Last Updated: April 03, 2023, 16:31 IST
French Secretary of State for Social Economy and Associations Marlene Schiappa arrives to attend the traditional breakfast at the Ministry of the Interior, Place Beauvau in Paris, on January 4, 2023. (AFP)
Marlene Shiappa has campaigned for gender equality and spearheaded a French law banning cat-calling, following and the harassment of women on the street in 2018
Marlene Schiappa, a French government minister, has come under fire after appearing on the front cover of the infamous Playboy magazine.
The magazine’s French edition will feature Schiappa, who describes herself as a “sapiosexual,” dressed in attire and her 12-page interview discussing topics such as abortion, women’s and gay rights as well as abortion.
The sight of Schiappa wearing designer dresses for a glamour magazine was viewed by some as sending the wrong message, with one person quoted as saying they thought it was an April’s Fool joke when they first heard about it.
Here is all you need to know about the French minister:
- Schiappa, who has been a government minister since 2017, was appointed as the country’s first-ever Gender Equality Minister in 2017.
- A long-time advocate of women’s rights, Shiappa has campaigned for gender equality and spearheaded a French law banning cat-calling, following and the harassment of women on the street in 2018.
- Schiappa has drawn the nastiest criticism from the right wing and remains amid controversies. The right-wing has been irritated by her views on France’s sexually predatory and chauvinistic male culture.
- She, a former blogger and a novelist, has previously written about the challenges of motherhood, women’s health and pregnancy. She has openly spoken on women’s issues and an ardent champion of women’s empowerment and social equality.
- She said she became a feminist when she was 13 after she realised how, unlike her father, she was unable to walk the streets unharassed.
- Schiappa first entered politics in 2014, when she contested the municipal elections in Le Mans, her home suburb. She was elected and became deputy mayor, in charge of gender equality, according to The Guardian.
- When Macron launched his presidential campaign in 2016, Schiappa was quick to support him.
- Born on November 18, 1982 in Paris, Schiappa is a graduate in communication and new media and has several books on feminism and women’s rights.
- She has two daughters and her husband, who remains out of the public eye, has co-written some of her books.
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