France: the National Front and Women's Rights
Mother, housewife, building-block of the nation. The female citizen of the 21st century seems to be threatened by an eruption of the values of the 1940s. Nostalgia for the 'national revolution'
CADAC (Coordination centre of Associations for the Right to Abortion and
International Viewpoint #264 MARCH 1995 termination of pregnancy through the social security system remain key elements of the National Front programme, the far right is violently divided in its response to this question. Bruno Mégret (author of the "Universal of the collaborationist Petain government during the Nazi occupation would be bad enough. But the resurgence of rightwing propaganda about the role of women in society is part of a thoroughly modern project, coherent in ideological, economic, social and political terms.
LEADING NATIONAL FRONT
(FN) member Jacques Bompard recently signed his name (with that of his wife) to a
190 page thesis on the women question.
"The struggle for equality with men is, as far as the law in concerned, redundant.
In many areas, women are in fact in an advantageous position compared to men... Legislation on the working week, and labour in general, benefits women, even if it is not always rigorously applied... In contrast, laws on the freedom to procreate and on the right to "enjoy"
one's body not only verge on the
• ridiculous, but place the male partner in a severely disadvantaged position." This publication is an attempt to assemble a complete set of arguments for a counter- offensive on women's rights. Joan of Arc is invoked as an example and an
Women and fundamentalism inspiration for the call to arms of "all the women of the world". Well, not quite all, presumably, since the authors speak approvingly of "pioneer" eugenics theorist and champion of the gas chamber Alexis
Carrel, for whom racial separation and the elimination of 'weaker elements' were essential to the progress of white hopes will popularise their family programme are the "maternal income" - a state benefit for housewives - and "universal family suffrage" - one extra vote for each child- cast by the father for
Enough of the bad old days! Lets talk about something else.
Abortion, gays, the death penalty... sons and the mother for daughters.
"In a rapidly evolving world, the debate on family policy demonstrates the archaic social system in France. The proponents of an liberty-killing moral order are trying to claim for themselves the right to manage the most private parts of the life of the individual... The family is the main vector of the re-conquest of French society by Catholics, traditionalists, Opus Dei members, and all those the other elements of the french far-right which trace their roots to the Counter-Revolution (Phillipe Brunnquel, Les associations familiales, combien de divisions?, Editions Dagorno, 1994)
It is interesting to note that, while the
Family. Suffrage" bill rejected by parliament in 1992) and the GRECE fraction want to water down the National Front's position so that abortion "would not be a crime, but rather a regrettable private decision, which it would be better to avoid. Mégret and his team think that a brutal anti-abortion campaign could frighten the Front's traditional electorate, which is largely de-Christianised nowadays, and which is indifferent to most of the Pope's pronouncements. But if this watering down of policy goes ahead, the Catholic tendency around Bernard Antony and the Présent magazine will leave the Front and set up their own organisation." René Monzat, Ras I'front no.26, Jan.-Feb. 1995.
This struggle is not just an indication of a general struggle within the far right over its future identity. It is also a sign that the question of abortion, and of the role of women in society, will be a central element in the changing shape of the French right as a whole. After all, women are an electoral force, and the National Front is out to seduce them. (The traditionally male vote of the National Front is becoming more balanced between the sexes. In recent polls 15% of men and 13% of women sampled indicate their support for the Front)
While truly anti-women legislation is still far short of a parliamentary majority, the attacks on abortion rights, the debate on 'restoring the place of the family' on the maternal wage, are signs that social struggles of the coming years will be fought more and more on the field of women's rights. * humanity.
The National Front's propositions for the rebirth of France centre on the reconstruction of the family, and a
Les cahiers du féminisme (Feminist Notebooks) 2 rue Richard Lenoir, 93100 Montreuil, massive return of women to the kitchen socialist feminist bimonthly influenced by the same ideas as International Viewpoint. Of and the cradle. This would not only end particular interest: Autumn 1990 (no.54) L'extreme droite et les femmes, Spring 1994 the decline in the birth-rate of the Gallic
(no.67/68) Famille, natalité, chomage, and Autumn 1994 (no. 70) Le pape contre les component of the population, but it would
"give back" half a million jobs to the boys.
Of course, these are the 1990s, and even
Ras l'front (Enough of the Front!) campaigning anti-fascist magazine, B.P. 87, 75561 the women of the national front have won
Paris CEDEX 12. Of particular interest: IVG: 20 ans apres, un anniversaire sous haute a certain 'citizenship' which makes it surveillance (no.26, Jan.-Feb, 1995) and Femmes, famille, fascisme (no. 11, March impossible for their leaders to propose anything too retrograde for the moment.
Two magic wands which the far right right to abortion and the subsidy of the
For more information femmes.
1993)
Contraception), 12, rue Voltaire, 75011 Paris
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by Arnaldo Castelleras
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