HIGH EDUCATION They represent 28% of the enrollment of these schools… since 2013
France graduates 38,000 engineers each year, while 60,000 are needed. — Canva
- This is the 11th edition of Industry Week. More than 4,500 events are organized throughout France to discover the diversity of professions and encourage vocations, particularly among women.
- An important issue because engineering schools have only 28% of girls.< /li>
- In question, the gender stereotypes relating to the trades, the self-censorship of certain schoolgirls and high school girls… Not to mention the reform of the high school, which would have further dried up the pool of candidates.
To preach the good word everywhere in France. On the occasion of the 11th edition of Industry Week, 4,500 free events are organized these days to promote industrial professions and their diversity. Because the hour is serious. According to the latest national survey by IESF (Ingenieurs et Scientifiques de France) published in September, engineering schools only had 28% girls. “A number that hasn’t moved; since 2013 when it’s progressed steadily over the previous forty years,” to the Conference of Directors of French Engineering Schools (CDEFI).
These figures are all the more alarming as the shortage of engineers poses an economic problem: according to the IESF report, France graduates 38,000 engineers each year , while 60,000 would be needed to meet market needs. work. Examples: the hydrogen sector would lack 5,000, the air and space sector 10,000, the nuclear sector also 10,000.
A situation more or less less marked according to the schools
The lack of mixity is not, however, uniform in all engineering schools. According to the Conference of Grandes Écoles, some have only 5.5% girls, while others have 78.8%. “Schools specializing in life sciences, biology, agronomy, chemistry, environment are very feminized, while those dealing with digital, mechanics, automobiles, construction are very rare,” observes Aline Aubertin, president of Femmes Ingénieures.
“There is also a greater proportion of girls in generalist engineering schools,” adds Amel Kefif, managing director of Elles Bougent, an association which aims to arouse vocations among young girls in careers in the industrial, technological and scientific sectors through the intervention of 9,000 godmothers in educational establishments.
The lack of fairy role models minins
If the feminization of the workforce is still to lagging behind in many schools, it’s first of all that too few middle and high school girls dream of becoming engineers. “There isn’t just one engineering profession, but a host of different professions. This does not facilitate their representations to young people”, underlines Aline Aubertin.
And it has to be said that preconceptions still die hard: “Technical and engineering professions are still stereotypically masculine. Cartoons and movies never show a female scientist in action. And on the boxes of microscope games, for example, there is always a photo of a boy,” notes Amel Kefif. Even if job days are organized in some colleges and high schools, according to Philippe Dépincé, they are insufficient to encourage vocations: “We have to break the gap; self-censorship of girls from an early age. Admittedly, there are interventions by women scientists in secondary school, but the games are almost already there. facts.”
The reform of the baccalaureate singled out
Since engineering schools convey an elitist image, many young girls also think that they are only accessible after a preparatory class and censor themselves: “ ;The complexity of the school system makes it difficult to find one’s bearings. So not all high school students know that there are post-baccalaureate engineering schools or that many schools recruit through parallel admissions (on file or by competition) holders of a BTS, BUT, a license”, takes over Aline Aubertin.
The last reform of the baccalaureate, implemented at From 2009, would also have aggravated the phenomenon of withdrawal of girls from school; With regard to purely scientific courses, according to Aline Aubertin: “High school girls are often eclectic and they have benefited from multiplicity specialties offered to open up to different areas. They have been less numerous at choose scientific triplets (for example: mathematics/physics-chemistry/life sciences or mathematics/physics-chemistry/engineering sciences, or even mathematics/numeracy and sciences computing/physics-chemistry).”
And according to a 2021 Depp memo, 52% of girls who chose math in special education chose to stop it in terminale. As a result, they are fewer in number. then opt for a scientific preparatory class that their elders from the late S sector. Moreover, they only represent 30% of the workforce in these preparatory classes. And without a substantial background in science, it is also difficult to integrate a post-baccalaureate engineering school or parallel admission after a license.
Agir tous azimuths, an emergency
A finding that led the IESF to publish a column in the JDD, in which she asks the government to modify the common core programs of 1re and terminale for maths and scientific subjects. Because if the Minister of Education, Pap Ndiaye, has announced recently the reintroduction of compulsory mathematics education in schools. the start of the 2023 school year, the fact that it is an hour and a half of weekly lessons is judged; insufficient. According to Amel Kefif, it is also necessary that “orientation prescribers push girls to take the specialty math in high school, because many are very capable of succeeding, even if they doubt it.”
And even if the destruction of stereotypes is a job whose fallout is long, it must be intensified, according to Philippe Dépinc : “From primary school, it’s It is necessary to multiply the interventions on the scientific and technical studies by presenting to the pupils the great scientific discoveries made by women. » The very new French astronaut, Sophie Adenot, an engineer by training, had thus read the biography of Marie Curie in her childhood… To go in this direction, the CDEFI launched; about ten years ago the “Ingenious” competition, which rewards the best initiatives of schools aimed at fighting stereotypes in the engineering world. And Elisabeth Borne in person brought its stone to; the building “ Never be told that a course is not for you. Never let yourself be told that a job or a dream is only written in the masculine,” the Prime Minister in mid-November by celebrating the 50th anniversary of the opening to women of the École polytechnique competition, from which she graduated.
Open d&rsquo ;other access routes?
The artistic world must also be updated. contribution, according to Aline Aubertin: “Series should show the engineers in action. Because, for example, we remember the effect of R.I.S Police Scientifique and the seriesThe Experts: many vocations among young people.”
Another suggestion: that engineering schools ers imagine other ways of access or expand their pool of recruits. Example with ISEP (school of digital engineers). This school offers an integrated cycle; international with a science and society section; open to students who have taken the specialty math in Terminale, but another non-scientific one. The program includes accommodations in physical sciences and reinforcement in economics, in order to challenge students to level. An example to follow?