The Paris election is good news for women in local politics, but the bigger question is why this is considered extraordinary

A quiet revolution is taking place in France: no blood has been spilled or government overthrown. It's a revolution in the role of women in local politics. For the first time, the battle to be the next mayor of Paris is shaping up to be an exclusively female affair.

As things stand, the 2014 mayoral election will be fought by four women. The first female to announce her ambitions for office was Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, 39, considered the Boris Johnson of the group, an ambitious right-winger who enjoys the spotlight.

She is joined in the race by Anne Hidalgo, 53, a socialist and close friend of the current mayor Bertrand Delanoë. The third in the contest is Rachida Dati, 47, the former justice minister dubbed Nicholas Sarkozy's right-hand woman, while the final candidate is Cecilé Duflot, 37, the Europe Ecology-Green party housing minister in the socialist-led coalition government.

The list of candidates represents an important shift for a country known for sexist politics. In an attempt to tackle the problem, a law was passed in 2000 requiring all parties to ensure that 50% of candidates in any election are women, or face financial penalties. This was considered a step forward. Yet Philippe Marlière, professor of French and European politics at University College London, says the law has been side-stepped by some parties that "would rather be fined than nominate a woman".

The all-female mayoral race could lead to greater female representation in French government, since the position of Parisian mayor is seen as a springboard to presidency in France. Progress in this area has also highlighted how slow change is for French local government: an all-female election is still rare. Marlière says that the core difference in an all-women race is that there will be no temptation from male commentators to ask: is the female candidate fit for the job?

Some commentators claim it is unlikely that the refreshing experience across the channel could be repeated in mayoral elections in the UK's major cities. "We don't have any leading female politicians. If you look at French politicians they are a publicity man's dream," says Gino Raymond, professor of French at Bristol University. "Again, you could say this reflects the sexism in French society, but you simply don't find French female politicians who don't look good and dress impeccably."

The focus on gender and appearance, and not the core political issues at stake, is a cause for concern. Dati, the centre-right candidate, warned that the election must not be "caricatured as a 'desperate housewives' contest".

"I want Parisians to have a clear choice, in which they are able to compare our experiences and especially our projects for Paris," she explains. "The real positive step will be when journalists stop asking that question [about the all-female election] … we should be talking about competence and experience."

Siobhan Benita, an English former civil servant and an unsuccessful independent candidate in the 2012 London mayoral election, described a similar experience of facing the same prejudices during her campaign.

"The type of coverage I got as a woman was different," she says. "There was so much focus on what I look like. Every interviewer said something about what I was wearing and whether I was glamorous. They also asked me what my husband thought of what I was doing and my children; a male politician would never get asked those sorts of questions."

Despite Dati describing the situation in France as "very difficult" for women in politics, France is ahead of Britain when it comes to female MPs. Data compiled by the Inter-Parliamentary Union reveals that 27% of MPs in France are women compared with 22% in the UK. But women's representation in local government in England is higher than within Westminster. The national census of local authority councillors in 2010 showed that 31% of councillors in England were women. The proportion of female councillors was greatest in London boroughs (36.4%) and lowest in the shire counties (24.6%).

The situation is the same in France. "There is also a higher percentage of women in French politics further down the pyramid," Raymond adds, explaining that "35% of local councillors are women in France but once the stakes get higher, say towns of more than 100,000, the number falls."

Jenny Jones, London Assembly member for the Green party and also an unsuccessful candidate in London's last mayoral ballot, thinks there should be a concerted campaign to introduce women to local politics.

"I think it's great that there may be an all-female election in Paris, and London could learn the lesson that women are woefully under-represented in politics and this may need positive action. It's obvious that we need to have more women in positions of power, but even super-talented women sometimes need extra encouragement to put themselves forward," she says.

Benita is hopeful that the all-female election in Paris will speed up the process of change, introducing more women to politics. "It's funny because if this was an all-male election race no one would say anything but because it is all women it is a big story."

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