French mayor prefers handshake to 'la bise'
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MORETTE, FRANCE – A mayor in France has decided to break with tradition when it comes to greeting her 73 colleagues every morning.
Instead of giving the expected kiss on the cheek or “la bise,” Aude Picard-Wolff of Morette sent an email saying she would prefer to shake hands, according to the Daily Mail.
In France, men generally give the kiss greeting to close friends or family, while women are expected to give the greeting more broadly.
It “always felt wrong to be doing the bise with people I barely knew,” said Picard-Wolff. “From now I would like to shake hands, like men do... This is a minimal, but daily issue of gender equality.”
