Cyril Cineux is Vice President of Clermont Auvergne Métropole, responsible for Participatory Democracy, User Relationship, Citizenship, Equality, and Consultation and Evaluation of Public Policies. Met at a meeting of the Urbact Local Group of the FEMACT-Cities action planning network, Cyril Cineux appears to be a man of conviction and speaks clearly.
It seemed to us very important to give him a voice, particularly on the role of men in advancing equality issues.
Cyril Cineux, often, conferences that address the topic of gender equality are only (or almost only) attended by women. Is equality a women's issue?
Equality concerns everyone. It's not just a women's issue. In fact, as Vice President responsible for equality issues, I can only say that it's not just a women's issue! Strengthening rights is useful for everyone. Advancing the rights of some, in this case, never leads to a regression in the rights of others. In fact, the opposite is true: when rights regress for a minority, it often heralds further regression to come. Human history has shown it many times. Perhaps we could avoid making the same mistakes again.
For a society that wants to be open and progressive, forgetting an entire sector is not possible. Yet, we still measure the difficulty in making progress in raising awareness.
Personally, I call myself a feminist. Yes, men can be feminists. Being a feminist is 'just' wanting equal rights. Does that mean that not being a feminist means wanting unequal rights?
I think we need a real, deep, and shared awareness. We don't have to be immigrants to fight against racism; it's exactly the same approach. It's simply a question of values and a worldview to defend.
We're living in a rather brutal time. A return to masculinity, a form of backlash, even among young people... Is it complicated to be elected and claim to be a feminist?
On the contrary, it's more of a source of pride. But I still sometimes notice a difficulty in understanding, both on the part of men and women. I feel the "backlash" more in society than in public policy. In fact, what I feel is the lack of reaction from stakeholders who could be more active. There's a huge challenge in sharing the diagnosis. As long as we're not aligned with the findings, it's difficult to raise awareness, and even more difficult to act.
For example, on the question of the use of public space. We can refuse to see it, but the reality is there are differentiated use according to gender. A distinct feeling of insecurity, the adoption, sometimes internalized, of avoidance strategies (trajectories, clothing, attitude, etc.). Allowing us to realize that public spaces are gendered, and therefore building them for everyone, so that everyone feels comfortable there, is how we truly enable universalism.
Change our perspective
If we refuse to change our perspective we miss the reality of inequalities. To do this, we need to seek out resource people with expertise and knowledge. We must fuel and stimulate reflection.
For example, on topics such as "gender and public space" or "gender and mobility," some northern countries impose a gender-specific budget. That means each budget line must be examined in light of the question: "Which gender does it benefit?"
During our meetings, we were told an anecdote. A municipal official in charge of roads and snow removal joked that for him, gender issues didn't matter. Well, it does. If we have the figures and analyze them, we'll see that the majority of cars are driven by men and the majority of pedestrians are women. Snow removal is therefore clearly gendered depending on whether we decide to prioritize clearing roads or sidewalks. The same goes for the Metropolis « universal social pricing for water ». It applies to everyone, based on income. But in reality, it primarily benefits women, who are the most numerous in the low income category.
Cyril Cineux, you are in charge of Participatory Democracy, User Relationship, Citizenship, Equality, and Public Policy Consultation and Evaluation. That's a very long title, how do you connect all these topics?
They're all linked. Building a new public space is a great opportunity to engage citizens. We've done this, in fact, with mixed panels and others exclusively for women to encourage discussion. What emerges from this is very relevant. Public policies are the levers for these directions.
Today, we at the Metropole have included the issue of greening in our assessment criteria. Gender isn't included yet, but that's coming. Achieving this requires several ingredients. Willpower first and foremost. As long as we don't really want to think about it, we won't see the problem. But then, we need methods and data.
FEMACT-Cities: A European project for more egalitarian cities
“Even though it’s enshrined in law, gender equality is struggling to be implemented in practice, from school to the office, via public transport, and on sports fields… Gender inequalities persist everywhere. The FEMACT-Cities project aims to improve women’s quality of life and ensure their individual freedom.”
The ambition of FEMACT-Cities is to "enable the network's cities to deepen their reflections and ultimately contribute to changing practices, mentalities, and representations along four main axes." The project and the discussions are structured around the cross-cutting theme of combating stereotypes to remove barriers and (self-)censorship, and three axes:
• cities that adapt and protect,
• cities that enable learning and growth,
• cities that promote emancipation and autonomy,
Cyril Cineux, what do you see as the benefit of this program?
FEMACT-Cities is a product of Urbact, the first European exchange program for sustainable urban development led by Clermont Auvergne Metropole. This project set the goal of making the metropolis a positive-energy territory by 2050. Like any European cooperation program, the principle is one of exchanging experiences. It's always interesting and inspiring to step outside your comfort zone to see how issues are being asked elsewhere, how they are being addressed.
We formed a local group in Clermont to work on these issues and develop our collective action plan. Everyone isn't starting from the same perspective, but the idea is to move forward together. One observation we made is that there are a huge number of initiatives in the region. They would benefit from being better highlighted, perhaps more coordinated. There's a real need to form a network, to get to know each other better, so we can work more cohesively. This will likely be one of the actions to be implemented quickly.
Sharing inspiration
For example, on the subject of women in public spaces. Vienna was the first city in the world to address these issues. Our visits and meetings allowed us to see simple and pragmatic initiatives being implemented. Vienna has a large social housing stock. They are designed to promote a sense of security and well-being: walkways between buildings, color, seamless paths through the neighborhood... Transparent stairwells or balconies are simple, but they allow you to see and be seen; it's more reassuring. It's positive, effective, and useful for everyone.
In Krakow, we took an urban walk around famous women. It notably discussed the story of Marie Curie, who won her Nobel Prize in France because she wasn't respected in her home country! It's an initiative we could replicate in Clermont-Ferrand.
Final Word
We are indeed experiencing a backlash atmosphere with a return of completely uninhibited remarks. The debate is fascinating. What we need to "deconstruct" or move beyond, or even disregard, is the idea that this is a battle of the sexes, that feminists are harpies, because that's not what the fight for equality is. The fight for equality is the fight for rights. I don't want to oppose the genders, but I don't want to talk about complementarity either. Complementarity is not equality. That would mean we can accept remaining unequal, provided that one or the other complements or compensates. This refers to nature: men hunt and women gather... each has their role. No, it might work in a couple, but it doesn't work when it comes to rights.
We live in a society with a patriarchal heritage, that's undeniable. We must see and understand it in all its complexity and weight. A weight that affects women but also men. It's about making people understand that this is "only" a rebalancing of rights. And that this rebalancing harms no one. Quite the contrary, it seeks to build a peaceful, welcoming, tolerant society, in a society where equality is progressing. For all.
