Outrage in France over MP's Sexist Chicken Clucks
A French MP has sparked outrage and accusations that politics is rife with sexism after he mocked a female colleague by clucking like a chicken in parliament.
France's government spokeswoman blamed the incident on "boozy dinners" among lawmakers while the culture minister said it reflected a deep-rooted culture of sexism in French politics.
Green Party MP Veronique Massonneau was interrupted in the National Assembly on Tuesday night by a lawmaker with the center-right UMP party who made the clucking noises while she presented an amendment.
The incident was widely denounced as sexist in a country where the word chicken is often used as a derogatory term for women. It follows several other recent cases of female politicians being mocked.
"It is regrettable that some people have difficulty maintaining an attitude that is consistent with their functions after obviously boozy dinners," government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said after a cabinet session.
Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti condemned the incident as "deplorable."
"Unfortunately we've seen this before," she said. "It shows that we have to continue to fight to have women politicians respected."
The speaker of the National Assembly, Claude Bartolone, briefly suspended the parliamentary session during the incident, which he described as "unbelievable behavior."
Bartolone did not name the lawmaker responsible for the clucking, but several witnesses said it was Philippe Le Ray, from the opposition UMP.
Party officials said he had contacted Massonneau on Wednesday to apologize.
Another Green Party MP, Housing Minister Cecile Duflot, was subjected to jeers and wolf-whistles from UMP lawmakers last year while wearing a floral summer dress in the Assembly.
One of the mocking lawmakers later said they were only "admiring" the minister's looks, adding: "Maybe she put on this dress so we wouldn't listen to what she had to say."
Duflot had been previously criticized for showing up to her first cabinet session in a pair of jeans.
In a statement, the Socialist Party accused the conservative UMP of living "in the prehistoric era."
"When will the UMP understand that women have as much right to hold power as men? When will the UMP understand that its macho behavior must stop?"
The Green Party called Tuesday's incident "a woeful display of sexism".
In protest at the incident, female Socialist and Green Party MPs arrived late for a fresh session of parliament on Wednesday, prompting a loud round of applause from their left-wing colleagues.
This prompted a brief walkout however by right-wing lawmakers, who complained that the incident is being blown out of proportion.
"This incident, which is obviously regrettable and was apologized for, is being deliberately exaggerated," said one female UMP lawmaker, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Faction leaders in the National Assembly later unanimously agreed to sanction Le Ray by depriving him of a quarter of his monthly parliamentary salary.
Source: Agence France Presse
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