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The objective of gender equality is far remote from the centre of French parental leave policies history and their compensation system. It is only over a long period of time, through successive stages, that parental leave policy freed itself from its origins. It was first organised, up to 1977, around the single-salary benefit (ASU in French), a form of “maternal salary” aimed at helping mothers to permanently withdraw from the labour market. The decline of ASU, followed by its cancellation, gave rise to a new period, during which support systems were legally opened to both fathers and mothers. The last stage, which is not over yet, seeks the parental leave’s effective sharing between parents.