Contenu du sommaire : La place des femmes dans les élites administratives

— The feminisation of French administrative bodies: steps and historiography — The feminisation of administrative bodies in France has taken place in two main stages, which are only loosely linked to the successive political regimes confronting naturalistic conceptions of female labour. The factors behind this feminisation are as much linked to social welfare measures as to shortages of male labour. Women remain trapped in a dual confusion: confusion between political offices and administrative functions and confusion between private life and professional activity. From the Ancien Régime to around the 1870s, women were admitted to administrative bodies for their utility alone, without being able to claim their civil rights, which the Revolution had failed to secure. In the 1890s, the “heroic” period of women in administration began, finding its iconic image in the typist but, nevertheless, arousing much controversy. The feminisation of administrative bodies only became legitimate after 1945.

— The history of women executives in the Ministry of Finance from 1939 to 1981: a lead ceiling Keywords — The Ministry of Finance is the government department which, in the twentieth century, had the most difficulty and took the longest to appoint women among its executives. This article examines how, in spite of the historical, legal and sociological obstacles, female administrators, who marked the 1939?1981 period, succeeded in infiltrating the corridors of its premises at Branly Embankment and Rivoli Street and accessing senior posts.

— The recruitment of women through Class A competitive examinations: the source of the pools — How do women fare in Class A competitive examinations compared to men? Can we observe any development, with the measures taken for a little over a decade in favour of professional equality and the feminisation of selection boards? What conclusions can we draw from the statistics on the competitive examination process for the French National School of Administration (ENA), Regional Institutes of Administration (IRA), National School for Magistrates (École nationale de la magistrature) or Treasury and Tax Schools (Écoles du trésor et des impôts)? It is, above all, the feminisation of selection boards which seems to have influenced the results compared to previous periods.

— Women's Access To State Senior Civil Servant Positions — Women's access to leadership positions in the state administration was very late and difficult in France. The sidelining of women has long been justified by an authoritarian and an almost military design of civil service as well as by the inclusion of women in family approaches of power. The study of leadership positions in the civil service shows that progress has been made from the 2000s onwards. However, women senior officials must mobilize more social and professional resources than men pursuing careers at a similar level. Inequalities between men and women amplify inequalities between men and women senior officials.

— Legal instruments of equality between women and men in accessing public sector positions: from the right to equality to equality policies — This study traces the history of various measures which, since the post?war period, have been directly and explicitly designed to fight against inequalities between women and men in accessing public sector positions. The main issues are presented, with the emergence of two major phases, to which two very specific types of measures correspond. From 1945, the fight against inequalities in law, through the jurisdictional guarantee of the individual right to equal treatment between men and women, primarily sanctioning direct discrimination but also in a more embryonic way indirect discrimination. Then, from the 2000s, the fight against inequalities in practice, through the implementation of public policies for equality between women and men, which first of all were non-obligatory but also ineffective, since then have been using the constraint of affirmative action.

— The loss of citizens' rights — While the provision of public services continues to grow, their implementation generates a growing degree of complexity. Thus, a phenomenon of “loss of rights” develops, in circumstances which have not been envisaged by legislation or case law. The phenomenon mainly concerns social rights, for which benefitting from the provision of services is, in principle, subject to numerous conditions and periodic reassessments. The loss of rights is the product of many factors which are difficult to isolate. Its effects can nevertheless be identified: the public service no longer works effectively for citizens, and a situation of administrative breakdown becomes a practical reality.

— The translation of welfare applications: the cases of disabled people and of the inclusion of young people — Through accumulating data on two welfare rights allocation schemes (assistance for young people and disability rights), we examine the status reserved for the applicant, along with the bureaucratic and moral approach applied in sorting through applications for the two
schemes. We go on to question the actual margins for manoeuvrability among users in jointly putting together the application, as well as the ways in which knowledge can be developed of the needs to be met. This comparison demonstrates that there is not one, but several “social magistracies”, which are more or less participatory, more or less conditional and discretionary, depending on the type of beneficiaries.

— “Procedure 276”, a yardstick for new local government reform — Procedure 276, an original model of local politico-administrative governance with which the Haute?Normandie Region and Eure and Seine?Maritime Départements have experimented, is an innovative example of cooperation between local authorities. Based on contractual logic, it establishes harmonised semi?integrated and integrated processes, proving that there are many ways of coordinating regional and departmental actions and that it is possible to combine budgetary rationalisation with effective local public action. At the dawn of a new era of decentralisation, drawing key lessons from this experience is deemed relevant and useful.

The government has launched a new momentum for State reform called “modernization of public action” (MAP). Despite the difficult financial context, the MAP differs from RGPP by its broader approach and its more concerted way to proceed. Simplifications and evaluation of public policies emerge among the topics included in this process.