Marlène Schiappa (French pronunciation: [maʁlɛn ʃjapa]; born 18 November 1982) is a French writer and politician who served as State Secretary for the Social and Solidarity Economy and Associative Life, attached to the Prime Minister, in the Borne government (2022-2023), as Minister Delegate in charge of Citizenship, attached to the Minister of the Interior, in the government of Prime Minister Jean Castex (2020–2022)[1] and as Secretary of State for Gender Equality in the government of Prime Minister Édouard Philippe (2017–2020).[2]
Quick Facts State Secretary for the Social and Solidarity Economy and Associative Life, President ...
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Ultimately, Schiappa was sacked from government in July 2023 as part of a cabinet reshuffle, a dismissal linked to the ongoing political scandal surrounding the "Marianne Fund" to combat Islamist extremism, a fund she set up as junior minister in 2021, and whose handling came under public and parliamentary scrutiny in 2023.
In 2014 Schiappa was elected deputy mayor of the city of Le Mans, in charge of gender equality and discriminations, a position she held until 2017. In 2015 she met Emmanuel Macron, then minister of the economy, at a technology event, gifting him her book Plafond de mère,[6] a few weeks later he asked her to participate in a conference about gender equality and politics.[7]
In 2014 she co-founded the Movement of French Elected Officials for Equality (MEFE). From 2016 to 2017, Shiappa became delegate advisor to technological innovation and economic attractiveness of the territory. In 2016 she also served as an advisor to Laurence Rossignol (Minister of Families, Childhood and Woman's rights) in the government of Prime Minister Manuel Valls.[citation needed]
In 2016–17, Schiappa was delegate to the department of Sarthe in charge of gender equality for La République En Marche! as well as member of its national Investiture Committee.[citation needed]
Secretary of State for Gender Equality
In 2017, Schiappa became Secretary of State for Gender Equality attached to the Prime Minister.[8]
In 2018, Schiappa successfully introduced a law to deter predatory remarks and street harassment, such as wolf-whistling.[9][10] In 2018, she proposed a change to the French civil code to introduce a ban on corporal punishment; the bill called "anti-smacking bill" in the media was approved on 30 November 2018.[11]
On the eve of International Women's Day in 2018, Schiappa appeared, alongside Roselyne Bachelot among others, in a performance of Eve Ensler's Vagina Monologues at the Bobino theater in Paris.[12]
In 2019, amid revelations of the Jeffrey Epstein affair, Schiappa and fellow cabinet member child welfare minister, Adrien Taquet called for an investigation into the activities in France of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein "so that his death does not deny his victims the justice they are entitled to".[13][14]
In November 2019, Schiappa proposed that foreigners convicted of sexual crimes and violence against women would be deported. This proposal was criticised by some feminists who called it "feminationalism" and unequal punishment based on nationality,[15] and also by a legal expert who said that such measures already existed since 1970 for serious crimes including the worst sexual crimes.[16]
In early 2023, an investigation by two French news outlets accused the Fonds Marianne, an anti-radicalism fund Schiappa set up in 2021 to promote French Republican values and fight online extremism and that she supervised, of very lax oversight.[19]
In April 2023, Schiappa caused controversy when she appeared on the cover of the Playboy magazine's French edition, wearing a low-cut white dress [20] while the country is undergoing civil unrest.