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International Women in Engineering Day
INWED 2022 : seven female engineering students from the ParisTech network tell us about their studies
Today is the ninth International Women in Engineering Day (INWED2022). On this occasion, ParisTech schools are joining forces to highlight seven portraits of female engineering students.
A recent study published by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research on "enrollment in engineering programs in 2021-2022" reveals that women are still underrepresented in engineering schools. At the start of the academic year 2021, they made up 29.1% of the enrollment "i.e. 0.4 points more than a year ago and 2.1 points more than five years ago."
Attracting more women in S&T studies, and more particularly in engineering formations, involves promoting existing professions to young girls from secondary school onwards and highlighting the career paths of women engineers in order to arouse vocations and remove barriers for potential candidates who lack confidence in themselves.
Aware of this issue, the ParisTech schools are committed to gender equality by participating in the Cordées de la réussite, which help high school and preparatory school students to progress in science and encourage them to enroll in a scientific program, thus helping to challenge certain social or gendered representations of science. The schools also carry out specific promotional activities (exhibitions, partnerships with dedicated associations) and regularly broadcast testimonials to highlight the wide range of career paths that exist after obtaining an engineering degree.
For the ninth edition of the International Women in Engineering Day (INWED 2022), discover the testimonials of Catherine, Salomé, Mélanie, Clara, Lilia, Fanny and Olympe, female engineering students in ParisTech schools. Seven paths that highlight several access routes to training (preparatory classes, DUT, bachelor's degrees, etc.) and specialties (industrial engineering, mechanical and atomic engineering, robotics, biosourced chemistry, etc.) as well as various professional projects and visions of the engineering profession.
Catherine Rouanet joined AgroParisTech in 2006 in Massy (formerly ENSIA Agro-alimentaire) with the intention of specializing in Food Science. After her engineering degree, she pursued a work-study program in R&D at Fleury Michon with an Advanced Master program in Product Engineering at the Cuisine-Industry Interface (IPCI), offered by AgroParisTech in partnership with the Ferrandi School of Gastronomy.
Salomé Bergthold, an Arts et Métiers student, is currently in her third year of the Specialized Engineering Program that she joined after a bachelor in technology (Industrial Engineering and Maintenance). She is studying on the Metz campus. She pursues a work-study program and works as a reliability engineer since 2019 at EDF at the Cattenom nuclear power plant.
> Discover her testimonial in video
Mélanie Daoudi, a student in her final year of the engineering program at Chimie ParisTech - PSL, is currently doing an internship at Hermès. She joined the School in 2019 after obtaining a bachelor degree in chemistry from the University of Cergy-Pontoise, from which she graduated at the top of her class. Committed to sustainable chemistry, she wants to work in the luxury industry.
Clara Kowalczyk is in her second year of the engineering program at École des Ponts ParisTech. From building a motorized shoe cabinet to programming an autonomous drone, her training meets her need for discovery and experience. After studying mechanics and robotics at the school, she wants to do a double degree in computer engineering at Polytechnique Montreal and join a Graduate Program in a big company to test different positions and travel the world.
Lilia Bouraoui, a student in engineering, is involved in a double degree program at ESPCI Paris - PSL and at MINES Paris - PSL in atomic engineering. Passionate about the nuclear industry, she completed her first internship in July 2020 in the DIPDE (Division Ingénierie du Parc Nucléaire, de la Déconstruction et de l'Environnement) at EDF, then a second one in the Probabilistic Safety Studies group of the DIPDE. Motivated and full of ambitions, she is now an intern at IRSN in nuclear safety.
Fanny Kalifa, in her third year of the engineering program at the Institut d’Optique, is currently doing her internship in the final year at Dxomark as a technical-sales engineer, a job she hopes to do after her degree. Her project was formalized during her stay at Institut d’Optique, notably with her experience as a Junior-Entrepreneur but also by discussing with SupOp alumni.
Olympe Tournier, a student engineer at MINES Paris - PSL, knows that she has wanted to become an engineer since she was 15 years old because society needs scientists to fight global warming, and especially engineers, because they are the ones who transform the world by transforming industry. She would like to explore three main areas: big industrial companies, companies or agencies in environment, and public policies to have a more global vision of environmental issues and global warming.