Europe 1 with AFP 5:19 p.m., March 8, 2022

On the occasion of the demonstration against sexist violence and for equal pay, the main left-wing presidential candidates - Anne Hidalgo, Fabien Roussel, Yannick Jadot and Jean-Luc Mélenchon - took part, at different levels, in the Parisian mobilization.

Yannick Jadot and Jean-Luc Mélenchon notably mentioned their proposals.

Parental leave, feminicides, equal pay, the four main left-wing presidential candidates participated in a demonstration in Paris on Tuesday against gender-based violence and for equal pay, on the occasion of International Women's Rights Day.

The socialist ecologist Anne Hidalgo and the communist Fabien Roussel each made brief passages in the demonstration while the ecologist Yannick Jadot and the rebellious Jean-Luc Mélenchon took advantage of the parade to discuss their proposals for the presidential election at length.

>> READ ALSO

- International Women's Rights Day: "A new page has opened with #MeToo"

"The cause of women, a priority", declares Jadot

"We are here to say how much the cause of women will be a priority for the next five-year term," Yannick Jadot told the press.

"It will not be the 'great cause of the day' as in the previous one, it will be a high priority with public policies commensurate with the challenge," he explained.

“We want there to be 16 weeks of parental leave, eight of which are compulsory for both parents. (…) It is also a way of driving deeper changes in the distribution of tasks at home” , he said.

The ecologist also wants to impose "equal pay in the company, exit parity in the National Assembly", that is to say that once the election is over, there will be 50% of women and 50% men", and include "abortion in the Constitution". He also wants to put in place "the famous billion euros which will make it possible to get out of impunity for violence against women".

For Mélenchon, it is necessary to use "force" to achieve equal pay

"The question of feminicides is all the same a headache", also insisted Jean-Luc Mélenchon, present in particular alongside the deputy LFI Clémentine Autain.

"A woman every three days... How is it possible? How did we raise our boys? How can we get to this? It's not just a question of money, it's also a question of the whole society," he said.

He also judged that to achieve equal pay, it was necessary to use "force".

"The law dates from 1972, we are in 2022 and still at the same point. I propose to force it, I decide that all female salaries will be increased by 10%" in companies that do not respect the law on equality, he asserted.

"I reverse the burden of proof, because otherwise in a hundred years we will still be there. It's like for gender equality in politics. Everyone agreed but when it came time to do it, there was always has a problem. Except the day when we decided that, by force, it would be mixed, equal lists".