WW II to essentially pay mothers to not work -- the more children the higher the allowance.
While Socialist governments in the 1980s recognized the gender-biased nature of family
allowances , in the 1980s the Socialist Family Ministry instituted a new child-rearing allowance
given to couples with children, when one of the parents did not work. Both left-wing and right-
wing governments have maintained and/or increased the child-rearing allowance for additional
children. Only a fraction of these allowances have been used by men – 8% in 2002.
Governments have consistently provided day care allowances for home care rather than
developing low cost day care centers that would better serve lower income families and help
poorer women move-up the economic ladder.
Since the end of the 19
th
century French policy has sought to protect women from the
vicissitudes (sic) of work in order to protect their child bearing capabilities. This protectionist
approach was only recently formally ended with the adoption of a 2000 law that lifted the
century-old ban on women to work at night. The trade unions were staunch opponents to lifting
the ban, defining night work as right for all workers. In 1999, France was fined through
European Court of Justice proceedings; clearly a major factor in the full lifting of the ban in
2000.
In this new period for gender equality, the promotion of policies that provide real
choices to working mothers and fathers to reconcile fairly home and work duties has become a
part of discussions in the larger family policy community. Numerous conferences organized by
the state-based offices responsible for family issues are well-attended and have included a
significant component on reconciliation. More than organized feminism, it has been individual
feminist experts and femocrats that have made strong arguments for including reconciliation
issues into family policy. For instance, Dominque Méda, a graduate of the grande écoles and
chargée de mission in a feminist policy unit in the Ministry of education, has become the guru
19
Convention