A WOMAN IN POLITICAL WORLD ,THE KEY OF HER ACHIEVEMENTS

 

In 1974 as Valery Giscard D’Estaing was looking for women for his governement, Jacques Chirac presented him Simone Veil ,a forty-seven year woman who wasn’t well-known, but who has now become a famous woman.

Simone Jacob was born in Nice on the thirtieth of September in a Jewish family.As she was only seventeen ,she was deported with all her family to Auschwitz where unfortunatly, she and her sister were the only survivents.She married Antoine Veil after the second world war and then , became a lawyer in 1957 after she had studied law in Paris.

In 1974 ,Giscard D’Estaing chose Mrs. Veil to be the Health Minister and one year later, she passed a law to legislate arbortion." It is dramatic and it will always be so" said the minister in front of the Parliament ,but altough her law was really critizised by an assembly mostly constituted by men ,she succeeded in making things change.

In 1976 , she made a law to forbid smoking in public places and after that in 1978, she managed to extend the French social security system to the whole French population.Simone Veil was a menber of the UDF: she’s said to be courageous ,free, and reliable,that’s why many women defended her action.

In 1979 , she was elected at the head of the first European Parliament.During all her career she was opposed to Jean-Marie Le Pen and she tried to make people realise how his party was dangerous .During Balladur’s governement she was the Social and Health Minister.She fought against social exclusion that’s why she had been at the head of the Integration Council in 1997.

As she was a famous woman really appreciated by French people ,René Monory the Senate’s president chose her to enter the Constitutional Council in 1998.Simone Veil is a strong woman who had to face many difficulties but those experiences have given her the force to make efficient laws (for example the judicial reform she made to improve the prisons’ situation was a result of her stay in Auschwitz).She made women realise that even a woman can succed in the political world.

Her law about arbotion is still up- to- date because it has been revised by the left party : now women are allowed to arbort till 12 weeks of pregnancy against ten weeks before.Even if nowadays we don’t hear very much about her in the media ,Simone Veil is still active , working for the UDF.Anyway , she is one of the most popular politicians in France and she’s seen as a great defender of women rights in the world.

 

Emilie P., Louise D., Carine D., Charlotte M., 2000-2001