If we ask a high school girl, for example, to name a female scientist who has made history, very few are able to give names other than Marie Curie. Many of us female scientists in various schools in France and internationally have made the same observation, which was that there were few girls in our fields.

Computer science, digital technology, mechanics, automotive, aeronautics, these are actually professions where we don’t find many women, unfortunately. Among researchers, only 33% are women and among scientists, we count only between 28% and 30% today who are women.

Women are not at all less competent than men in scientific professions. On the contrary, so far, there is no profession, no study that says mathematics is not for women.

If girls don’t necessarily pursue scientific fields, I think it may be related to a lack of knowledge about scientific careers. They have an idea of scientific jobs that isn’t necessarily the reality.

We can talk about professions related to construction, which is the field I work in. In these jobs, it’s assumed that it’s physical work and it’s automatically attributed to a man, when in fact there are financial engineers, engineers in quote estimation, as well as site supervision, which are jobs that can very well be done by a woman. The society we live in doesn’t have enough representation of feminine women in certain professions that are considered masculine.

If we ask a high school girl, for example, to name a female scientist who has made history, very few are able to give names other than Marie Curie. We can mention, for example, Marthe Gauthier who left us in April 2022, who is the female scientist behind the discovery of the chromosome linked to Down syndrome, which is no small discovery. We can also mention Ada Lovelace, the pioneer of the first computer software that is now used in the design of all computers. Very few know about women who have made their mark in the automotive sector, civil engineering, and others.

And precisely, we put ourselves in the shoes of young high school girls and we try to show that if you’re interested in mechanics, video games, or website development, there are women who have succeeded in these fields.

Here are the difficulties they encountered and especially how they are managing today. In terms of sectors that are currently recruiting, there is obviously the digital and IT sector where young girls are expected, even wanted.
We can also talk about the cybersecurity sector, which is recruiting heavily today. If I had a message to pass on to young girls today, it would be to tell them not to be afraid to pursue their dreams if they are passionate about mechanics, gaming, or other scientific fields, not to be discouraged by those around them, and to not hesitate to do research. Things can change and they are changing, fortunately!