This article is from a ctrl +, the big challenges newsletter issue: ‘L’ingénierie française, désert de talents ?‘
Half of the talent pool remains largely untapped. In addition to exacerbating inequalities, this imbalance deprives France of an extraordinary pool of talent and a wealth of creativity, innovation and skills, which are essential for its industrial and ecological transition.
This is the very essence of IMT’s commitment: the ‘Ambassadrices’ programme, mentoring, actions in middle and high schools and plans for a more inclusive learning environment… At the start of the French ‘Year of Engineering‘, we want to remind everyone that science and technology need all talents, regardless of gender.
From primary school to doctorate, the slow decline of female vocations
Although women make up more than half of all students (56%), the 2025 Key Figures on Gender Equality brochure once again highlights their under-representation in selective training courses, in scientific training and, in particular, in future-oriented sectors such as computer science and mathematics. Many challenges remain to be overcome in order to improve the representation of women in science.
It is on this basis that Philippe BAPTISTE, French Minister for Higher Education and Research, introduces the brochure Vers l’égalité femmes-hommes ? Chiffres clés 2025, (Towards gender equality? Key figures 2025) published by the statistical service of his ministry in March 2025.
The numbers speak for themselves: despite decades of effort, gender parity remains a distant dream.
The government report “Filles et mathématiques” (Girls and Mathematics) shows how the proportion of girls in science studies declines as they progress through school. This is the ‘leaky pipeline’ phenomenon: at each stage of education, the proportion of young women choosing STEM studies decreases.
As a result, after a steady increase until the end of the 2000s, the proportion of women in STEM studies has plateaued for the last decade, and now represents less than a quarter of first-year STEM students. The proportion of women in industry-related specialisations (engineering of transformation and production) is declining at all levels of education.
It is important to remember that the impact of these gaps on the economy is very real – the estimated effects on growth are in the order of €10 billion per year – and that they are the cause of persistent wage inequalities, since women are under-represented in the most highly paid sectors, where there is a 13% wage gap at the start of a career.
These biases are here to stay
So how do we explain that young women, who excel in science subjects, continue to turn away from STEM?
Today, we need to fight less against norms and more against representations and narratives that assign a gender to professions, when there are only skills and ambitions.
Sylvie Retailleau, former French Minister of Higher Education and Research, in Newstank: ‘Femmes et sciences : « Lutter contre des représentations et des récits »’ (Women and science: ‘Fighting against representations and narratives’)
The barriers are well identified and go far beyond the simple notions of attraction or desire – and far beyond those of ability. They are rooted in deep-seated cultural barriers: gender stereotypes, lack of role models, bias in guidance, and sometimes even dissuasive comments from peers or teachers.
‘Although social science research shows that taste and ability in science are not innate, beliefs in natural differences between the sexes persist and hinder girls’ scientific ambitions. Contrary to popular belief, girls do not ‘self-censor’ in science: they are socially censored. Lack of interest or self-confidence is never the starting point of their situation: it is the result of their repeated experience of stereotypes and discrimination.’
Clémence Perronnet, sociologist of culture, science and social inequalities
The latest Gender Scan 2025 survey highlights the persistent, and even growing, influence of negative role models: 40% of female STEM students report having been discouraged, including – and this is new – by their friends.
The 2024 report by the French Académie des sciences, ‘Sciences : où sont les femmes ?‘ (Sciences: Where are the women?) highlights how these stereotypes take root very early on: school textbooks continue to portray scientists as male, while the low proportion of female researchers and female teachers in disciplines such as mathematics, physics or computer science reinforces the invisibility of women and fuels the feeling that they do not belong.
It seems that the Matilda effect, this well-documented mechanism of invisibility of women’s contributions to research, is still at work, despite the growing efforts to combat it.
The decisive role played by female engineers and scientists as role models for young people cannot be emphasised enough. And beyond the few exceptional trajectories that are so exceptional that they become the exception and therefore unattainable for most young women, we must not forget the trajectories of the ‘ordinary’ female engineering students and young graduates, which allow young women to identify with them, to be inspired by them, and above all, to take action.
Initiatives to change trajectories
Mobilisation is accelerating and initiatives are multiplying
At IMT, we have placed inclusion and gender equality at the heart of our strategy through collective actions and within our technological universities.
- IMT’s continuous improvement plan to create a supportive environment for female student well-being, academic success, and employability development is part of this. It is in this context that IMT has launched its plan to combat harassment, sexist and sexual violence, and discrimination (HVSSD) for the period 2024-2026, a strengthened framework to ensure a work and study environment where everyone feels safe and respected.
- Locally, many initiatives are underway in IMT Technological Universities: the PINKCC Challenge at IMT Mines Alès is one example!
- Through articles and profiles, the editorial team of I’MTech, the IMT’s science news website, highlights the work and commitment of female researchers and engineers who are helping to reduce inequalities and advance science: you can find profiles of Anne Bergeret, Alexandra Vallet, Valérie Forest, Michèle Wigger, Maria A. Zuluaga, and others.
Towards more inclusive engineering for a sustainable future
The shortage of female engineers is not inevitable. It is an invitation to rethink our models, our representations and our priorities. Because behind the statistics are countless vocations to be awakened, career paths to be supported, and talents to be revealed.
Engineering, by its very nature, is a profession of openness and transformation. It cannot afford to deprive itself of half of its talent pool. Encouraging young women to join these fields is more than just an issue of equality: it is a condition for collective success, innovation and sustainability.
This is the very essence of the commitment of IMT, which is fully engaged in the national ambition to increase the number of women in engineering education, with a firm commitment to increasing the proportion of female students recruited to 40% by 2030. To achieve this, the IMT is collectively mobilising a range of levers to diversify recruitment, implement specific actions to promote gender balance, and develop attractive training programmes for young women.
Becoming a female engineer is both an individual choice and a collective lever for tackling the major technological, environmental and social challenges. Together, let us break down the barriers to open the way to a more inclusive, more creative and more human engineering, in line with the world it wants to build.
