Gender Equality Index: Unions against any step backwards, employers fear more constraints

On Wednesday, social partners began a series of consultations with the government on the development of this tool, which makes it possible to assess compliance with gender equality in companies.

Launched in 2019, the index - called "Pénicaud" after the former Minister of Labor Muriel Pénicaud - has so far proved disappointing, with unexplained pay gaps persisting at around 4% (overall, the average wage income of women is 22,2% lower than that of men, according to INSEE, but this can be explained by various effects, such as the fact that women are more likely to work part-time).

Such a gap of around 4% "is not justified and not acceptable," said Labor Minister Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet at the first meeting of the cycle.

At least four meetings are expected to be held between now and the summer, with the government planning to have a bill submitted to Parliament in the autumn.

The index must be "completely overhauled" by 2027, as part of the transposition of the 2023 directive on remuneration transparency, which must be done by June 2026. Specifically, this involves replacing the five current criteria of the "Pénicaud" index with the seven criteria of the directive.

There will be "more precise indicators," as well as "rules of transparency before hiring" and an "association of employee representatives in the assessment of the non-discriminatory nature of the observed pay gaps," the minister indicated.

The unions want to retain criteria from the current index, such as the one on gaps in promotions or on increases upon return from maternity leave.

"What is certain is that we don't want a transposition that would cause us to take even a tiny step backward," Myriam Lebkiri, a member of the CGT (General Confederation of Labour), pointed out. "So we need to keep everything that was good before the transposition," she insisted to AFP.

"More complexity"

For the CFDT, Béatrice Lestic indicates that promotion gaps are not a "blocking marker" because they are in the social balance sheets of companies, but she believes that the indicator on the return from maternity "can still be useful".

The unions also fear "disagreements" over the scope of the companies concerned, even if the government intends to maintain the current threshold of 50 employees, and over the issue of sanctions.

For Béatrice Clicq of FO, the absence of sanctions or minimal sanctions on a single indicator would be "a real sticking point".

They remained "a little vague" on this subject, noted Ms. Lestic.

The Medef (French employers' association) is asking the government to ensure that the transposition of the directive "avoids introducing even more complexity and new administrative burdens for businesses," its negotiator, Hubert Mongon, told AFP.

Regretting that "the French government did not insist" with Brussels to maintain the current index, he is now calling for "a transposition that is as least restrictive as possible for businesses."

Like the Medef, which points to an "unjustified constraint", the U2P and the CPME are in favour of an index applicable to companies with more than 100 employees, and not 50.

"France is the European champion of over-transposition," fumed Eric Chevée of the CPME, while rejoicing that the Pénicaud index "is being forgotten."

However, it will still be applicable in this version in 2026, with the new index - which will continue to be published around March 8 - due to be implemented by 2027.