An exclusively female meeting, organized at the initiative of Yasmine Belkaid, the new general director of the Institut Pasteur. At the end of the day Tuesday March 4, she received Fabiola Terzi, director of the Necker Institute, and Florence Niedergang, director of the Cochin Institute, in her office. Bana Jabri, future director of the Imagine Institute, still stationed in Chicago, follows the meeting by video. Four strong women, who have successfully carved their path in the research environment, determined today to promote diversity and equality in the structures they manage.
“We cannot do without 50% of humanity, and research has specificities which particularly put women in a vulnerable situation,” insists Yasmine Belkaid. All scientists know it: combining pregnancy and the direction of a research project turns out to be more than a headache, almost a mission impossible. Very often, the project must be paused or even stopped, and the researcher’s career suffers. Enough to discourage many young women from embarking on this journey strewn with pitfalls.
That four women find themselves for the first time today at the head of these prestigious research institutes is an undeniable sign of the changes underway. Proof of a clear evolution compared to their respective early careers, which three of them, from the same generation, recount in almost the same words. Born in Algeria, Yasmine Belkaid did her thesis in France. His son was born at this time. “I asked my thesis director for a one-year extension, who refused, telling me that it was ‘my problem’, she remembers. Having a child and doing science was then considered a cardinal sin.
Forced to choose between medicine and research
Bana Jabri also explains that she had the greatest difficulties in pursuing research and medicine at the birth of her first daughter, while she was still an intern: “I had asked to join a research program, it was a refusal complete”. Fabiola Terzi had to make a choice between the clinic and research. “I was made to understand that I could not do both, even though I saw lots of men carrying out their medical and laboratory management activities at the same time,” she regrets.
In recent years, however, they have noticed that parity has become essential in the symposia. “In the selection committees, there is also more attention to giving positions to women,” also assures Florence Niedergang. However, the path to science remains difficult for girls. If half of the team leaders are women at the Cochin Institute, this is, for example, still far from being the case at the Pasteur Institute, where 70% of these positions are occupied by men.
To make life and careers easier for researchers, the four leaders have no shortage of ideas. Providing help from technicians in laboratories during maternity leave, so that projects are not interrupted during this absence – a practice already implemented in the National Institute of Health in the United States where Yasmine Belkaid has part of his career. Daycare places automatically allocated to young scientists. At the Cochin Institute, “equality observers” also participate in numerous meetings and committees: “They note sexist comments and positions and debrief. This encourages self-regulation,” explains Florence Niedergang.
At Imagine, Bana Jabri thinks she will set up meetings dedicated to women, so “that they can express their specific difficulties and create a community of support”. In Cochin, Fabiola Terzi has already created a parity and equality unit. Its members closely follow the rhythm of publications and prize awards, and remain attentive to collaborators who express the need.
One of Yasmine Belkaid’s first decisions at the Institut Pasteur was to appoint a director in charge of diversity, equity and inclusion. Since his arrival at the head of Pasteur, the management committee of the Institute has also moved to parity, depending on the renewal of positions. The biologist hopes that the same will happen over time for the team leaders. “I don’t want to impose anything: we will simply take the best, and you will see that we will achieve parity,” she assures. Sweeping away this idea that is so macho and yet still very widespread that defending equality between men and women in science would amount to renouncing excellence…