France's Macron unveils plan to combat 'shameful' violence against women

French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday, directed to carry out a slew of measures to fight against the "horrific and shameful" violence against women, and also pledged to make gender equality a major reason of his leadership.

"Our entire society is sick with sexism," Macron said in a speech in Paris to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

Macron started off the hour-long speech with a minute of silence to pay respect to the 123 women killed in 2016 in France by their partner or ex-partner, reports said.

"France must no longer be one of those countries where women are afraid," he said.

“Let’s seal a pact of equality between men and women,” Macron said in a speech marking the International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women. About violence and sexual abuse, he said: “It is essential that shame changes camp.”

A number of measures have been announced, including education to secondary school children on pornography and making a systematic but easy system for victims to go to the police for rape and assault cases.

Moreover, measures that may be added in a 2018 draft law could consist of criminalizing street harassment and increasing the statute of limitation for the rape of minors to 30 years from 20 years

The leader further said that he may propose to set the age for sexual consent to 15 as there is no such law yet in the country.

Further, changes may be made to administer rape and assault cases and create portals for victims to file complaints online before going to the police. Measure like 'on demand' bus stops will also be proposed, wherein women will be allowed to stop the bus at any point to get home safely

French feminist group Osez le Féminisme said the measures were going in the right direction but must be accompanied by adequate funding.

“Without funding, any communication, training, awareness or help plan for the victims will be useless,” the statement said.

The conference also had a number of past victims who survived similar cases - a women who survived from being stabbed by her ex-partner, a mother of a student who was killed by her partner and set fire to her body after she ended the relationship, a Moroccan immigrant whose abusive husband burned down their home after she found the courage to flee to safety with their children, a Nigerian who was trafficked into a prostitution ring the day she set foot in Italy - were amongst some.

Nearly 225,000 women are said to have been victims of physical or sexual violence by their partner in France, but fewer than one in five have made a complaint to authorities.

The Harvey Weinstein scandal in the United States has accelerated a rethink of attitudes toward sexual harassment in France, a country that cherishes its self-image as the land of seduction and romance.