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. Its head office is in the Institut Henri Poincaré in Paris, at the same place other mathematics learned societies have their head office. A member of the Executive Board of the association has been elected in the Council of Administration of the Institut Poincaré in September 2019, for two years.

There are 12 members of EWM, paying the member fee, and three to five other women mathematicians are or have been associated to EWM activities in 2019 and 2020.

All the activities concerning women in mathematics in France are organised or coorganised either by or under the auspices of the association femmes et mathématiques (see below for some details about the activities). An interview of Nicole El Karoui, emerita professor at Sorbonne University in Paris, who turned 75 in 2019, was published in Issue 32 (2019/2). A conference Women in Science was organised in Paris, in addition to a scientific conference in her honor. Claire Voisin, professor at Collège de France, member of the French Académie des sciences, was portrayed in the same issue as she received one of the International Awards L’Oréal-Unesco For Women in Science. In Issue 30 (2018/1), Eva Bayer gave a very personal re-collection of “EWS and EMS: the early days”… which starts in France in 1987, at the time of the creation of the association femmes et mathématiques.

Information about the activities of EWM are spread on the electronic list of members and friends of the association 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.

Activities of the French association femmes et mathématiques from 2018 to 2020

Forum for young mathematicians. The forum consists in a series of lectures by senior women mathematicians, talks by doctoral students and young mathematicians, and mentoring activities for young mathematicians. The recent forums were held

– in Orléans in November 2018, and its preferred theme was “Mathematics and Life Science”; it was the first time the forum was open to male young mathematicians, and there were as many women as men among the young speakers, and we felt it was not maybe the best way to practice for we knew there are many women in the subject of this forum;

– in Paris in October 2019, and its preferred theme was “Geometries and Interactions”. This forum was held mostly in English as numerous young women mathematicians in the different fields of geometry were attending, and we could appreciate how lively the subject is.

Math days for high school girls and beginning students. Created in 2009, these one-day conferences aim at attracting high school aged girls towards the pleasure of mathematics and showing them the stereotypes in the field of women in mathematics. This activitiy is also geared toward beginning women students in science, as a way to encourage them to continue their studies in mathematics. The association is partly funded by a grant starting in 2017 from the public Foundation Blaise Pascal, hosted by the Université de Lyon. The grant has been substantially increased under the auspices of a non-profit organisation Femmes@numérique created by private companies in Computer Science, in Artificial Intelligence or in Big Data, to increase the number of women in these fields. There has been between 9 to 16 of these days a year, and we have been asked to increase the number of these days to 30 a year, even 60 a year in two years. In spring 2020, we published a booklet about the Math Days and about the stereotypes about women and mathematics, for the parents of the girls, so that they could discuss in their family their future and, maybe, their choice of orientation toward science.

Math week ends for high school women students interested in mathematics. These 2 to 3-day sessions have been organised several times a year in France since 2016. Their aim is, under the guidance of beginning students in mathematics, to help high school women students to understand their place in their future studies, and maybe professions, in mathematics and in science.

Presentation of statistics on the presence of women mathematicians in France. These statistics are regularly maintained on the web site of the association femmes et mathématiques. Statistics are a strong point of the « Journée Parité » (Parity Day in Mathematics) which is supported in particular by the association femmes et mathématiques. The last edition was held at the Institut Henri Poincaré in Paris in July 2019, and our association was invited to the round table about « Mobilité et parité » (Mobility and Parity).

Acting as a member of CFEM. As member of CFEM (which is the French commission of the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction – ICMI), 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 has been participating in the organisation of the public events which took place in the academic year 2019-20 under the title « Année des mathématiques » (Mathematics Year), mainly in high schools and junior high schools.

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 or coorganised:

– Visits in high school classes to give information about careers in STEM;

– Publication of the 2019-edition of the booklet about stereotypes regarding women in science, « Femmes & Sciences, au-delà des idées reçues » (Women & Science: Beyond Common Beliefs);

– Organisation or co-organisation of colloquia about the place of women in science and in the society, or about gender-based violence in higher education and research;

– Participation to the Femmes & Sciences 2019-edition of the booklet « Osez et faites des sciences : Témoignages filmés de parcours scientifiques » (Dare and do science: filmed testimonies of scientific career paths);

– Participation to the Femmes & Sciences 2017-edtion of the booklet « 40 femmes sceintifiques remarquables, du XVIIIe siècle à nos jours” (40 outstanding scientific women, from the 18th century to current times), and among the portraits, Marie-Louise Dubreil-Jacotin, Paulette Libermann, Maryam Mirzakhani, Rósza Peter, Laure Saint-Raymond and Claire Voisin;

– Creating and maintaining the 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 2015, revised in 2017 and in 2019;

– Lobbying actions for promoting women in STEM in France and in Europe; the association femmes et mathématiques is a member of the European Platform of Women Scientists (EPWS), and has been elected in September 2019 at the Board of Administration for two years;

– Publication of a booklet in November 2018 about jobs that students might think of after studying mathematics or computer science, in collaboration with the French professional associations in Mathematics or in 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).