Amid the controversy of sex assault allegations against two of her fellow members of government, French gender equality minister Marlène Schiappa tells The New Yorker why she could not remain in a government with a minister placed under investigation for rape, and why she is determined to see through proposed legislation that makes pressing sexual advances in a public place an offence.
Last month, just before “Saturday Night Live” parodied Catherine Deneuve and Brigitte Bardot as wine-swilling reactionaries, Marlène Schiappa, a Frenchwoman with significantly greater authority on gender issues, made a quick visit to New York. Schiappa is the gender-equality minister in President Emmanuel Macron’s government. A former blogger (her Web site, Maman Travaille, was among the country’s first online resources for working mothers) and author (she edited an anthology called “Letters to My Uterus”), she is, according to a recent poll, the fourth most popular member of the Macron cabinet, and among the most outspoken, reports The New Yorker Magazine.
