We have had the pleasure to receive Violaine De Filippis for an interview last week.
She has been a lawyer specialized in Business Law since 2013. She is currently opening her own law firm destined to promote female entrepreneurship. Entrepreneur herself, creating her second company, it took her years to come to terms with "the word" entrepreneur “because ultimately the entrepreneur in my head was not me, I was too "young", I was not a guy, and often I was reminded.”
After choosing not to accept constant and repetitive sexist comments based on the fact that she was a woman and a partner in a law firm, she decided to take a break and begin her blog last February: https://girl-boss.fr/articles/.
The blog was initially about denouncing sexism in business, which quickly became more and more popular online. She now shares feminist content, raising conversation among her online readers about girl power, especially in the workplace. She also launched her Instagram page sharing the same messages (girl.bossfrance).
Awareness is an important way to tackle sexism, not only in the workplace. Starting conversations and sharing stories about her and others is one of the several ways to be involved in changing things. Today, “companies are too "quiet" about discrimination based on sex for pay and positions.”, Violaine mentioned, “something should be done by the legislator to concretely sanction the companies which still have this kind of practices.”
Certain relevant numbers she came across were important in her realization process of how necessary it is to make female entrepreneurship more accessible, and to help promote it. She mentioned a study by ‘infogreffe’ showing that one-quarter of the company leaders in France are women. She added that “in France, we have only been allowed to work without the husband's permission since 1965. It was yesterday.” It just highlights the need for promotion and nudge more women need to launch their companies or access high positions, because “it is still very present in the conscious or unconscious mind of people”, she commented, “there are still a lot of obstacles, which are in society, and not in the law, and which put brakes on women.”
To enhance the work done by the law firm Violaine is creating, she has decided to develop a social system that could increase the accessibility of her law services. 6 files a year will be selected - by the company’s comity composed of leading successful women involved in feminism - and these cases will have free law advice fees. Moreover, she has realized a salary grid to make sure her fees are adapted to the person’s salary. She has raised the fact that it was peculiar having free lawyers assigned in case of a suit but not in a case of simple law advice.
We are very thankful to have discussed these subjects with her and wish her all the luck in her accomplishments.
To conclude, Violaine has shared with us a Gisèle Halimi quote, a Franco Tunisian lawyer and militant since 1960 that has inspired her : “We need a revolution of morals, of minds, of mentalities. A radical change in human relations, based for millennia on patriarchy : domination of men, submission of women. Because this system is no longer acceptable. It has even become grotesque.”
Article by Juliette Blanca
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