Having lived in France for the past several years, I am often asked which differences with the US strike me the most. Aside from being able to buy delicious baguettes every few blocks, what surprised me the most were the differences in social services available. As a student, I receive full health coverage and reimbursement for any prescription medications (all for 200 euros per year) as well as a subsidy to help me pay my (exorbitant Paris) rent. Speaking to the parents among my co-workers and instructors, I was amazed by the amount of time women receive for maternity leave, the ease with which they appear to re-enter the labor force afterwards, and their access to state-sponsored childcare once their child turns three.

All of this made me jump at the opportunity to see the French presidential candidates (the runoff between President Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist candidate François Hollande will take place on Sunday) speak on women’s issues during an event co-sponsored by my school and ELLE magazine. I was curious about the topics that interest French women - would they diverge from American women’s concerns or are some things universal?

The short answer? A bit of both. French women face a wage gap of 20% [1], compared to 23% for American women [2], which surprised me in a country that dedicates so many resources to support mothers as they transition in and out of the workforce.

Another concern that the candidates sought to address: childcare. The main concern here, however, was not cost – as is often the case in the US – but space. The cost of education in France is largely shouldered by the state and daycare is no exception: for the American equivalent of a preschool or daycare center, parents pay between 3-6% of their income, depending on the number of children they have. [3] Recently, however, due to budget cuts, there has been a shortage of available spots in these public daycare centers and parents, forced to go with other, more expensive options, are struggling to make ends meet.

The difference that I found most striking, though, was in the debate surrounding contraception. The French long ago resolved the debate about whether contraception should be covered by health insurance; apparently, there was little debate on the issue at all and now the vast majority of the population considers access to insurance-covered contraception to be a matter of course. The latest debate was on whether minors should have access to contraception and if so, how best to make it available to them. But even this question didn’t raise as much debate as I would have expected: centrist candidate François Bayrou said, “Contraception is prevention” and nearly all of the candidates were in support of giving minors access to it.

It’s easy to complain about French bureaucracy (why do I always seem need three copies of stamped, signed, and sealed documents to get anything done?), but it just makes sense to support mothers and families through policies on childcare, healthcare, education, and more – the US could learn from this. I just hope that the next president (both in France and in the US) will make real some real progress on closing the wage gap.

[1] http://www.inegalites.fr/spip.php?article972&id_mot=146

[2] http://www.nwlc.org/our-blog/state-wage-gap-data-show-little-or-no-improvement-2008

[3] http://www.famili.fr/,combien-ca-coute,643,16774,3