French Labor Minister Jean-Pierre Farandou at a conference on work and pensions, held at the Ministry of Labor in Paris, on November 4, 2025. THIBAUD MORITZ/AFP
France has fallen behind, but the government is finally making progress on implementing the European directive on pay transparency. Two days before International Women's Rights Day on Sunday, March 8, the Ministry of Labor sent a first draft of the bill to labor unions and lawmakers. The bill will be subject to one final consultation meeting with employers' organizations and employee representatives on March 19.
To combat pay inequality between women and men, the European Union adopted a directive on pay transparency in May 2023. Member states have until June 7 to implement it. It is already certain that France will not meet this deadline. With the municipal elections in March and a particularly crowded parliamentary agenda, no date has yet been set for when Parliament will begin to examine the bill. "We are trying to find a slot as close as possible to the deadline for implementing the directive," said a spokesperson for Labor and Solidarity Minister Jean-Pierre Farandou.
The draft sent to labor unions on Friday only covers the private sector; the section concerning the public sector, which is still being finalized, will be sent in the coming weeks. As it stands, the bill refers to several regulatory measures to be decided later, but already provides some key points.
