French business networks: a counter-power or the power of the insiders?

In France, new feminist organisations have been created since the 2010’s and large demonstrations are organized for the 8 March or 25 November, but the feminist movement is still weak. It is radical, and particularly focused on gender violence. On the other side of the political spectrum, business women’s networks organised around multinationals, large State administrations or high-qualified professions (lawyers, journalists), have progressively gained legitimacy and visibility. When Emmanuel Macron was elected in 2017 and announced that gender equality would be the “great cause” of his mandate, a new coalition of 40 professional networks was created, “2Gap” for Gender & Governance Action Platform. This platform is animated by elite women, with similar ethos, prestigious diploma and careers, and involved in the same restricted agenda for equality: a “shared governance” at the top of organisations, both in the private and public sectors, and no critique of neoliberal capitalism. Thanks to a conventional repertoire of action (expertise, prestigious events, communication, lobbying) and no links with others feminist actors (e.g. equality officers in trade unions or feminist grass-roots movement), this national platform played an influential role in the development of two laws on equality at work, the “Rixain Law” (2021) and the “Billon Law” (2023). These two laws enshrine the framing of an “elitist equality” by introducing quotas of 50% of women in the decision-making bodies of companies and public establishments, without taking intersectionality into account as for example on social classes, race or sexuality. The aim of this paper is to explore the political opportunity and resources that can explain why women’s business networks became the main interlocutor of the Macron’s government and administration to design laws in equality at work. To do this, we will draw on a rich empirical material collected over several years: interviews with network members and founders, ethnographic fieldwork in several events organized by the networks or the public authorities, and a six-month internship in the administration responsible for implementing quota policies.