Young girls' lack of interest in science remains a topical issue. To help encourage young girls to choose paths that lead them, as well, to scientific and technological positions, the “Sciences, un métier de femmes!” (Sciences, a woman's profession) event returns in 2025 for the 9th consecutive year.

Initiated in 2017 by Femmes & Sciences (Isabelle Vauglin and Audrey Mazur), the 9th edition of the “Sciences, un métier de femmes!” event takes place on March 11, 2025. Specifically dedicated to high-school girls, the event is a day of encounters with women working in a variety of technological and scientific fields, in both the public and private sectors. The main aim is to show by example that all scientific professions are open to both sexes, to help young girls decipher stereotypes and to convince them to have confidence in their ability to succeed.

The ongoing success of the program has demonstrated the relevance of addressing high-school girls directly, and the enormous impact of the lack of female references on girls' perceptions of women's place in science and technology.

Program

The 2025 event will take place at the Mérieux amphitheatre and in the atrium of the ENS de Lyon. The day will begin with short opening speeches, followed by a presentation by gender sociologist Clémence Perronnet.

This will be followed by presentations by the female mentors on their work, studies and career paths, triggering discussions with the girls. More than 40 female mentors are expected to take part: women technicians, engineers and researchers, post-docs and young PhD students working in a variety of fields.

Finally, the girls are invited to visit research laboratories, enabling them to discover the scientific environment: Laboratoire de l'Informatique du Parallélisme (LIP), Laboratoire de Physique (LPENSL), Unité de Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées (UMPA), Maison des Mathématiques et de l'Informatique (MMI), Institut des Sciences Analytiques, Laboratoire d'Informatique en Image et Système d'information, Laboratoire des Mécaniques de Contact et des Structures, Institut des Nanotechnologies de Lyon, IRCE LYON, CPE, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon, Institut Lumière Matière, laboratoire HISOMA, laboratoire Dynamique Du Langage, laboratoire Reproduction et Développement des Plantes (RDP), Laboratoire de Chimie (LCH).

As for previous editions, comic book artist Leah Touitou will produce a comic book report, which will be distributed to high school girls and more widely on the Internet to increase the impact of the event.

This event is organized by:

• Femmes & Sciences, LabEx ASLAN, ICAR and CRAL
• And with financial support from: Ifpen, Société Française d'Astronomie et d'Astrophysique, Syensqo, ACEF, EDF, EODD, Ville de Lyon, Everoze, Elmy, Fondation Blaise Pascal, Casden, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Université Claude Bernard Lyon1, CNRS Dynamique Du Langage laboratory, Laboratoire d'Excellence CELYA, Laboratoire de l'Éducation and ENS de Lyon.