——
The French ready to elect a woman president of the Republic
Asked about this issue for the first time in a survey conducted in February 2005, 85% of French men and women state that they are ready to elect a woman as president of the Republic. This is an encouraging result for the future of male-female parity in the political sphere, given that only 13.3% of members of parliament and 17% of senators are women in an electorate that is 51% female. To improve the representation of women in politics, French people put their trust in organisations promoting women’s rights, in women politicians, in the media and, finally, in the political parties.
Élodie Vignon
Arab sciences take pride of place
Concerned to develop activities which highlight the modernity of the Arab world, the president of the
Institut du monde arabe (IMA) [Arab cultural centre in Paris] has just launched an initiative of scientific cooperation between France and the countries of that region. To get this new project off the ground, on 3 March 2005 the IMA organised a meeting between 400 young Arab researchers and the managers of French firms and French research institutes working on projects in the Middle East. The aim of this initiative is to forge a network with this up-and-coming scientific elite, consisting of young PhD students who have chosen to complete their studies in France. The key aspects of this programme are the provision of student grants and the forthcoming launch of a prize which will be awarded to young Arab researchers.
www.sciences-ima.org
Simone de Beauvoir on Seine
For the first time in France, a Paris bridge may be named after a woman. On the eve of International Women’s Day on 8 March 2005, the Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, proposed naming the planned footbridge that will link the Parc de Bercy to the François-Mitterrand Library in the south-east of Paris, after Simone de Beauvoir. This initiative, designed to give women greater representation in public places, crowns a movement initiated in 2001: many locations in the capital have already been named after famous women, such as Olympe de Gouges, Louise Michel, Flora Tristan and Elsa Morante. Planned for 2006, this will be the capital’s 37th bridge.
Poetic gatherings
First held in 1999, the Printemps des poètes [Poets’ Spring] celebrated its seventh session in France from 4 to 13 March 2005. This year’s theme was
"Passeurs de mémoire" [Carriers of memory], making contemporary poets intermediaries for the poets of the past. The programme offered a host of unusual events - from cafés to schools, from stations to bookshops - interspersed with writing workshops and public readings. Every year, more than 10,000 events are staged during this festive week in France and abroad - through the network of Alliances Françaises - at venues such as poetry cafés and school clubs, with poets actively involved. These activities also continue throughout the year with the "Poésies en appartement" [Poetry at home] scheme in which writers are invited to host poetry evenings for groups of friends, and the "Brigades d’intervention poétique" [poetic action brigades], made up of actors who have been performing for several years in a great many French schools.
"Driving licences at 1 euro per day"
In view of the increase in road deaths among eighteen to twenty-four year olds in 2004, in February 2005 the government announced the launch of a scheme to help young people in difficulties to get their licence. Two measures have been brought in order to achieve this: a grant for young learners and support for loans intended to fund their preparation for the test. Designed along the same lines as the "laptop computer for 1 euro a day" scheme - introduced in September 2004 by the Ministry of Education, to help as many students as possible to buy PCs on credit - a "licence for 1 euro a day" will come into effect from 1 July 2005. This scheme is aimed at under twenty-five year olds, who make up a significant proportion of those driving illegally. Anxious to progress from 350,000 to 500,000 learners in five years, the government has also announced the introduction, from January 2006, of a student card, which will guarantee these young people in difficulties the same rights as young people at school (price concessions on public transport and for cultural and artistic activities).
A century of press publications on the web
In five years’ time, the whole world will have free access to over 3.5 million pages of French newspapers and magazines. This at least is the aim of the major project undertaken by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BNF) which will begin the digitisation of part of the French press from 2006. This initiative aims to make accessible on the internet, in addition to the 76,000 texts and 80,000 images digitised in the Gallica digital library, the archives of the 27 principal press titles dating from the French Restoration (1814-1830) to the Liberation (1944).
www.bnf.fr
Print version