Women/Men Equality: Commitments of Higher Education, Research and Innovation

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As part of the International Women’s Day on March 8, the French ministry in charge of higher education and research reminded its commitment to promote the place of women in scientific careers: feminisation of study courses, gender diversity in decision-making positions, fight against stereotypes through the promotion of the image of women, and more.

In terms of feminisation of study courses, the French minister in charge of higher education Frédérique Vidal notes that “improvements have been undeniable and continuous for the last years, especially under the initiative of the ministry”. But “this observation must be tempered by the distance that remains”.

Stats to show the reality

The administration provided key figures to support Vidal’s statement. They show that 56% of students in higher education are women, but they remain “in minority in too many study courses”. This is the case in engineering or technologic courses, in which “the share of women is still low and struggles to grow”. In ten years, this share improved by 2.3 points, but to reach only 28%.

More generally, in 2019, 39% of faculty members engaged in both teaching and research are women. Although they represent 63% of teachers-researchers in languages and literature, they are only 19% in engineering sciences. In “hard” science courses such as mathematics and computer science, only 16% of researchers are women.

Actions to change the course

According to the ministry, the promotion of gender equality in higher education, research and innovation is one of the pillars of the ministerial policy. Since 2017, “fundamental work” is carried out to “encourage gender diversity in training courses for professions and decision-making positions”, but also to “fight stereotypes through the promotion of the image of women in sciences and the appreciation of work from female researchers with diverse systems”.

Indeed, the ministry develops several practical actions to underline its commitment, such as:

the promotion of “role model women” to change representations with iconic actions such as the Irène Joliot-Curie Prize;
financial support for public awareness actions in lecture rooms and tutoring for women to support them in their career progression;
the improvement of scientific careers attractiveness, with the implementation of the Research-Programming Law;

To these one-off actions, an ambitious “action plan for equality” is developed according to four aspects: closing the wage gap, providing equal access to jobs and decision-making positions, conciliating personal and professional life, but also preventing and solving discriminations, violence, moral and sexual harassment, and sexist actions.