© Global Look Press / Alain Pitton
The French Foreign Ministry hired too few women to major positions in 2017,
violating the country's gender equality quotas,
Le Monde reports just before the International Women's Day of March 8.
Out of touch with the modern spirit of equality at all costs, the ministry missed the French quota for first-time female appointments set by the 2012 Sauvadet law. Men
reportedly occupy five seats too many, which cost the ministry €90,000 each, for a total of €450,000 (about $504,500).
The 2012 law stipulated that by 2017,
each gender must have at least a 40-percent representation among civil servants appointed for the first time to positions of responsibility and management.
Only 26 percent of French ambassadors are women,
Le Monde reports - including those in Russia and Ukraine, which along with a number of countries in the Eastern hemisphere (not France, though) are marking International Women's Day as a state holiday on Friday. Twenty-four percent of French consuls are likewise female.
Most of the women employed by the Foreign Ministry are in the lowest C category of civil service jobs, working as administrative assistants and the like - 67 percent of the jobs in this category are done by women.
Comment: Sheesh! One of the very few feel-good stories we've covered here over the past few years that sparks a little faith in humanity and - poof - it's a fake! But take heart dear reader, the many thousands of good and sometimes great articles posted here are a testament to the many, many people who care about our world, getting at something close to truth of things, and sharing it for the betterment and elucidation of all - even if they make a living doing it. Not to mention the items on all the countries standing up to Empire.
Update (March 8): Both the homeless man, Johnny Bobbitt, and the woman involved, Kate McClure, have plead guilty to federal charges related to this scheme.