Minister demands to be called ‘la’

HOUSING Minister Cécile Duflot took umbrage to a male opposition MP who referred to her as “Madame le ministre” [Madam minister – a normal form of address], in a national assembly debate.

Ms Duflot, who was responding to a jibe about her housing policies from former UMP president of the National Assembly Bernard Accoyer, said, sarcastically: “Of course I know nothing at all about the housing problem.

“On the other hand one thing I do know is that I’m a woman, so kindly refer to me as ‘Madame la ministre’, otherwise I shall feel obliged to call you Monsieur la député [MP], which would be just as disagreeable to you as it is to me.”

The outburst came after an exchange with Mr Accoyer, MP for Haute-Savoie, who claimed Ms Duflot’s policies will “condemn” everyone to being social housing tenants instead of encouraging home ownership.

She replied: “One can’t say just anything, Mr Accoyer, to come out with this spiel about the inhabitants of this country supposedly being ‘condemned’ to be tenants all their lives. There are 1.7 million families waiting for social housing, that’s the reality, and they don’t feel condemned.”

The question of genders of job titles in French is complex, with many questions raised since women now routinely do many jobs that were formerly mainly male-dominated. However French language watchdog the Académie Française insists ‘ministre’ is masculine and that the gender refers to the word for the post, not the person holding it.

Another common example is professeur, which is meant to be “le”, though children often refer to “la prof”.

Even so, a circular by former prime minister Lionel Jospin in 1998 encouraged the use of the feminine for “names of jobs, functions, grades and titles”, and “la ministre” is not uncommon. However Michèle Alliot-Marie, who held four major ministerial posts from 2002-2011, always refused to be referred to in this way.

Duflot was also recently displeased after some male MPs made jokey remarks about a dress with a bold floral print that she wore on making a speech to the house. Her fashion choices also controversy when she was accused of being too casual for wearing jeans to attend the Council of Ministers (French cabinet).

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