In France, as in most developed countries, the under-representation of women in science-related fields is a major obstacle to equality in the workplace. Since 2014, the L’Oréal Foundation’s ‘For Girls in Science’ awareness programme has been offering one-hour sessions delivered in classrooms by young women with a scientific background (L’Oréal Group employees and young female Researchers). The aim of these sessions is to challenge the stereotypes associated with scientific careers and the role of women in science, thereby making science-related subjects more attractive to young girls.
Drawing on a randomised évaluation protocol involving nearly 20,000 pupils in the second and final years of the science stream at around 100 secondary schools in the Île-de-France region during the 2015–2016 academic year, we demonstrate that these one-off interventions lead to a significant reduction in pupils’ stereotypical perceptions of scientific careers and of gender-based differences in aptitude for science, among both girls and boys. Although these interventions had no detectable impact on the study choices of second-year pupils or boys in the final year of the science stream, they had significant effects on the post-A-level choices of girls in the final year of the science stream: among them, the proportion opting for a science-focused preparatory class (CPGE) rose from 11% to 14.5% (an increase of 30%). One of the key findings of the study is that the ability to influence young girls’ career choices does not depend solely on the effectiveness of female role models in challenging stereotypes relating to scientific careers and the roles of women and men in science, but also on the type of identification triggered by exposure to the role model.
