The names of women remain largely in the minority in the naming of public establishments, especially in the first degree, according to a study.
By VD with AFP
© MAXPPP / PHOTOPQR/LE PARISIEN
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IThe names of women remain largely in the minority in the name of a public school, college or high school, especially in the first degree, according to a study published on Tuesday. This study was conducted in 2022 by the School Evaluation Council (CEE, a body created in 2019 to evaluate education policies), on all schools, colleges and high schools, i.e. approximately 60,000 establishments.
“We used data from Depp (the ministry’s statistics agency), relying on the artificial intelligence of ChatGPT to help us categorize these names”, detailed Marion Le Cam, researcher at the CEE, during a presentation to the press. Among public schools (over 43,000, with 5.5 million students), 43% bear the name of a person; 27% have no name and 30% have a name that is not that of a person (town school, center school for example).
Underrepresented women
Among the names most given to schools, we find Jules Ferry, Jacques Prévert, Jean Jaurès and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. When a school is named after a person, it is a man in 77% of cases. Women therefore represent 23% of schools bearing the name of a person, underlines the CEE, which however notes “an increase in the names of women for schools in recent years”, but without giving more details.
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The most common women’s names are Marie Curie, Irène Joliot-Curie, Simone Veil or Louise Michel. In the first degree, the naming of the schools falls within the competence of the municipal council, and for the second degree, that of the local authority of attachment.
Among the public colleges (approximately 5,300, with 2.6 million students), 77% bear the name of a person. The proportion of unnamed colleges is marginal. In order, the most given names are Jean Moulin, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Jules Ferry or Jean Rostand. Women are less represented in college than in the first degree. When a public college bears the name of a personality, it is in 83% of cases a man (17% of women’s names). Marie Curie is, as for schools, the most frequent name, ahead of Simone Veil.
Among the public high schools (about 2,400, with 2 million students), 80% bear the name of a person. The proportion of unnamed public high schools is also marginal. Among the high schools bearing the name of a personality, 84% bear that of a man, 16% that of a woman. Marie Curie is the most common female name, ahead of Camille Claudel.