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This study traces the history since the postwar period of measures directly and explicitly designed to fight inequality between women and men in accessing public sector positions. The main issues are presented according to two major phases that correspond to two specific types of measures. First came, in 1945, the fight against inequality sanctioned by law, through the jurisdictional guarantee of the individual right to equal treatment, primarily sanctioning direct discrimination but also, in a more embryonic way, indirect discrimination. Then, from the 2000s came the fight against inequality in practice, through the implementation of public policies for equality, which were not only non?binding but also ineffective. Since then, the more coercive means of affirmative action have been used.