About
The Women and Science Chair at Université Paris Dauphine-PSL, created with the support of the L’Oréal Foundation, the Generali Foundation, La Poste, and the Talan Group, seeks to engage and foster interdisciplinary approaches to analyzing the causes and consequences of the underrepresentation of women in careers in scientific research and academia. The Women and Science Chair is member of the UNESCO chairs network.
The Women and Science Chair's mission is to create and disseminate national and international research on women and girls in the hard and natural sciences (from scientific subjects to scientific research and scientific careers), with the aim of interrogating and better understanding:
• the factors responsible for the underrepresentation of women in scientific programs and careers;
• the role of various environmental factors that influence the differing career trajectories of girls and boys, women and men (stereotypes, parents, professors, men, etc.);
• the connection between chosen program of study and academic performance (in the sciences, but also in the humanities and social sciences);
• the impact of both sociocultural factors and public policy, based on a comparative international analysis;
• the impact of scientific studies that account for neither sex nor gender in their design;
• the impact of the absence or underrepresentation of women in science on research quality and research focus;
• solutions, policies, and experiments that have been implemented.
The Disconnect between Women and Science is a Major Societal Challenge
We must identify and remove the factors that dissuade women from pursuing studies and careers in the natural and hard sciences, for reasons not only of equity but also of efficiency: society needs an increasing number of scientists, and, if it is to advance, science needs to engage multiple perspectives.
There are challenges at every level: familial and social; educational; academic, in terms of how students are oriented towards certain subjects in secondary and higher education; professional, in terms of career trajectories; and at the level of public policy.
Promoting and supporting research on this subject is born of a profound conviction that we need to better understand the mechanisms at work; to add to our collective knowledge and understanding of the effectiveness of various forms of intervention; and to make this knowledge available to academia, government, and civil society.
Elyès Jouini
UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR; DIRECTOR, HOUSE OF FINANCE; ACADEMIC DIRECTOR, WOMEN AND SCIENCE CHAIR
Objectives of the Chair
The goals of the Chair are to build an interdisciplinary research center, to contribute to the production of knowledge, and to participate in public conversations about its areas of concern. To that end, it engages research centers and researchers at Dauphine-PSL and beyond.
Carry out an ambitious research program
on its major areas of concern.
Provide an open forum
where academic researchers, economic stakeholders, and other interested parties can converse and collaborate as experts rather than as representatives of any given entity of point of view
Educate and inform
businesses, government agencies, and the public about the underlying causes of the underrepresentation of women in science and ways to reduce the disparity.
Women and Science Chair: Priority Topics
- Career trajectories, career gaps, and differences compensation within a single company, between companies, and by sector (e.g. medicine), etc.;
- Supply and demand in science education;
- Public policy evaluation and comparative international assessment;
- Impact of scientific studies that account for neither sex nor gender in their design;
- Impact of the absence or underrepresentation of women in science on research quality and research focus;
- Determining factors in the underrepresentation of women in science (impact of peers/environment; social perceptions and biases; parent and teacher influence; men; family life choices; connection between chosen program of study and academic performance; self-confidence; aversion to risk or to decision making, etc.).
An Open Architecture Chair
Because the areas of research covered by the Chair are necessarily interdisciplinary and the reality on the ground varies depending on the country and the culture, the Women and Science Chair operates under an open architecture system: at its core is a permanent team of Université Paris Dauphine – PSL and Public Policy Institute researchers, but it also promulgates international calls for proposals that identify and provide support for the most innovative teams all over the world.
Since it launched its first Call for Proposals in 2019, the Chair has financially and institutionally supported a total of 36 researchers in 15 countries and five continents on 11 different projects.
An International Chair, Integrated in the UNESCO Network
The Women and Science Chair has developed partnerships with a number of centers dealing with similar issues in Cyprus, India, Peru, Poland, and Tunisia.
It is a member of the UNESCO Chairs Network. This is a recognition of the quality of the research produced by the Chair and the essential role it plays in advancing the sustainable development goals that are the focus of UNESCO’s global priorities and Medium-Term (2018-2021) Strategy. Above all, it is due to the fact that the Chair plays a role in promoting “an enabling environment for women and men from all walks of life, to contribute to and enjoy the benefits of sustainable development and peace and to create enabling conditions for youth, (...) and especially young women, to prosper, exercise rights and engage as responsible citizens and social actors.”
Leadership
Elyès Jouini
UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR; DIRECTOR, HOUSE OF FINANCE; ACADEMIC DIRECTOR, WOMEN AND SCIENCE CHAIR
CEREMADE
Aïda Hamdi
Executive Officer
Women and Science Chair
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