The Ingenieuses Prize 2021 has been awarded

On 20 May, the Conférence des Directeurs des Ecoles Françaises d'Ingénieurs (CDEFI) organised the remote award ceremony for the Ingénieuses 2021 operation. 

The low proportion of women engineers has always been a challenging stake for the CDEFI. Because of its dual mission of promoting engineering study courses and defending the values of diversity, the CDEFI thus decided in 2011 to create a specific operation to attract more young women to engineering schools. This year, four prizes were awarded to schools and four prizes went to female students, including a foreign national, winner of the Maghreb student-engineer prize.

The objectives of the Ingénieuses operation

First of all, the “Ingénieuses” initiative of the CDEFI is a communication and awareness-raising operation in France and countries of the Maghreb region in the form of a competition whose main objectives are to:

- Promote engineering training and professions in general to the female public;

- Fight against prejudice and gender stereotypes;

- Promote gender equality in schools and in the professional world

- Encourage young girls to become engineers, by emphasising study advice in favour of scientific and technological training courses and engineering careers.

Specificities of the 2021 edition

The French Minister for Higher Education opened the digital ceremony by recalling her support for the operation and her commitment to the fight for gender equality. For the Minister, “the Ingénieuses operation is a great example” which illustrates “this balance and this indispensable diversity”.

Even though the 2021 edition was peculiar because of the current health crisis, it was still an opportunity to discover “a new range of women’s and female student-engineers’ careers and increasingly innovative projects”. All of the projects selected, which promote the feminisation of engineering professions and studies, were nonetheless special this year, with the presence of “a large number of projects to prevent, raise awareness of and fight against sexual and gender-based violence”.

The message of the 2021 prize list

As every year, four prizes were awarded to the schools: two for the projects led by the most committed schools, with one prize for projects led by the school's administration and one prize for those led by student or alumni associations. In addition to these prizes, a prize was awarded for the most original project and a special jury prize.

 
Four distinctions were also awarded to female students and engineers who have particularly distinguished themselves through their career: a prize for the French female student engineer and a prize for the Maghreb female student engineer, a prize for the junior female engineer, awarded to a newly graduated female engineer, and a last prize for a female engineer already in professionally working.

And the final word of the ceremony went to Chaïma Laksyby, winner of the Maghreb student engineer prize, who invited everyone to the next edition of the Ingénieuse operation, with a clear message:

Let’s believe in ourselves, girls! Our success will change the prejudices of others and promote the engineering profession among women. Let the fruits of our efforts speak for us! 

To know more: 

- Overview of the 2021edition of the Ingénieuses operation 

- Info about the Ingénieuses operation

Photo credit: © CDEFI