Good practice

France's Professional Equality Index (Index d'égalité professionnelle) — Mandatory Gender Pay Score

France's 2018 law requires companies with 50+ employees to publish an annual gender-equality score (0–100 points). Average scores rose from 84/100 (2020) to 88/100 (2023); 93%+ now exceed the 75-point compliance threshold, backed by 42,017 labour inspections.

84/100

Average equality score (2020)

88/100

Average equality score (2023)

93%+

Firms exceeding 75-point threshold

42,017

Labour inspections

Details

Maturity: Established
Promoter: Ministère du Travail, du Plein emploi et de l'Insertion
Period: 2018-present
Keywords: gender pay gap, pay equity, wage transparency, labour law, company accountability

Context

France's 2018 law requires companies with 50 or more employees to publish an annual gender-equality score out of 100 points.

Results

Average scores rose from 84/100 in 2020 to 88/100 in 2023; over 93% of firms now exceed the 75-point compliance threshold, backed by 42,017 labour inspections.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

C-NAPSE web research — accessed 2026-06-21
Ministère du Travail, du Plein emploi et de l'Insertion — accessed 2026-06-21
French government: 2023 Professional Equality Index results — accessed 2026-06-21
Ministry of Labour: Index and Rixain Law results 2025 — accessed 2026-06-21
Egapro: Official calculation and declaration platform — accessed 2026-06-21
Sciences Po Women in Business: Pénicaud Index — 3-year evaluation — accessed 2026-06-21

Quality score: 96/100

How is this calculated?

Evidence: Observational / pre–post

Top 4% in this catalogue (719 scored practices)

Scores cluster high, so position within the catalogue is often more telling than the number alone.

Evaluation

Evaluated by C-NAPSE

Score profile — the dimensions behind the score — how it's computed

Transferability / replicability2/3

France's Index directly influenced the methodology of the EU Pay Transparency Directive 2023/970 and is referenced as a model in OECD pay equity guidance; concept replicated in Belgium's draft transposition.

Impact on gender equality1/1

Average company equality score improved from 84 to 88/100 in three years (2020–2023); companies with 1,000+ employees progressed from 82.9 to 89.7/100 since 2019.

Effectiveness1/1

93%+ of covered companies achieve the ≥75-point threshold; 72% publish scores on time; 695 formal enforcement notices demonstrate active compliance pressure.

Efficiency1/1

Free standardised online tool (Egapro) and five transparent indicators keep compliance costs low while producing publicly comparable cross-company data.

Evaluated outcomes1/1

French Ministry of Labour annual results (2019–2023), Sciences Po Women in Business analysis, and Oxfam France critical assessment independently document score trends, publication rates and enforcement outcomes.

Sustainability1/1

Mandatory under Law n°2018-771; scores published annually; companies failing to comply face payroll penalties; updated by Rixain Law 2021 extending scope to executive representation.

Achievement / evidence1/1

Average score up 4 points in three years; 93%+ compliance; 42,017 inspections; evolution publicly trackable via Egapro government portal — all verifiable achievements.

Gender-mainstreaming embedding1/1

Gender equality is the explicit statutory objective; the five indicators embed gender across pay, promotion, maternity and top-earner representation, not merely reporting.

Curator validation1/1

Official annual results on info.gouv.fr and travail-emploi.gouv.fr; methodology on egapro.travail.gouv.fr; independent evaluation by Sciences Po Women in Business and Oxfam France.

Cite this

Evidoria. France's Professional Equality Index (Index d'égalité professionnelle) — Mandatory Gender Pay Score. Persistent ID: 76cb8252-5bdf-47f7-99bf-4773720d222d.

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