There are lots of stereotypes that lead ladies to censor themselves and switch them clear of conceivable clinical careers. The best way to alternate the placement? One faculty is exploring internship alternatives at engineering faculties that permit highschool ladies to find fields of analysis from the interior and meet function fashions.
In 2025, simply over 70 second-year highschool scholars spent two weeks “In the shoes of an engineer”, as a part of a program supported via the EPF Basis in partnership with the Vinci corporate and the Elles Bougent affiliation, alternating every week on the mechanical faculty and every week on the corporate. Why be offering this kind of skilled immersion to adolescent ladies at this degree of their careers?
It’s about encouraging clinical professions and preventing in opposition to gender stereotypes. For a number of years, the presence of ladies in STEM (Science, Era, Engineering and Arithmetic) coaching has published a state of affairs of being concerned stagnation. Consistent with a Senate file printed in 2025, just a 3rd of researchers and 1 / 4 of engineers in France are girls, regardless of the proliferation of variety measures carried out in faculties, secondary faculties and better schooling establishments.
This under-representation may also be defined via socio-cultural stereotypes and gender prejudices that ladies face very early of their surroundings at house, in school and in cultural actions.
Stereotypes which are briefly established
The development of gender tradition starts within the circle of relatives circle, the place adults inspire in boys the spirit of festival and the advance of bodily, motor and spatial abilities with building or block video games, which additionally inspire their skill to reason why with mathematical knowledge. As an alternative, ladies are inspired to hold out quite a lot of actions aimed toward growing language abilities, expressing feelings and being sociable.
In class, the stereotypes that “girls are less talented in math than boys” are carried out very early and in no time, even supposing their ranges are very an identical once they input the primary grade. Then again, already after a couple of months, the diversities from number one faculty to raised schooling seem and develop into more potent.
Consistent with analysis, there are two forms of gender stereotypes that perform on a number of ranges, influencing ladies’ occupation alternatives. First, stereotypes about their very own highbrow talents, akin to “I’m bad at math”, can obstruct their selection of path, however with paintings and make stronger, this problem may also be triumph over. Subsequent, we will have to keep in mind pastime stereotypes, in line with which ideals akin to “Mathematics is not for me” or “I am not interested” all of sudden exclude pastime in this kind of learn about. Stereotypes of pursuits are extra decisive in occupation alternatives than stereotypes affecting abilities.
On this context, insecurity appears to be the principle variable that determines the selection of proceeding research in those sectors. Ladies generally tend to underestimate their abilities and due to this fact their probabilities of luck in science, generation, engineering or arithmetic (STEM)-oriented research.
Those gender-oriented elections
Those stereotypes are unconsciously built-in into lecturers’ present educating practices, particularly within the control of speech at school, the place responsiveness and risk-taking are extra valued and inspired amongst boys. A grading local weather frequently marked via time and rating force additionally favors boys who really feel extra happy with festival.
Those biases also are present in steerage suggestions or in the way in which pupil projects are inspired at school. Regardless of the co-education coverage, this gendered schooling higher prepares boys to care for this kind of state of affairs.
Contemporary statistics ascertain those constants in France: at the start of the 2024 faculty 12 months, virtually part of highschool ladies of their common ultimate 12 months (45%) didn’t make a selection any science primary, which is two times as many as boys (25%). Handiest 34% of ladies mix two science majors in comparison to 52% of boys. The selection of scholars in clinical specialties is marked via gender disparities (see desk 1). Boys are the bulk in maximum majors excluding SVT (lifestyles sciences), which is historically extra feminized. Only one% of ladies selected NSI, and none selected engineering, in comparison to 9% and three% of boys, respectively (MESRE, 2026).
Virtual fields are the least selected via ladies in comparison to boys as a result of virtual generation frequently reinforces those stereotypes, once more favoring boys, via video video games, social networks influenced via biased algorithms and the development of a traditionally male “geek” tradition, which enhances their abilities and their sense of legitimacy in those fields, in contrast to ladies.
Supplied via the writer
To fight stereotypes and proper gender biases in present educating practices, other approaches are advisable at a number of ranges:
early intervention from kindergarten and primary grade;
implementation of extra inclusive educating practices in the study room;
elevating the notice of training body of workers about extra egalitarian pedagogy and institutional actors against a impartial faculty tradition.
The Senate file lists different levers of motion aimed toward center and highschool scholars. Those levers come with necessary conferences with “role models”, renovation of virtual and technological strategies of science educating and highlighting the social application and moral problems with clinical professions.
“In the shoes of an engineer”
2d-year internships, which practice after the 3rd 12 months, constitute a unique alternative to supply scholars their first concrete immersion on the planet of upper schooling, in addition to industry. Through providing studies in engineering faculties and/or spouse corporations, those techniques purpose to spark a extra non-public and embodied pastime in science and generation, demonstrating concrete packages of college finding out.
Then again, the danger stays. Regardless of their openness to all, those internships can, via their combined structure, even if they’re a part of a stimulating clinical surroundings, perpetuate positive gender biases already provide within the faculty occupation.
It’s on this context that completely feminine lessons tackle their complete which means. Through making a single-sex surroundings, they lend a hand neutralize this dynamic and supply an area the place individuals can categorical themselves, experiment and completely have interaction with out the force of stereotypes. This sort of gadget promotes freer appropriation of clinical and technical content material and is helping to give a boost to pastime in those sectors.
Those internships additionally play a key function in orientation, via extra strongly encouraging individuals to make a choice science majors of their junior and senior years, in line with the talents and pursuits they are going to have the ability to broaden all the way through this revel in. The function is apparent: to permit younger ladies to concretely venture themselves “in the shoes of an engineer”, via taking away visual or invisible stumbling blocks that may obstruct their ambitions.
Comments from highschool ladies who already participated within the first version displays that this immersion modified their preliminary orientation plan (49%). This revel in turns out to have contributed to the transformation in their representations of engineering research and supplied an atmosphere of protection, ensuring a way of legitimacy and get right of entry to to feminine fashions, thus selling confirmation and dedication within the box.
Then again, it will be important to quantitatively and qualitatively overview those long-term results with a view to see to what extent those completely feminine practices constitute an ok reaction to the present problems known via the analysis, with a view to inspire ladies to make a choice an orientation against the virtual and clinical sector.
