Diversity

I have been a member of the board of the “Women and Physics” commission of the French Physical Society since 2020. In 2023, I was part of the CNRS Physics prospective group working on diversity and disability. I am also a member of the international steering committee of the DiveIn project for greater diversity among doctoral students at the University of Glasgow.

In France and around the world, there is a significant minority of female physicists. In my field, materials science, we represent about 20%. This is a serious issue because the lack of diversity (both gender and cultural) hinders innovation and creativity; it also is a matter of social justice. Therefore, it is crucial to understand why diversity is at risk in our laboratories and what we can do to address it.

Because we sometimes lack figures and bibliographic references to support greater diversity, I propose a small bibliographic referencing on this page organized as follow:

  • Figures
  • Training
  • What Works
  • Systemic Mechanisms

The figures

French National Agency for Research (ANR)

  • The ANR report on projects obtained by men and women is available here.

Ministry of Ministry of Higher Education and Research

CNRS

The CNRS publishes its annual social report, which includes all the figures. Here they are for a selection of years:

Training

Firstly, here are two widely circulated videos to raise awareness about gender bias. I am very skeptical about the use of these videos if they are used outside of any training framework. Indeed, a few-minute video gives the illusion of training. During the jury, one feels able to recognize biases and, above all, to avoid them. Nothing could be further from the truth; the direct consequence is that people (men or women) who have only seen a video become more biased than before. This is a form of the Dunning-Kruger effect. In pedagogy, we would say that the learner has acquired knowledge but is not capable of applying it.

  • The awareness video produced by Sorbonne University
  • The training video for the ERC juries
  • The gender bias training offered by the “mission pour la place des femmes” at the CNRS. It is reserved for higher education and research staff and it is in French.
    To register, please fill in this form
  • I led a working group that reflected on the organisation of videoconferences and visio-juries in an inclusive way (many references inside!). It is available in French here and in English here
  • A report from the CNRS Section 14 (Coordination chemistry, catalysis and processes, interfaces) which makes concrete proposals for unbiased evaluation, especially at the time of promotion: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03311372/
  • The CNRS Institute of Physics has signed the charter of parity for the organisation of conferences drafted by the “women and physics” commission of the French Physical Society. Available in English here
  • The violentometer produced by the L’Oréal Foundation for the scientific world helps women recognize abnormal situations and men understand that their behavior is not appropriate.

What works

  • How Sweden got half of its university presidents to be women
  • How Computer Science at CMU Is Attracting and Retaining Women” available here
  • How to create working conditions in which everyone can express themselves without feeling judged : here
  • 3 mistakes universities make when trying to improve gender equality: here

Mechanisms Preventing Women from Advancing in Their Careers

  • Lot’s of resources on Chloé-Agathe Azincott’s web page, here
  • A TedEx video by Michelle Ryan explaining women’s lack of ambition and the work/life balance problem.