"To build the future, science needs women. No discipline, no field is the preserve of men", declared the Prime Minister during the Irène Joliot-Curie prize ceremony at the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts. (CNAM) in Paris.
Four women were awarded this prize in different categories.
CNRS researcher Bérengère Dubrulle was rewarded for her work on turbulence mechanisms.
These laureates "are examples and models, but their paths as women scientists are still too rare", declared Ms. Borne, recalling that she is herself a scientist (a graduate of Polytechnique).
The Prime Minister said she wanted to carry the "fight" for equality between women and men, "great cause" of President Emmanuel Macron, "even in the sciences, by first attacking inequalities at the root".
"At university, women represent 60% of students, but only 31% in basic sciences. All training combined, the share of women graduating with an engineering degree in 2020 is only 28%. This is not not enough”, she developed.
"We are going to redouble our efforts (at school), in primary and secondary schools, to ensure the diversity of sectors", she continued, recalling the objective of parity by 2027 in the mathematics and physics and chemistry announced by the Minister of Education Pap Ndiaye, and the reintroduction of compulsory mathematics in first class at the start of the 2023 school year.
From college, "we will encourage meetings with professionals" to "give birth to vocations", said Ms. Borne, who exchanged with high school girls on the sidelines of the ceremony.
© 2023 AFP