The Foundation’s 2012-2013 conference cycle was launched at the beginning of the new academic year with a conference on the subject of male-female mixes at the centre of corporate social responsibility. The conference was organized in partnership with The Centre Diversité & Réussite, the Lyon INSA expertise centre dedicated to societal issues created by the concept of equal opportunities and to success in higher education.

Elisabeth Grimaldi, Director for Diversity at Michelin, Géraldine Plénier, CSR Director at Cap Gemini, Marie-Véronique Gabriel, Site Director for Voyages Rhénan at the SNCF, and Guy Bravais, Director for the Development of School-Professional Life Relations at Volvo AB shared their experiences on this central theme at the Lyon INSA in front of over 300 undergraduates from the Electrical Engineering department.
Despite the fact that the number of women taking up engineering careers has been increasing over the last twenty years, these careers still continue to be associated with masculine models.

32% of the people at the Lyon INSA are women, but with an unequal distribution depending on specializations. Upstream, choices of orientation in scientific disciplines are highly sexualized, with the general opinion that there is a lack of interest in science and technology amongst both men and women.

After entering an engineering school, attraction towards the different specialities is created by the representations of the professions concerned, which are more or less attractive domains depending on the sex of the person concerned.

Debates opened on 4 central questions: Why does the question of male-female mixes still exist in the professional world today? How do companies deal with the question? What concrete actions have been implemented and which ones give results? What advice would you like to give to future engineers?

Much more than just an exposé of preconceived ideas, the round table was an opportunity for challenging a number of representations and for building foundations for a real debate on diversity in the professional world … by means of interactions with engineering students in a format that enabled them to put their questions directly to the participants by SMS messaging in a relaxed atmosphere regularly punctuated by a cartoonist's sketches. 

More information about the Centre Diversité et Réussite:
Contact: centrediversite@insa-lyon.fr - Director: Yves Jayet - Deputy Director : Sonia Béchet
Website: http://cdr.insa-lyon.fr
 

More information about the Foundation INSA Lyon
Contacts : Alexis Méténier – Director
Nathalie Pommier – Sponsorship/Partnerships Manager

Website: http://fondation.insa-lyon.fr/