You Can't Beat Your Wife in France

DON'T WORRY, I'LL get to the title of this post in a second. First some background. Because we have now been in France for a year, it's necessary for us to begin thinking about our second carte de sejour -- fun times. My employer is being very proactive and is helping me obtain a new work permit that would be valid for 10 years. As part of the process, I have had to meet with some of the local government agencies (medical, prefecture, etc.) on several occassions. During one such visit I was told of some new regulations that I would need to complete in order to receive my new 'resident' status.


First, I was informed that I will have to pass a French language test in May. This test is fairly basic, but just to make sure I can pass it the Conseil General has informed me that I must take 150 hours of French lessons which will be provided by the local agencies. The language courses are not optional -- which is particularly fun because the classes meet on the weekends (how do you say 'do I really have to do this?' in French)? To be fair, it's exactly what I need (Kerri too) and I'll do my best to make the most of it.

But the most interesting part of this process occured a couple of weekends ago when I had to attend a full-day seminar on the topic of my rights as a resident of France. The seminar was conducted in French (although translators were available) and began with a brief history of France, which I found quite interesting. We then moved on to the pillars of French society: liberté, égalité, fraternité. Our group listened for an hour or so about our rights and then we took a practice True/False test together. This test was incredibly insightful.

The first few questions were fairly straight forward and went along these lines:

• 'French citizens can vote for members of their government. True or False (Vrais ou Faux)?'
• 'French citizens can be arrested for no reason. True or False?'

But about 5 questions into this 20 question practice test the questions began to change in terms of their content. Most of the next 10 or so questions went like this (I am not making this up):

• In France the husband is the head (chef) of the household. True or False?
• In France a husband may beat his wife. True or False?
• In France a woman must get written permission from the Marie before taking contraceptives. True or False?
• In France woman have the same rights as men. True or False?

I don't know what it says about me, but during the questions I found myself looking at the 5 women sitting across from me who were completely covered from head to toe -- only their faces showing. At the beginning of class we all introduced ourselves and told the group where were from and these woman were from Morocco and Tunisia. A thought crossed my mind: were these classes really for me? This new seminar that is newly required for people who wish to become French residents -- was it required for everyone, but targeted for a few? Then another thought came to me: why was my wife not required to come to this seminar but these woman were. I briefly spoke with one of them during a break and she told me that none of them were planning to work while in France and that it was their husbands who were applying for the work permits.

I've told quite a few of our French friends about this seminar and they all are 1) amazed at the new requirements -- most have never heard of this kind of thing before, and 2) even more amazed when I tell them about the practice test questions. I'm not sure what to make of it either. Of course, in the end, I'm just hoping to get my new carte de sejour without too many trips to the prefecture.
CJS