French women seem to have it all: multiple children, a job and, often, a figure to envy.

法国女性似乎样样不缺，她们有一群孩子，有一份工作，还有一副令人羡慕的好身材。

What they don't have is equality. A recent 22-country survey by the Pew Research Center summed it up: three in four French people believe men have a better life than women, by far the highest share in any country polled.

"French women are exhausted," said Valérie Toranian, editor-in-chief of Elle magazine in France.

"We have the right to do what men do — as long as we also take care of the children, cook a delicious dinner and look immaculate（完美的，洁净的） . We have to be superwoman."

France ranks 46th in the World Economic Forum's 2010 gender¹ equality report, trailing the United States, most of Europe, but also Kazakhstan and Jamaica.

Francecrystallizes the paradox²（悖论，反论） facing many women across the developed world in the early 21st century: They have more say over their sexuality (in France birth control and abortion³ are legal and subsidized资助，补助), they have overtaken men in education and are catching⁴ up in the labor⁵ market, but few make it to the top of business or politics.

Having children is relatively⁶ easy in France, one reason Paris seems to teem⁷ with stylish⁸ career women with several offspring. At 31, Fleur Cohen has four children and works full-time⁹ as a doctor. As she drops her youngest at nursery in stilettos（细高跟鞋） heels and a pencil skirt you would never guess that she gave birth only three months ago.

In Paris, Ms. Cohen's husband is a doctor, too. But she bathes all four children, cooks and does the Saturday shopping. "If I didn't prepare food for my children, I would feel less like a mother," she said.

Women spend on average five hours and one minute per day on childcare and domestic tasks, while men spend two hours and seven minutes, according to the national statistics office Insee.

A majority of medical graduates in France are female. Yet all 11 department heads in her hospital are men.

"French men have always been slow to give up power," said Jean-Francois Copé, parliamentary leader of President Nicolas Sarkozy's center-right party, who is defending a bill to oblige companies to fill 40 percent of boardroom seats with women. Women were allowed to vote for the first time only in 1945. Since a 1998 law obliged political parties to have an equal number of men and women candidates on their party lists, parties have tended to pay fines rather than comply（遵守，顺从） .

Four pieces of equal pay legislation have passed since 1972. But in 2009, even childless women in their forties still earned 17 percent less than men.