Gender Equality

Guidance and diversity of professions

Educational guidance is a multifaceted issue and can be the source of many questions and doubts among secondary school students and their families. One of the problems highlighted in the context of research in educational sciences, sociology and social psychology concerns more particularly differentiated guidance processes according to the gender of the student due to a lack of specific knowledge of professions and the low profile of diversity in professional fields. This page therefore offers you some resources to help you reflect on this issue and allow you to include it in activities to promote a better understanding of the broad spectrum of courses and professions.

Institutional framework

At the national level, the issue of gender equality in the education system and educational guidance emerged as early as the 1980s with the introduction of ministerial plans to promote equality and combat stereotypes in school textbooks. The institutional framework has therefore been established for many years, during which time the school curriculum has been adapted and there have been a succession of conventions and statistical surveys:

Organisations and resource sites

Guides et good practices

As language is an essential element in the communication and presentation of jobs, several guides have been created to support the non-discriminatory use of language. The feminisation of the names of professions is an initial lever for action to promote a diverse presentation of professions and to encourage students to pursue all types of jobs:

Exhibitions and portraits

There are several exhibitions and video testimonials giving a more accurate presentation of certain professions, taking into account equal representation of men and women:

  • Infinités Plurielles, portraits of 145 female scientists: travelling exhibition by Marie-Hélène Le Ny, available from the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation.
  • The MIX'ITI initiative run by Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University includes both online videos and an exhibition available on loan.
  • The Femmes ici et ailleurs association also offers an exhibition entitled All professions are diverse.
  • Le Moutard also offers several types of exhibitions and quizzes to help children and young people explore various themes.
  • Le sexe de mon job (the gender of my job) is a video library where diversity is guaranteed.

MOOC

If you want to explore more humanities and social sciences research on guidance and gender, here are some bibliographical references:

  • BAUDELOT Christian, ESTABLET Roger, Allez les filles ! , Seuil, Paris, 1992.
  • BAUDELOT Christian, ESTABLET Roger, Quoi de neuf chez les filles ? Entre stéréotypes et libertés, Nathan, 2007.
  • BAUDINO Claudie, Le sexe des mots: un chemin pour l'égalité, Belin, Collection d'Égale à égal, 2018.
  • DAFFLON NOVELLE Anne (dir.), Filles-garçons. Socialisation différenciée ?, Grenoble : Presses Universitaires de Grenoble, 2006.
  • DURU-BELLAT Marie, L’école des filles : quelle formation pour quels rôles sociaux ?, L’Harmattan, Paris, 1996.
  • GAUSSEL Marie, L’éducation des filles et des garçons : paradoxes et inégalités, Dossier de veille de l’IFÉ [en ligne], N° 112, Octobre 2016
  • MARUANI Margaret (dir.), Femmes, Genre et société. L’état des savoirs, La Découverte, Paris, 2005.
  • MORIN-MESSABEL Christine, SALLE Muriel (dir.), À l’école des stéréotypes. Comprendre et déconstruire, 2013.
  • MOSCONI Nicole, Femmes et savoirs. La société, l’école et la division sexuelle des savoirs, L’Harmattan, Paris, 1994.
  • MOSCONI Nicole, STEVANOVIC Biljana, Genre et avenir, Les représentations des métiers chez les adolescentes et adolescents, L’Harmattan, Genre et éducation, Paris, 2007.
  • STEVANOVIC Biljana, MOSCONI Nicole, Les représentations des métiers des adolescent(e-s) scolarisé(e-s) dans l’enseignement secondaire, Revue française de pédagogie [En ligne], N°161, octobre-décembre 2007.
  • VIENNOT Éliane, Non, le masculin ne l'emporte pas sur le féminin ! Petite histoire des résistances de la langue française, Éditions iXe, Donnemarie-Dontilly, 2014, Nouvelle édition augmentée 2017.
  • VOUILLOT Françoise, « L'orientation aux prises avec le genre », Travail, genre et sociétés [en ligne], 2/2007 (Nº 18), p. 87-108.
  • VOUILLOT Françoise, Les métiers ont-ils un sexe ? Pour sortir des sentiers battus de l'orientation des filles et des garçons., Belin, Coll. Égale à égal, 2014.