Modern Foreign Languages' Panglossia Club
“Do traditional French cultural values hinder gender equality in France?”
This week at Modern Foreign Languages' Panglossia Club, U6th student of French, Ka’im PK (U6), delivered a talk. Ka'im is planning to read law in the UK as well as France (where he hopes to eventually reside), and as such, is keen to better understand traditional French cultural values and society. The question of whether French cultural values hinder gender equality in France caught Ka’im’s attention, and thus, an excellent Panglossia talk was born.
The talk was underpinned by statistics to illustrate that nowadays, French women still earn 15.8% less than men in equivalent roles. Despite progress, such as the right to vote (1944), contraception (1967), and abortion laws (1975, 2024), wage gaps and the glass ceiling in France persist. French women still bear 70% of domestic tasks.
Ka’im then went on to say that efforts to adapt tradition to modern values included mandatory political parity, justifying wage gaps, dismantling stereotypes from school, alongside strengthening sanctions against domestic violence. Ka’im concluded that feminist movements and new laws continued to drive progress towards equality.
The talk and Q&A session were conducted in French and lasted half an hour, in the course of which Ka’im beautifully exemplified the high level of French an MFL linguist can potentially attain at Merchant Taylors’. Well done Ka'im!
Ms Valentina Kotsuba
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