Gender balance in engineering schools: an issue also addressed by the Pays de Loire region
On International Women’s Rights Day, Christelle Morançais, president of the Pays de la Loire region, came to meet ESTACA students. Students were on hand to present their projects: iDrogen’s energy-efficient vehicles, ESTACARS’ electric single-seater, EPIC’s communicating robots and drones, Mototech’s motorcycles, the Saar-e by ESTACA electric buggy project, and Junior ESTACA’s Green Turtle and Solent projects.
The president of the region wanted to ask students for their ideas to encourage young girls to enter the scientific and technical fields. Gender diversity is key for collective enrichment. Recruiters recognize the need for diversity and complementarity within teams, yet it remains difficult to recruit women in certain sectors. The need to train more women engineers is therefore an ongoing issue for both companies and local authorities.
Several female students spoke of their difficulties in choosing a career path, “I had to justify my choice of direction,” said one. There were many ideas to better inform and raise awareness in high school girls: events, meetings, testimonies, video clips…
Christelle Morançais explained her reasons for coming to ESTACA in Laval for Women’s Rights Day in order to promote schools that encourage young women to enter sectors where they are lacking. They wish to spread the message of women’s skills in all sectors and encourage them to dare to enter scientific and engineering fields.
Before leaving, the president of the region encouraged female students to continue to reflect on how to promote women in science and report their expectations to the region, which needs to prepare the future.
