What works in France

France has implemented substantial national and corporate-level policies to advance gender equality. At the national level, France's 2019 Grenelle against domestic violence produced 54 measures with 52 fully implemented, including emergency shelter capacity more than doubling from 5,000 to 11,200+ places, training 180,000 police officers, and issuing 50,000+ emergency aid grants. In the workplace, France's mandatory Professional Equality Index requires companies with 50+ employees to publish annual gender-equality scores; average scores rose from 84/100 in 2020 to 88/100 in 2023, with 93%+ of firms exceeding the 75-point compliance threshold. These practices demonstrate measurable progress, though they address gender equality primarily through domestic violence prevention and pay equity rather than comprehensive leadership representation.