Spotlight on France - Podcast: France's gig economy, menstruation taboos and 130 years of the Moulin Rouge

Loading player...
French food culture has been profoundly changed by food delivery apps like Deliveroo and Uber Eats. Take-out is now a thing. It has brought a lot of new, part-time work for young bike courriers, who have started to organise to get better working conditions. We hear from a courrier about how the gig economy clashes with a French society built around permanent contracts.

Also, menstruation is a hot topic in French feminism these days, rising out of a movement in 2015 to reduce taxes on pads and tampons. A young feminist talks about how menstruation is taught in France, and the need to normalise what remains a very taboo subject.

And the Moulin Rouge turns 130 this week. When it opened its doors in 1889 it brought frilly knickers and high kicks to Paris. But it's also a place where both high society and the working class came for fun, frivolity and scandal. Hear the history of what became the most famous cabaret in the world.

In this episode:

- Jean-Daniel Zamor, president of CLAP (Independent courriers' collective in Paris)

- Eva-Luna Tholance, editor, Cyclique

- Le Moulin Rouge

- #Balancetonporc hashtag on Twitter

Episode mixed by Thibault Baduelle

Subscribe to the Spotlight on France podcast on iTunes (link here) or Google podcasts (link here).

For more stories about France and beyond, visit www.rfienglish.com.
3 Oct 2019 English South Africa News

Other recent episodes

Podcast: Fighting drug crime, France's military service, (re)wrapping the Pont Neuf

What France can learn from Italy's fight against the mafia as it tackles its growing problem with drug-related organised crime. A look at France's new military service. And wrapping Paris's oldest bridge, 40 years after it was transformed by artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The recent murder in Marseille of 20-year-old Mehdi…
4 Dec 32 min

Podcast: Civil liberties vs terrorism, Pelicot trial revisited, the Pascaline

A decade after the 2015 Paris terror attacks, France continues to pass security laws, sometimes to the detriment of civil liberties. A feminist journalist's take on the Pelicot mass rape trial. And the auction of the Pascaline, one of the world's earliest calculators, is halted. Immediately following the Paris attacks…
20 Nov 29 min

Podcast: Brigitte Macron, lauding open-air markets, France's Brazilian colony

How French media silence helped false stories claiming First Lady Brigitte Macron is a man to go viral. The unsung praises of France's street markets, which bring people together around buying and selling food. And France's short-lived colonial foray into Brazil.  False claims that President Emmanuel Macron's wife Brigitte is…
6 Nov 31 min

Podcast: Gazans in France, saving and spending habits, the Republican calendar

France recognises Palestinian statehood but evacuations from Gaza are still suspended. French savings are at an all-time high, reflecting uncertainty about the future. And the story of the ten-day week put in place after the French Revolution. Evacuations from Gaza to France were suspended on 1 August after a Gazan student…
25 Sep 32 min