Break the stereotypes to open horizons
Every year the Science Festival brings thousands of researchers, teachers and curious. In 2025, the theme “intelligence” highlights the diversity of forms of knowledge and talents. But this edition also has a particular emphasis: that of equality.
Because if today women represent more than half of university students, in scientific and technological areas are only 28%, according to the Ministry of Higher Education. “It is not a question of skills, but of representation”, summarizes the government’s press release. The goal is clear: to provide models to the girls, so that they can project themselves into professions still largely dominated by men.
Events throughout France
In ten days, more than 6,000 free events are offered throughout continental France and abroad. In high schools, museums, libraries and workshops, scientists lead workshops, share their trip and tell their discoveries.
In Nantes you can meet aeronautical engineers who will reveal the secrets of hypersonic flights. In Toulouse, a scientific escape game invites young people to “hack stereotypes”. In Paris, the Palais de la Découvero recreates the journey of pioneers such as Marie Curie or Rosalind Franklin. And in rural schools, the researchers of the CNRS or Arae come to talk about their daily life.
A dense program, combined around the same message: The sciences belong to everyone.
Podcast and portraits to expand the discovery
For those who cannot travel, you can also listen to the Science Festival. The podcast 13.9Produced by the Ministry, he dedicates an episode to equality in the scientific field. We listen to testimonies of young researchers, engineers and professors, who speak of the weight of commonplaces but also of the joy of transmitting.
On the official website of the event, the “Girls in Science” series highlights stimulating portraits: Chemists, mathematics, IT, oceanographers … Everyone share the same guiding thread: that of having dared to say “why not?” “.
A challenge for the future
Encourage girls to devote themselves to science is not just a matter of equality. It is also a necessity for the future of research and innovation. “Climate, technological and health challenges require multiple, and therefore different intelligence,” recall the organizers.
In France, women still represent only 28% of mathematics researchers, 22% in physics and less than 15% in computer science. Numbers stopped for a decade, despite the numerous initiatives carried out in schools and universities.
Sow curiosity
The ambition of the Science Festival is therefore not only to celebrate knowledge, but to make it a playground open to all children. Seeing an astrophysicist operating a telescope or a robotic engineer to program an articulated arm sometimes is everything you need to trigger a vocation.
“The goal is not that all the girls become researchers, but who know they can become so,” sympathetically summarizes one of the ambassadors of the event.
This week the science is celebrated, shared and above all told differently, with female voices that, hopefully, will resonate in the minds of young people for a long time.
Discover BookClub, the Madmoizelle show that questions the society through the books, in the company of those who make them.
Source: Madmoizelle
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
