Give women right to stay at home

WOMEN should have the ‘freedom to stay at home’ says a Front National (FN) MEP.

Speaking in a debate on how to improve workplace equality this week, an MEP from Haute-Savoie caused controversy by saying his colleagues were forgetting a vital idea – “freedom for women to take care of their home”.

Dominique Martin said he was not opposed to equal opportunities and treatment, but helping more women to be housewives would, he said: “Have the advantage of freeing up jobs, our children being brought up better and making our streets safer because they wouldn’t be hanging around in the street and wouldn’t be taking drugs.”

Mr Martin said he wanted MEPs to look at the idea of a ‘parental salary’.

“We all know women who work part time for eight or nine hundred euros a month. Do you really think they do it because they find it fulfilling? So as to have a career? To be equal to men? No, they do it because the family lacks €800-1,100 to meet their needs, and that’s unacceptable.”

He added: “To conclude, I would like to remind you that women come from Venus and men from Mars.”

The comments came during discussion of ways to ensure equal pay, making sure there are women in management posts and ‘getting rid of all gender discrimination’ in employing people and in advancement of careers.

A ‘parental income’ is mentioned on the website of the FN as one of its policies – “as soon as finances allow it”. The party suggests offering mothers – and fathers – the possibility of choosing between paid work or looking after their children, with 80% of the Smic minimum wage for three years from the second child, renewed for four years from the third.

Photo: Horacio Villalobos