Gender, Work, & Family in France

	FRANCE

Overview

Demographics

Childcare

Parental Leave

Pension Systems

Gender Issues

Pick Your Path!

Organizations

Annotated Bibliography

Other Country Profiles

France has one of the highest fertility rates in Europe, with an average family size of 2.1 children. France's life expectancy exceeds those in many surrounding countries with an average of about 80.7 years. France currently has a population of approximately 62,036,000 people. This includes 46.0% of adult women and 58.7% of adult men, who are currently participating in the labor force. This rate of labor force participation could make it difficult for couples to have children, but France aims many of its family policies toward assisting residents with this problem. With a 65.2% of 15-64 year old residents in the population, the French government creates a plethora of policies aiding these families. In France, couples, on average, marry in their late twenties. These couples usually fall into half of the households in France who have children, averaging about 2 children per marriage. High fertility is encouraged by the financial support from the French government. The population has grown 0.525% in the last year with an average of 12.43 births with every 1,000 people. The average age of women who give birth for the first time is just below 30. These averages have deviated quite a bit since the founding of the French government, but the heavy emphasis on the family as an institution, and the attempts of the French government to treat women and men equally result from a deeply rooted historical religious influence.

French Families were once breadwinner headed families, who followed strict sets of biblical catholic rules. Dating back to the 19^th century, French politics began dealing with the responsibilities of man and woman within a family. Two separate sets of expectations were assigned to each parent; the basis for this distinction was largely the result of ignored recognition of women’s rights within French law. This radical social movement began to create changes in the foundation of French nationalism, and led to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. The creation of this doctrine is at the center of gendered division in French society. French women eventually earned corresponding rights in the mid-20^th century. Changes in family policies are evident, and financial assistance for the family is available to any family, conventional or not, who have children to take care of.

image courtesy of creative commons.org

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. 2007. Babies and Bosses: Reconciling Work and Family Life. OECD Publishing.

Pailhe, Ariane, Clementine Rossier and Laurent Toulemon. 2008. "French Family Policy: Long Tradition and Diversified Measures." Vienna Yearbook of Population Research:149-164.