NOTWe are engineers, researchers, team or project leaders, managers from all disciplines. We have followed the same teachings as our male counterparts and, like them, we share the same passion for science. And although scientific careers have long been perceived as the prerogative of men, we are convinced that no job is defined by a supposed gender but by the skills it requires and which must be available, regardless of gender. .
Even if, in recent years, society’s view of the place of women has evolved, they are still not very present in science, particularly in mathematics and physics or even in astrophysics, as in the fields of engineering and digital, while they often have better academic results than men in the courses they choose in high school. However, we see it every day in our scientific practice, the more the teams are diversified, with men and women, younger and older scientists, from different backgrounds, cultures and training, the more they enrich themselves and progress by sharing ideas, points of view and feelings.
READ ALSOMissing from the equation
It is therefore a real challenge for society with regard to the necessary transformations that we must operate, in particular to deal with the climate change in progress. And these transformations will need all the talents as well as the consideration of gender dimensions. Diversity in all its forms is indeed a success factor. We must encourage exchanges with “others than ourselves”, and this requires removing the blinders that can sometimes dictate our choices.
Remove the barriers
Because the question is not only to “make a career” to reach the highest responsibilities but also to obtain the freedom of choice, the recognition, the place and the respect which are due to all human beings. Women have long contributed to the advancement of scientific knowledge. Let us remember Ada Lovelace, Émilie du Châtelet, Eunice Foote and, closer to home, Katherine Johnson or Rosalind Franklin! Let’s not forget either that Marie Curie, despite being a two-time Nobel laureate, was never elected to the Academy of Sciences, nor indeed her daughter Irène, also a Nobel laureate and one of the three first women to accede to the highest functions of the State, being appointed Under-Secretary of State for Scientific Research in 1936. Be careful, these exceptional destinies must not be “the tree that hides the forest”: there are many ways to exercise a scientific or technical profession on a daily basis, in teamwork. Contributing to the progress of knowledge or to the well-being of society is a powerful and exciting engine of fulfillment, whether you are a woman or a man.
Today, the situation has improved and we can only rejoice, but the road is long and it is still possible to go back. So we must remain vigilant, continue to act, personally and collectively, against the clichés and stereotypes conveyed by the family environment, school or the media, sometimes in an assumed but often unconscious way. This “unconscious sexism”, this “social censorship”, we must also fight them in our own reflexes and postures so that “This job is not for me! and the “It’s impossible” turn into “And why not me?” and “What an opportunity for me!” “. This is a major issue, because no law, no matter how progressive, instantly puts down the cultural representations that may persist in society and in the organization of our family life.
Overcoming social censorship
This long-term task is played out both in civil society and in the professional environment, and the company has an important role to play in it.
The CEA, where we work today and build our careers, has made professional equality a strong commitment for more than forty years. Its approach is based on three pillars: encouraging diversity in the professions, applying the principle of equal pay and professional development between men and women, and finally encouraging and promoting reconciliation between professional life and personal life for each employee. e.
READ ALSOWomen are now in the majority at university
Thus, as in the majority of scientific or technical companies, the proportion of women at the CEA increases from year to year. They currently represent more than a third of the CEA’s permanent workforce (compared to 30% in 2009), and just over a quarter of them are scientific and technical managers. This increase, albeit gradual, shows that everyone can find their place in the right place and in the best conditions, whatever their status and personal situation.
This dynamic is stimulating but there is still progress to be made, at the CEA as elsewhere! Provided that the young women themselves are encouraged to choose scientific orientations and that they commit themselves. Their elders, who have often led the way, will be present to encourage and support them. Networks, such as Parité Diversité Femmes, created in 2008 to promote diversity in the world of work, provide access to information, resources, mentoring and solidarity to enable women to take charge of their professional destiny and thus break the famous “glass ceiling” which still hinders some of them today. These are keys to overcoming social censorship and gaining self-confidence to assert one’s skills and actively dare to ask, apply for positions of responsibility.
It is in this state of mind that we enthusiastically participated in the “La Cerise dans le Lab!” project. », a podcast of thirteen episodes declined in comic strip and produced by the CEA. We testify to our journeys, our successes, the obstacles we have encountered and the doubts that sometimes still inhabit us but can also be a strength. Our professions are at the heart of major challenges to be met in order to build a better future (energy and ecological transition, digital transformation, medicine of the future, etc.) and these are also lifestyle choices that give us the freedom to achieve our full potential.
We believe in co-education, diversity and equality. We believe in listening and dialogue. We believe in self-affirmation and in the opportunities for fulfillment in scientific and technological careers open to all. We call on new generations to take over what we have already accomplished, each at our level, because as the slogan of the Women in Sciences network says: “The world needs science and science needs women. We are proud to carry this word!
* Signatories: Laurence Piketty, deputy general administrator at the CEA, Elsa Ducrot, postdoctoral researcher at the CEA, Valérie L’hostis, research director at the CEA, Valérie Masson-Delmotte, research director at the CEA, Nadège Nief, deputy department director at the CEA and Sara Tucci, head of laboratory at the CEA.