By qualifying for the May 6 runoff that will select France's next leader, Socialist Royal is now a crucial step closer to her dream.

She has two weeks left to convince the nation that it will be better off with a woman as president for the first time than with another man - her challenger, Nicolas Sarkozy, a crime-fighting conservative.

Royal, 53, made an issue of her gender during the election campaign, claiming it as both an asset and a handicap. She says she has had a tougher time as a woman, but insists voters should make her president because a woman in charge would be a real symbol of change.

"I don't see why you should have to resemble a man to be taken seriously," Royal has said.

Royal has been on a lifelong quest to prove wrong her father's assumption that, of his eight children, his three daughters would not amount to much. As the story goes, the straight-laced military officer once remarked: "I have five children and three daughters."

Royal has a knack for understanding voters' everyday concerns, and her vision for France is upbeat and focused on youth. Yet her gracious smile and talk of harmony belie a steely will and a tendency to scold people she disagrees with. She is full of contradictions that make her hard to pin down.

A feminist, she has not married the father of her four children, Socialist Party boss Francois Hollande, but her progressive views are blended with traditional values. As a junior minister, she gave teenage girls access to the morning after pill at school, but also campaigned against visible thong underwear in class.

Early in the race Royal spoke admiringly of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's third-way economic policies, then came out with a traditional Socialist platform, pledging to raise the minimum wage nearly 20 percent and offer 500,000 subsidized youth jobs.

Royal spent most of her campaign crisscrossing France to listen to voters. But aides grumble she ignores advice, doing things her own way. Her economics adviser, Eric Besson, quit his job, saying Royal was motivated only by her own glory and called her unfit to govern.

Polls give Royal low marks on categories like "presidential stature" but high marks on voter trust. A former environment and family minister, she has never held a major Cabinet post.

She stumbled repeatedly on foreign affairs, at one point declaring that France should emulate China's justice system. There are holes in her platform - it is still unclear how she wants to reform France's 35-hour workweek, an important question. After strong early support, her poll numbers slipped.

As doubts about Royal have grown, she has asserted her independence in her party, insisting she is in control. At a recent rally she projected herself into the future leading a Group of Eight summit with Merkel and Clinton.

One of Royal's favorite phrases is: "I am a free woman." ASSOCIATED PRESS