Female Socialist candidate losing support in French presidential race

PARIS — Like many French women, Annie Gros, 44, has watched Socialist Ségolène Royal's campaign with the heady prospect of seeing a triumvirate of women lead three Western powers: Royal in France, Hillary Rodham Clinton in the United States and Angela Merkel in Germany.

Now, five weeks before the French presidential election, the voters who should be among Royal's strongest constituency — Gros and other French women tired of male dominance in every political and professional sphere in France — are among her toughest critics. Their disenchantment is helping drive Royal toward third place in opinion polls.

"When I started hearing about her a few months ago, she seemed to be different and new," said Gros, a Paris teacher. "In a few months she lost all her credibility. It's a shame, but I'd rather abstain than vote for her now. ... She's not a strong woman like Angela Merkel or Hillary Clinton."

Female critics often say Royal, 55, simply has not measured up to the standards of competence and leadership that are required of a president of France. They say that she plays to her femininity but is not a feminist, and that she too often blames France's sexist attitudes for hobbling her campaign.

"It's not enough to say, 'I'm a woman, therefore everything will be different,' " said Christine Ockrent, a prominent television journalist and author of a recent book about female politicians. "Women voters, especially elderly women voters ... want a secure, competent leader. Somehow Ségolène Royal has not convinced them."

A poll conducted in the past week by the Ipsos group showed that 28 percent of respondents who are likely to vote said they would choose Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, the candidate for the ruling Union for a Popular Movement party, in the first round of voting April 22. Royal has the support of 25 percent, and Frangois Bayrou, who is casting himself as an alternative, anti-establishment candidate, is favored by 24 percent.

Female voters "are more worried about financial issues and the future jobs of their children and the economic situation — and that's even more important to them than to men," said Ipsos head Pierre Giacometti, explaining why Sarkozy's support among women was stronger.

On Friday, Royal's campaign suffered a new attack from a once-friendly quarter. Eric Besson, a former Socialist Party colleague, was quoted in the newspaper Le Figaro as saying he feared for his children's future if Royal was elected.

Giacometti said women are also much more concerned than men by questions of Royal's competence, which she fueled early in the campaign with a series of gaffes, particularly on foreign-policy issues.

"Some women are saying it's not good for women that the woman is showing a lack of competence," said Jean-Luc Parodi, research director at the Center for the Study of French Political Life.

In an interview in the financial daily Les Echos on Thursday, Royal complained that France's sexist attitudes were hampering her campaign. It was difficult to "convince French people" to vote women into positions of political power, she said.

"People are always more demanding of women when they are in a high-profile position," said Elisabeth Guigou, a former justice minister and an adviser to Royal. She said it was "very strange, but the question of competence never comes up for Mr. Sarkozy, who has committed much bigger mistakes than Ségolène."

"We have the feeling she has very strong support among women," Guigou said. "All women, even among the right wing, are very proud that for the first time it is possible a woman could be president."

Royal is a member of the National Assembly and mother of four who has spent most of her adult life in politics.

France ranks 22nd among European Union states for the percentage of women in its parliament — at just over 12 percent. In a worldwide comparison, France is listed as 87th — below Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates.

"I've heard very harsh comments coming from women against Ségolène Royal, sometimes harsher than men," said Olivia Cattan, 39, president of Women's Words, a new association that is attempting to persuade presidential candidates to promote greater gender equality. "A lot of them tell me that Royal's attitude turns them off. They criticize the way she speaks; they say that she is not spontaneous enough."

Unlike Germany's Merkel, Royal has used her motherhood, her winsome smile and a wardrobe of white jackets, flouncy skirts and red suits as campaign tools to suggest to the French that as a woman and mother she is more attuned to their daily problems.

That understanding, she suggests, would make her better qualified to change the country's stagnant economy and declining international image.