Our female mentors took part in the nationwide Engineering Professions Day for Women event organised by the Elles Bougent and UPSTI associations on 24 November 2016.  Sixteen female employees, all engineering graduates, talked to female secondary school students about their career paths in schools in Ile de France, Picardie, Rouen, Lille, Hazebrouck, Grenoble and Rennes. By telling their stories, our female employees become role models and discourage young females from holding themselves back.

Female students: “It was very interesting, it was a chance for us to learn about different professional opportunities after the scientific baccalaureate. Meeting women who work in these roles means that we can imagine ourselves working in those areas.”

“I learnt about new areas at the event. It was very interesting and it made me think about going in a different direction to what I previously planned on doing.”

Elodie Gros, SME manager at Bouygues Bâtiment Ile-de-France: “I wanted to share my experience, open up new horizons, and advise and encourage young women in their career paths. I remember that between 16 and 18 we have a very limited understanding of all of the opportunities on offer in the working world, and my message was to explore as much as possible to find what you were meant to do and the job of your dreams.”

 

Marie-Caroline Alizier, project manager at Linkcity Nord-Est: “The event reminded me what it's like to be a teenager. It was good fun. I’m happy to help these young women expand their view of what’s possible, and especially to encourage them to at least try new things out.”

 

Anne-Laure Giard, creativity engineer at Bouygues Travaux Publics: "I feel the event was a useful, effective step to improve the place of women in the business world in general, and in the scientific professions in particular.”

The diversity teams hosted a gender diversity corner at Bouygues Construction’s stand during the ESTP forum on 13 December last year in Paris, in partnership with Elles Bougent.

70 teams of two, made up of one male and one female student, took part in a quiz on women's rights, including questions like “How many of the top 40 companies on the French stock exchange have female CEOs?” and “What is the average difference between women's and men’s salaries in France?”  “The students responded well to the quiz and several of them wanted to continue with discussions afterwards,” explains Claudia da Cruz, diversity project manager at Bouygues Construction.  “The main message we wanted to get across was that a lot remains to be done to ensure gender equality in the workplace, and it will their responsibility as future employees and managers to change things.” 

 

Any female engineers or technicians interested in taking part in future activities with Elles Bougent are most welcome !