The ICWES, the Fourteenth International Conference of Women Engineers & Scientists was held in Lille, from July 15 to 18, 2008. After the 2005 ICWES in Seoul and pending the 2011 ICWES in Adelaide, Lille is the first French city to host the event since Rouen thirty years ago. This year the event, which was created in 1964, fulfilled all its promises. More than 500 women from sixty different countries attended the outstanding meeting organized by the National Council of Engineers and Scientists of France (CNISF). Eleven plenary conferences, workshops and panel discussions were held. Former Chair of the French Association of Women Engineers Monique Moutaud, who was in charge of organizing and coordinating the event, reports on the Conference and underscores the importance of the work carried out in this field.
Interview by Jean-François Desessard.
BE France - What were the highlights of the Conference?
Monique Moutaud - ICWES 14 underscored the progress on issues such as equal opportunity and diversity for women engineers and scientists, in the policies rolled out within the States or international organizations. Against the background of the oil crisis and climate disruption, we can see a sizable increase in the global demand for scientists. With these new challenges, women have a part to play, which explain the deployment of policies that target improving women's access to scientific jobs.
Thanks to contributions from distinguished public figures, the Conference was also an opportunity to report on several of the numerous scientific advances that will be improving everyone's daily life tomorrow. For instance, Pietra Rivoli, Professor of Finance and International Trade at Georgetown University, Washington DC, focused on advances in applied research in production processes for the complete cycle of product manufacture.
ICWES 14 also paid tribute to scientific women with outstanding careers, such as Claudie Haigneré, Astronaut and Minister Delegate in charge of Research and New Technologies from 2002 to 2004, Valérie Manning, EADS Group Vice President, or university professor, research scientist and artist Liya Régel. Forty grants were awarded to the best papers submitted by participants from developing countries, to help them fund their trip.
BE France - On a broader issue, what role does the French Association of Women Engineers, which you chaired until recently, play?
Monique Moutaud - Since its inception, the purpose of the Association has been to encourage young women to pursue scientific studies. However, we soon began focussing on their professional situation. Actually, many women engineers have returned to the Association after seeing the inequality in their professional environment. Until now, our work has dovetailed around these two strong topics.
The CNISF launched the first socioeconomic survey of the engineering world. It has now become a yearly survey, with the publication of the results of the 19th survey last June. Thanks to the CNISF, we can monitor the changing status of women engineers. The data helped us realize that the share of young women graduates in engineering courses has leveled off at about 25% despite the sharp increase that rose steadily until 1995.
BE France - How is the Association seen by young women choosing a career in engineering?
Monique Moutaud - In France, the student world does not seem concerned by the subject. Statistics show that when they leave their engineering schools, young women graduates are treated the same as young men in a company. This explains why they are often surprised to learn about our Association. We use the opportunity to explain what our goals are and that we do not have - strictly speaking - a feminist approach. Indeed, until the age of thirty, their professional career tends to run smoothly. However, later, as they run into inequality issues issues compared to their male colleagues, they are prompted to make contact with, or return to us.
BE France - Is this why an event like ICWES where you can pursue discussions on these issues with your counterparts from different foreign associations so important?
Monique Moutaud - Absolutely. For instance, during the event we deal with alarming subjects such as young people's loss of interest in scientific courses. In today's developed countries, this phenomenon keeps growing due to the competition from services and business. On the other hand, women in developing countries are beginning to enjoy a certain status and experience a different situation regarding engineering careers. Of course, conferences such as ICWES 14 also submits papers on scientific topics, but participants' concern focuses mainly on their place as engineers or scientists in society, and how this will evolve in the upcoming years.
