Engineering companies are firmly committed to gender equality

TPE, large groups, established in Paris and in the provinces ... 70 companies representing the diversity of the profession signed this Thursday, October 14 a Charter in favor of diversity. Unveiled on the occasion of the Meet'ingé, the profession's annual event, the charter is structured around 3 major issues: attracting women to engineering, keeping female talents and allowing women to progress to positions of management.

Pierre Verzat, president of Syntec-Ingénierie: “The mission of engineering is to imagine our future and bring it to life: self-sufficient buildings, low-carbon mobility, energy savings… It is unthinkable to continue to do without half of the available brains! Our profession has long been committed to feminization and now intends to take a step forward, go faster and further. With the Engineering Charter for Gender Diversity, companies voluntarily commit to carrying out concrete and measurable initiatives at all levels of action: from raising awareness among the youngest to promoting talent in decision-making bodies. . Our profession is on the front line to carry out major social, environmental or technological transitions and we take our responsibilities to make diversity a lever to meet the challenges of the future.

Provide concrete answers to 3 major issues

While engineering companies and their professional federation have for many years been carrying out voluntary actions to feminize the profession, women remain a large minority in the engineering workforce. With the Engineering Charter for diversity, the profession intends to accelerate the feminization of the sector and respond in a concrete and measurable way to 3 major issues:

1. Attract women to engineering.

The rate of feminization in scientific fields is still too low: present at 47% in final S, young women are now only 32% to have accepted a proposal for admission to the Preparatory Classes for the Grandes Écoles (CPGE) scientific and 28% in engineering schools; and this proportion, which may vary depending on the sector, has tended to stagnate since 2015.

2. Retain female talents in engineering.

While the share of women in the core engineering profession is 26%, it tends to erode with seniority; thus, excluding cross-functional professions, there is a significant decrease in the number of women after 10 years of seniority, which represents 22% of the workforce.

3. Enable women to advance in engineering.

Engineering recruits nearly 30% of women, but their progression within the company is still too slow, and the reality differs between an SME and a large company: our management bodies have only 11% of women in positions. of management.

Make ambitious and measurable commitments around 4 pillars

To achieve sustainable feminization of engineering, each signatory company undertakes to carry out at least one action during the coming year for each of the following 4 commitments:

1. Take action to change the image of engineering among young people, especially young girls
2. Ensure equal treatment between women and men throughout their careers
3. Promote a personal and professional life balance for all
4. Encourage access to management positions for women, by developing upward mobility

Offer discovery courses for young girls in 3rd year, set qualitative objectives for gender diversity in the annual objectives of managers (recruitment, professional career, salary progression, etc.), set up awareness campaigns to inform fathers of their rights to take paternity leave, set up mentoring programs or even promote women as directors on the Boards of Directors of companies that do not fall within the framework provided for by the Copé-Zimmermann law ... are all important 'actions proposed within the framework of the charter.

The entire text of the charter as well as the first signatory companies can be found on the Syntec-Ingénierie site.