Global Gender Gap Index 2014: 15th

EWM members and activities

The situation in France is specific because there exists a French association femmes et mathématiques (Women and Mathematics). This association has about 120 members, most of them women, half of them are mathematicians or scientists, the other half are teachers in mathematics in high schools or in higher education institutions. There are 6 members of EWM, paying the member fee, and 8 other women mathematicians are or have been associated to EWM activities in 2013-2015. Among the French members, MarieFrançoise Roy, the past convenor of EWM, is EWM webmaster and Jasmin Raissy is co-editor of EWM Newsletters. All the activities concerning women in mathematics in France are organized either by or under the auspices of the association femmes et mathématiques (see below for some details about the activities). Information about the situation in France has been made known to EWM members through the EWM Newsletter, in particular Issue 21 (2012/2). Issues 23 (2013/2), 24 (2014/1) and 25 (2014/2) contain reports about the yearly forum which is organised in France for young women mathematicians, as well as reports about activities in France. Information about the activities of EWM are spread on the electronic list of members and friends of femmes et mathématiques. The e-letter of EWM is sent on this list, as well as news about EWM local or international meetings. Moreover a newsletter in French is sent 3 times a year to the members and friends of femmes et mathématiques: information about EWM and other European associations such as the European Platform of Women Scientists (EPWS) is found there in particular.

The situation in France

Since 2012, when a left government was established, the overall situation of women in France may seem a little better, especially in universities, after a law for higher education and research has been passed in July 2013.

By the law, the public service for higher education has to lead actions against gender stereotypes, in the courses as well as in the different aspects of the university life. The orientation should favor the access and an equilibrate representation of women and men in university programmes. A mission for equality between women and men has to be established in each university. The university management board has to obey certain rules of parity: the lists of candidates have to alternate sexes (as in European political elections); the elected board should name as many women members as men members exterior to the university to make it complete. The disciplinary committee of the university, which is part of the management board, has to have as many women as men. The academic council, when dealing with the careers of lecturers, has to have as many women as men, and as many of lecturers and of professors. The recruitment jurys have to have at least 40 % members of each sex, but exemptions are in action for the next 4 years for professorships in disciplines where there are too few women professors at the national level (such as in pure mathematics where there are less than 7 % women professors, or in applied mathematics, where there are less than 15 % women professors). Mainly scientific disciplines are concerned with these exemptions (law disciplines too).

The CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research), which is the main institute for research in France for natural and exact science, has set up in 2014 grants called PEPS-Egalité (First Funding for Exploratory Projects – Equality): the research project, which is subsidized from 2000 to 5000 euros, has to be lead by a woman mathematician, has to have one third of each sex in the team and has the obligation to promote the results of the research toward younger women in high schools. Moreover, since 2013, the non-permanent 6-month to 1 year positions, called « délégations CNRS », are open especially to women mathematicians teaching at the university and returning to work after a maternity leave.

Activities of the French association femmes et mathématiques in 2014 and 2015

The association femmes et mathématiques, which has celebrated its 25th birthday in 2012, has also updated its statutes in 2013: men now can also become ordinary members of its management board (it had been a privilege for women only since the creation of the association; the male members were named « friend members » and could not apply for the management board). The president of the association still has to be a woman. This move had been necessary for welcoming younger women mathematicians into the association.

Forum for young mathematicians. The forum consists of a series of lectures by senior women mathematicians, talks by doctoral students and young mathematicians, and mentoring activities for young mathematicians. The 13th forum was held in Lyon in November 2013, on the theme « Mathematics and Computer Science in Interaction ». The 14th forum was held in October 2014 in Paris, with the theme of « Women mathematicians in view of excellence ». It was one of the events taking place after the International Congress of Mathematicians in Seoul: three women mathematicians working for French institutions and having given talks in Seoul were invited in the forum, Zoé Chadzitakis, Sandrine Péché and Michela Varognola. It was also one of the events taking place in Institut Henri Poincaré, for the 20th birthday of its renovation as a research centre for mathematics and theoretical physics.

The 15th forum will take place in Lille in November 2015, and its preferred theme will be « Probability and statistics ». More information, in particular applications of young mathematicians, women or men, are welcome, on the web site http://www.femmes-et-maths.fr/?p=2580

Math days for high school girls and beginning students. These aims to attract high school aged girls towards the pleasure of mathematics and show them the stereotypes in the field of women in mathematics. This activity is also geared toward beginning women students in science, as a way to encourage them to continue their studies in mathematics. The huge French State contract we were thinking of two years ago did not yet materialized itself in an actual grant, but the association now benefits from a grant from the L’Oréal Foundation to organize these activities for younger women. Seven days in 2013, ten days in 2014 and fifteen days in 2015 have been or will be organized (in the cities of Rennes, Paris, Tours, Lille, Kremlin-Bicêtre, Villetaneuse, Grenoble, Nevers, Dakar in Senegal, Palaiseau, Saint-Denis in La Réunion, Metz, Lyon).

Presentation of statistics on the presence of women mathematicians in France. These statistics are regularity maintained on the web site of the association femmes et mathématiques. A study about the recruitment and the promotion of women and men mathematicians in France from 2008 to 2014 has been recently published on the web site of the association, as well as in the newsletters of the two main professional associations in France, the Société mathématique de France (the French Mathematical Society) and the Société de mathématiques appliquées et industrielles (the French Society for Applied and Industrial Mathematics).

Becoming a member of CFEM. In 2014 the association femmes et mathématiques has been accepted as a member of the Commission française pour l’enseignement des mathématiques (the French Commission for Mathematics Education – which is the French commission of the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction – ICMI). As member of CFEM, the association became a visible partner during the negociation for the French national strategy for mathematics and was specifically consulted by the minister of education, higher education and research about what should be done to increase the number of students in mathematics, and especially of women students. The association also has been participating in the organisation of the public events which took place in March 2015, in Paris, Lyon and Marseilles, under the title « Forum pour les mathématiques vivantes : de l’école au monde » (Forum for Live Mathematics: from School to World).

African mathematicians, a day for the African diaspora in France and for women mathematicians in Africa. Marie-Françoise Ouadreogo (Burkina Faso) had been invited at the 15th EWM General Meeting in Barcelona in 2011. The association EWM serving as a model association, the African Women in Mathematics Association (AWMA) was then created in 2013 in Cape Town (South Africa) (see also the report from Africa, here below). Noting that a number of African women are holding positions at the university or in the private sector in France after studying there for 3 to 8 years, the association femmes et mathématiques organised a one-day meeting in Paris in May 2015 for presenting different experiences of African women mathematicians, either living in Africa or in France. This day was a real success in making African and French mathematicians work together for promoting mathematical studies for women and for helping women mathematicians in Africa.

Other activities. The association is also leading a number of activities. In collaboration with other French associations such as Femmes & Sciences (Women & Science), Femmes Ingénieurs (Women Engineers), Réussir l’Égalité Femmes Hommes (Succeed in Equality Between Women and Men) and the European Plattform of Women Scientists (EPWS), we organised:

• Visits in high school classes to give information about careers in STEM;
• Publication of the 2013-edition of the booklet about stereotypes regarding women in science, « Femmes & Sciences, au-delà des idées reçues » (Women & Science: Beyond Common Beliefs);
• Organisation of colloquia about the place of women in science and in the society;
• Writing of about 30 notices of deceased women mathematicians for the « Dictionnaire universel des femmes créatrices » (General Dictionary of Creating Women), covering all disciplines of Arts, Culture, Politics and Science, which was published in November 2013 by the Editions des femmes in France;
• Actions towards the French ministry of education about the new mathematics programmes for elementary and junior high schools for taking into consideration the fact that students in schools are of both sexes, not only male students;
• Preparation of a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) about « Être en responsabilité demain : se former à l’égalité femmes-hommes » (« Be in Responsibility Tomorrow: to Learn about Equality between Women and Men »), which was published in June 2015; the first session was held June 15 to July 31, 2015;
• Lobbying actions for promoting women in STEM, for example by attending the 2014 General meeting of EPWS, which took place in Paris, « New perspectives for women scientists careers in Europe »; the association femmes et mathématiques is actually a member of EPWS;
• Publication of a booklet about examples of jobs that students might think of after studying mathematics or computer science, in collaboration with the French professional associations in mathematics, statistics or computer science, « Zoom sur les métiers des mathématiques et de l’informatique » (Zoom on Mathematics and Computer Science Jobs). The publication includes portraits of close to as many professional women (10) as men (12).