I have noticed that for some time in France, most of the university rankings have taken into account the percentage of women and men in the scores assigned to establishments (the closer the percentage is to 50%, the higher the score is).

I wonder if this new criterion might encourage universities to discriminate against the majority sex.

It’s known that most of universities make everything possible to have the highest score in rankings because of reputation and funds and that discrimination is really difficult to be prove in selection.

Therefore my question is : Is taking gender into account in university rankings is considered as incitement to sexist discrimination following French laws?

Is there reverse discrimination laws that makes those practices legals? Is there discrimination laws that makes those practices illegals?

  • What country is this question talking about? France? – Matthew Jul 17 '20 at 14:32
  • Yes, it's about France. I will edit que question, thanks for making me notice it. – Taeith Jul 17 '20 at 14:49
  • What majority sex? In France women are a slight majority but the ratio is almost even. – o.m. Jul 17 '20 at 15:00
  • universities in literature will be encouraged to discriminate against women and Computer Science Universities will be encouraged to discriminate against men – Taeith Jul 17 '20 at 15:04
  • What is the question about law here? – user6726 Jul 17 '20 at 15:13

EU law permits Member States to take any steps as appropriate to ensuring the full equality, in practice, between men and women. This is set out in Directive 2002/73/EC (Art. 2(8)) and in Articles 151, 156 and 157-4 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

Article I of the Declaration of Human and Civic Rights of 26 August 1789 as embodied in the current French Constitution declares that:

Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.

Based on these sources, it seems the principle of equality among genders is firmly established at the heart of existing French law.

I have not been able to find any French law that prohibits positive action in this manner (contrary to the Directive), therefore it seems positive action as described in your question is allowed.

  • Thank you matthew – Taeith Jul 17 '20 at 20:07

Questions in the form can X be considered Y are usually pointless. By asking, you are obviously considering X to be Y, so yes, it can be done. Question answered. The better question would be do the relevant authorities consider X to be Y? Since we are on Law Stack Exchange and not on Politics Stack Exchange, it would be laws or legal authorities.

Many jurisdictions allow, even encourage reverse discrimination, that is the use of discriminatory practices to overcome a current imbalance or injustice. It could be something like "In areas in which women are underrepresented, all female applicants or at least as many women as men are invited to the interview, provided they have the qualifications required for the job."

Putting the achievement of equal numbers into official rankings is even less intrusive.

  • Thanks for your answer, I have change the question to make it reprentative of my thoughts. – Taeith Jul 17 '20 at 15:02
  • I think that what you say is nonsense. If there is more black people in my university than white people and I choose to discriminate black people, it would be racism. What would it be different for gender? – Taeith Jul 17 '20 at 15:07
  • @Taeith, some people (and some jurisdictions) agree with reverse discrimination and some disagree. The question why belongs on Politics SE, not on Law SE. Certain reverse discrimination is compatible with French and EU law, whatever you or I think about it. – o.m. Jul 17 '20 at 15:32
  • I don't care if it's legal or illegal and I don't care about if reverse discrimination is good or bad, I am not into politics and opinions. What I want is to understand if the reverse discrimination laws you spoke about, has been voted and exist in France and if they allow those practices. – Taeith Jul 17 '20 at 15:37

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