Deliberation no. 2015-2 of February 4, 2015 on abiding by women's rights by the companies mentioned in article 20-1-A of law no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986.

The French Superior Audiovisual Council,

Having regard to Act no. 2014-873 of August 4, 2014 on real equality between women and men ;

Having regard to Law no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986, as amended, on freedom of communication, in particular articles 1, 3-1, 20-1 A, 41-3, 43-11 and 44;

After deliberation,

Decides:

Act no. 2014-873 of August 4, 2014 on real equality between women and men inserted a fourth paragraph into article 3-1 of Act no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986, which notably entrusts the Council with the mission of ensuring, "on the one hand, a fair representation of women and men in the programs of audiovisual communication services and, secondly, the image of women portrayed in these programs, in particular by fighting stereotypes, sexist prejudices, degrading images, violence against women and violence committed within couples ".
To meet this objective, a new article 20-1 A was inserted into law no. 86-1067 of September 30 1986, under which " the national program companies mentioned in article 44, as well as national television services and radio services belonging to a national diffusion network, diffused by terrestrial hertzian way, contribute to the fight against sexist prejudices and violence against women by showing programs related to these subjects. These services provide the French Superior Audiovisual Council with qualitative and quantitative indicators on the representation of women and men in their programs, enabling the Council to assess compliance with the objectives set out in the fourth paragraph of article 3-1. This information is published annually. The Board sets the conditions for application of the present article, in consultation with the departments mentioned in the first paragraph of the present article. "

The Conseil has consulted widely with all the television and radio service editors concerned by the provisions of article 20-1 A of law no. 86-1067 of September 30 1986, and with representatives of authors and producers, in order to adopt the present deliberation.

It applies to the national program companies mentioned in article 44 of law no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986, as well as to national television services and radio services belonging to a national diffusion network, shown by terrestrial hertzian way. Television and radio services that do not meet this definition may decide to voluntarily comply.

Pursuant to article 20-1 A of law no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986, the purpose of the present deliberation is to specify the programs relating to the fight against sexist prejudice and violence against women that these services must show, to set qualitative and quantitative indicators on the representation of women and men in the programs, and to encourage broadcasters to make voluntary commitments each year.

I. - Diffusion of programs contributing to the fight against sexist prejudice and violence against women

Each year, broadcasters are required to show programs and subjects that contribute to the fight against gender bias and violence against women.

Any program, regardless of its form (series of short programs, single programs, subject matter, etc.) or genre (drama, documentary, debate....), that aims to combat sexist prejudice and violence against women is considered as such, in particular programs that are free of female stereotypes, deal specifically with the issue of gender equality, highlight the role and place of women in society, or fight agains violence against women.

Each year, service editors provide the Conseil with a list of such programs, specifying those shown during prime time for television services.

II. - Quantitative and qualitative indicators relating to the fair representation of women and men and the image of women in programs

A. Quantitative indicators on the representation of women and men in television and radio programs

Publishers who show news programmes (newspapers and news magazines), magazines, entertainment, sports broadcasts and documentaries provide the Council with the following information for each programme type:
- the number and proportion of female presenters and/or hosts;
- the number and proportion of journalists and/or columnists by gender;
- the number of experts on set programs (excluding reports, testimonials or documentaries), broken down by gender and their respective proportions;
- the number of other speakers and/or political guests on on-set programs (excluding reports, testimonials or documentaries), broken down by gender and their respective proportions.

Lists of female presenters and/or hosts, journalists and/or columnists, experts on set programs and other political contributors and/or guests on set programs are made available to the Council at its request for verification purposes only.

B. Qualitative indicators on the representation of women and men in programs

Any provider of radio or television service editor who shows programmes for younger viewers, drama serials or reality TV programmes, implements a self-assessment scheme based on reading grids, drawn up by the Conseil in cooperation with the Haut Conseil à l'égalité, and submitted to the editors during the consultation process. These grids are appended to the present deliberation.

Each year, publishers provide the Council with a list of programs that can claim to be non-stereotyped according to these reading grids. The more positive responses a program receives to the questions formulated in the reading grids, the less stereotyped it is. The way in which this list is presented is left to the discretion of the publisher, who may choose to present it exhaustively, specifying the answers obtained for each program on the list, or to limit it to an enumeration of the programs.

III. - Optional commitments

A. Programming

In order to increase the representation of women and fight agains female stereotypes, service editors can commit to :
- for television services, the diffusion of audiovisual and cinematic works by women, particularly during prime time;
- setting a minimum number of programs contributing to the fight against sexist prejudice and violence against women to be diffused during the year, including a proportion of new programs. A multi-year ramp-up can also be envisaged. A guarantee that all or part of these programs will be shown at peak listening times may be considered as an additional commitment;
- the production of a short drama or animation program, shown in the form of an information campaign, for which the terms of diffusion (period, time slot, frequency, duration) are determined in consultation with the Board;
- the number of stories in news programmes written by women journalists;
- the nature of subjects covered by women in news and magazine programs.

B. Human resources

Each publisher can propose commitments to the Board to improve the representation of women in their teams:
- the organization of media training sessions for women identified as experts (as part of the process of setting up their databases of female experts);
- gender diversity in management positions to be filled, as well as the establishment of an internal organization to detect talent and potential, and to ensure their career development through specific support measures.

IV. Procedures for implementing this resolution

Each year, before January 31, the publisher provides the Conseil with a list of programs contributing to the fight against sexist prejudice and violence against women, together with all qualitative and quantitative indicators, and, where appropriate, its analysis of compliance with optional commitments for the previous year in application of I, II and III of the present deliberation.
In addition, by November 30 of each year at the latest, publishers may propose to the Board the optional commitments they have made for the following year, in application of III of the present deliberation. Once accepted by the Council, the publisher's proposals are deemed to be commitments within the meaning of the present deliberation.

V. Monitoring by the Board

Each year, the Board analyzes the qualitative and quantitative indicators. To remedy any shortcomings it may have identified, increase targets are set for the coming year, in consultation with the publishers concerned.

The Council also examines the implementation of optional commitments made by editors' commitments.

The list of programs contributing to the fight against sexist prejudice and violence against women, all indicators, increase targets and optional commitments made by editors are made public by the Conseil as part of the report it draws up each year in application of article 20-1 A of the law of September 30, 1986.

The present decision will be effective from March 1, 2015, and will be published in the Journal officiel de la République française.

Paris, February 4, 2015.
For the French Superior Audiovisual Council :

Le président,

O. SCHRAMECK

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