PARIS,
Mar 31 : France's National Assembly late Thursday voted
overwhelmingly to give men and women
equal
access to political office, in what the minister for women said
was a historic move.
Under
the
bill , passed on second reading , there must be equal numbers of
women and men candidates for
elections
and lists of candidates must alternate between women and men .
Nicole Perry, secretary of
state
for women's rights said: This is an important stage in the fight
for equality which will
deeply
transform our political life. I am convinced that this text will
go down in the history of
women
and their march toward equality."