Newly-appointed French Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin is expected to include seven women in his list of 17 ministers. The French Cabinet also will hold two Communist ministers and one representative each of the ecologist Greens Party and the anti-Maastricht Citizens Movement. Former European affairs minister Elisabeth Guigou, 50, was elected to the National Assembly for the first time in the June 1 elections. She may be named France’s first woman foreign minister. Socialist sources said it was likely that former industry minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn would be finance minister.
In 1995, Prime Minister Alain Juppe appointed a record 12 women ministers to his Cabinet but eliminated eight of the women within six months. During their short tenure, the women were relegated to being called “the Juppettes” by the French media.
