Report the act to the competent authorities. To roll back the "normalization" of sexist behavior, we must also talk about it. When these take place on public transport, agents or drivers must be alerted. In case of emergency, help can be called at 17 or via 112 (the European emergency number). In addition, SNCF and RATP have set up a common emergency number for victims of sexual harassment: 3117, 31 17 7 for SMS or via the 3117 application. The Ministry of the Interior has elsewhere since November 2018 a dedicated space on its site where can be reported the sexist violence, whether victim or witness, via a chat with a police officer or a gendarme "specifically trained in the care of victims of sexual and gender-based violence ".
File a complaint. If more than a million women are victims of sexist abuse, very few people go beyond the complaint, because of ignorance of the law, for fear of not being well received or weary, too. The report of the High Council for Equality explains that 6% of these women only move to the police station or the gendarmerie, and only 3% of insults are ultimately the subject of a complaint in court. As a result, in 2017, the courts only pronounced ... four convictions for sexist abuse.
Prescribed after one month, the fact of having uttered a sexist insult in public can however claim to its author 1,500 euros fine in case of non-public insult and up to a year of imprisonment and 45,000 euros d fine in case of public insult. Moreover, in the case of insults or sexual harassment in transport, it is essential to file a complaint - without complaint, the police can not conduct the investigation - and quickly, the RATP erasing for example CCTV images after only three days.
To complain, the easiest thing to do is to go to the nearest police station or gendarmerie, but you can also write directly to the district attorney on which you depend.
At work
Alert his family and his employer. In 2015, one word entered the Labor Code. That of sexism, and more specifically that of "sexist activity". Article L.112-2-1 of the Labor Code stipulates as follows: "No one shall be subjected to sexist acts, defined as any act related to the sex of a person whose object or effect is to undermine his or her rights. dignity or create an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment ".
The Higher Council for Professional Equality between Women and Men details in a practical form the procedure to follow. It's about sharing your experience with people you trust. This may be family members, friends, colleagues, or company-appointed referrals if applicable. The second step is to alert the staff representatives: employee representative, union representative, member of the works council or the CHSCT (health, safety and working conditions committee).
Prepare your file. Along with these steps, it is important to compile the evidence of sexist behavior towards you. This may include written correspondence with the perpetrator, medical certificates and work stoppages, or written testimonials from colleagues.
Bring him to justice. If your employer does not seem to be receptive to your request, you have the possibility to contact the labor inspectorate, the Defender of Rights or to get closer to a house of justice or the territorial representation of a trade union organization. Finally, you can also refer to the industrial tribunal of your workplace.
For the witnesses, support and old-fashioned. When one witnesses a scene of "ordinary sexism", it is not always easy to know how to act. It depends on the situations. Nevertheless, some good practices are to be implemented. In public transport, to help a victim, you can make a diversion, for example pretending to know it. In the office, do not laugh at your colleague's gritty joke is a first step.
And these actions will be even more promising if you are a man. "In the face of sexist remarks, for example, women are often confronted with a dilemma: if they laugh, they endorse and if they do not laugh, they exclude themselves from the group, and a man will not be excluded. 'he expresses that he does not find it funny,' explained to the Belgian daily Le Soir in 2017, Irene Zeilinger, a sociologist specializing in gender issues and also a specialist in women's self-defense. "Men can engage everywhere, at work, but also in the street, or on public transport where male cowardice is hallucinating! In short, they can be vigils anti-sexism, to nerdize, inferiorise, delegitimize the sexist, the aggressor. " By the way!