What to Call Female French President?

French socialist Segolene Royal speaks during a press conference before the meeting in Nantes, western France, Wenesday, Nov. 15, 2006. Segolene Royal, former family and environment minister, is the poll favorite among Socialist candidates for the French presidency in 2007. The socialists will vote tomorrow to nominate their candidate. (AP Photo / Bob Edme) (Bob Edme - AP)

PARIS -- If Segolene Royal wins France's top job, do you call her "La Presidente" or "Le President"? The Socialist front-runner is shaking up language and the male-dominated political scene in a nation hungry for a fresh face.

A French TV show already stars a woman running France _ and sharing maternity advice with a fictional U.S. President Hillary Clinton.

Royal's runaway popularity suggests that France may be at last ready to elect a female president. She faces the Socialist Party primary Thursday, which she's nearly certain to win, though she may be forced into a runoff with one of her male rivals.

An unmarried mother who favors skirts and heels, she posed for a family photo shoot days after bearing her fourth child in 1992, while she was environment minister. "I do politics by looking at what I would do for my own children," she has said.

Critics from all sides have accused her of using her gender to climb the polls. Her backers say that's the point: She appeals because she's not trying to imitate men.

"This is our new French revolution. We already had one in 1789 that swept across the entire world. So maybe to have a female president in a country like ours _ in a country that is old, ancient, a bit old-fashioned _ a woman for president could possibly spread to the rest of the world," Royal supporter Jean-Marie Henin said.

France vaunts its "egalite," or equality, and reveres powerful women like Joan of Arc. Its birthrate is Europe's second-highest, partly because of accessible child care and generous maternity benefits for working women.

Today, "they say, 'Why not?'" to the idea of a woman president, said Mariette Sineau, a senior researcher in gender politics at Sciences-Po university. The question, she said, "is whether voters want Royal."

Sineau said male candidates find it harder to campaign against women.

"They are disconcerted," she said. "When a woman emerges, the men are a bit destabilized. A different language is needed."

Literally. Deferring to Royal, politicians have made an effort to include feminine forms of words in their speeches, referring to "le candidat ou (or) la candidate" who will stand for the Socialists.

If Royal is elected next spring, it would be her choice whether to be called "la presidente" or "le president." She has supported the creation a feminine twin for the standard masculine title.