PARIS: A record 155 female MPs were voted into France’s national assembly as the Socialist party swept to power with an absolute majority in Sunday’s general election.

Francois Hollande appointed women to half the 34 cabinet posts after he became president last month, and more than a quarter of the 577-seat parliament is now made up of women. But French feminist groups said it was still a long way from the parity enshrined in law and pledged by Hollande.

“We can hardly rejoice when we're such a long way from the 50 per cent that is the legal requirement,” said Thalia Breton, of Osez le Feminisme (Dare Feminism). “We don't want excuses from the political parties, we want them to start organising parity within their organisations. It's frustrating because things are changing far, far too slowly and French politics remains masculine and macho.”

About 37 per cent of the Socialists’ MPs are women, and 14 per cent of MPs with the former president Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP. The number of women in the assembly rose on Sunday even though the proportion of female candidates fielded for election fell, from 41.6 per cent in 2007 to 40 per cent.

The result lifts France from 69th to 34th in the world for the proportion of female MPs, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, an international organisation of parliaments. Britain now lies joint 55th.

Rejane Senac, a specialist in gender equality at Sciences-Po and the National Centre for Scientific Research, said there was still no egalite in the French executive. “With 73 per cent of MPs still men, this result has confirmed that parity is a problem that needs to be dealt with. If there had not been the ‘pink wave’ with the Socialists winning so many seats, we wouldn't even have 27 per cent women,” he said.

Senac called on Hollande to bar political parties from receiving public funds unless they implemented a policy of equality.

Among the women joining parliament is Marion Marechal Le Pen, niece of the Front National leader, Marine Le Pen. At 22 she becomes the youngest MP to sit in the assembly since 1791.

Another woman to enter the French parliament is Axelle Lemaire, who lives in London. The Socialist candidate won the Northern Europe constituency, one of France's 11 newly created overseas seats, covering Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia and the Baltics. The constituency has been nicknamed Paris-on-Thames, with London now France's sixth biggest city by the number of French residents.

By arrangement with the Guardian