{{This week conservative French lawmaker Phillipe Le Ray was docked one-quarter of his monthly parliamentary salary for clucking like a chicken while Green Party MP V\u00e9ronique Massonneau addressed the National Assembly on the subject of reforming France\u2019s pensions system.}}<\/p>\n
Sadly, it was not an isolated sexist episode by a rogue UMP lawmaker.<\/p>\n
It was just the latest outburst that has made France\u2019s National Assembly appear more like a construction worksite than le peuple\u2019s repository of liberty, equality and fraternity.<\/p>\n
In July 2012, Housing Minister C\u00e9cile Duflot became the target of hooting by conservative MPs as she took the microphone to answer questions about a Paris infrastructure project wearing, get this\u2026 a floral dress. The completely unassuming garment sparked a surprising chorus of cat-calls and whistling.<\/p>\n
And in February, UMP lawmakers began an ugly tirade against National Assembly Vice-President Laurence Dumont because she dared interrupt the minority UMP leader Christian Jacob. Dumont\u2019s fellow Socialist MPs accused the UMP bench of getting irritated because it was a woman who was calling the shots that day.<\/p>\n
In view of those earlier incidents, Le Ray\u2019s inappropriate poultry imitation immediately set off alarms in the French press. \u201cNew sexist quack at the Assembly\u201d was one of the headlines.<\/p>\n
Woman lawmakers did not take this latest attack lightly.<\/p>\n
Government spokesman and Women\u2019s Rights Ministry Najat Vallaud-Belkacem lamented that \u201csome people struggle to maintain composure after one-too-many bottles of wine with their lunch,\u201d while Culture Minister Aur\u00e9lie Filippetti played a more pessimistic tune: \u201cA leopard can\u2019t change its spots\u201d.<\/p>\n
In a show of solidarity and force, women MPs delayed their entrance to Wednesday afternoon\u2019s parliamentary session. They were applauded by left-wing lawmakers as they marched in together a few minutes later, with Massonneau leading at the head of the column.<\/p>\n
Angered by the women\u2019s \u201ctheatrics,\u201d the opposition UMP group abandoned the chamber.<\/p>\n
france24<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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