New Delhi, Oct 28 (IANS): Cultures of France and India are completely diverse but both countries face the same challenges when it comes to issues of women's empowerment, visiting French Women's Rights Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said Monday.

Women face discrimination at the workplace and are experiencing it more so in the wake of the current economic crisis, which began in 2008, Vallaud-Belkacem said at an Interactive Session on Women's Empowerment organized by FICCI Ladies Organisation and the French Embassy here.

She said the French government has resolved that 40 percent of women will hold senior management positions in companies by 2017.

To elevate the position of women at the workplace, the French government has come up with initiatives, which will help in reducing the gender gap such as parental leave instead of maternity leave in India.

The maternity leave only allows a woman to take leave but parental leave can be availed by both the father and mother.

"Parental leave will help the woman in sharing the responsibility of taking care of the child with her husband," she said.

Vallaud-Belkacem added that companies in France having more than 50 employees have been asked to list out the gender inequalities that they have been experiencing in their organizations and how to deal with them.

The minister said the biggest hindrance a woman faces in start-up businesses is lack of finance as private banks are wary of lending them big sums of money, rendering the project unviable.

Hence, the French government has established public investment banks catering to women entrepreneurs for funding their projects, she added.