A university open to all: Gender Equality

Promoting and sustaining a culture of equality

Unveiling the reality of inequalities, widening the realms of possibilities for all (male or female), and promoting a culture of respect: these were the triple objectives that Sciences Po defined when the Gender Equality Unit was created in May 2014. The Unit is dedicated to advancing measures targeting all of the institution’s audiences (FR).

Training and raising awareness

Our commitment to principles of equality is enshrined in numerous charters and guidelines: a charter for non-sexist communication, a charter for lecturers, a charter for student life (pdf, 357 Kb), as well as internal regulations. At the start of every academic year and on each of the seven campuses, we take various actions to raise awareness amongst students of all programmes. In an effort to guarantee equality in the classroom, we disseminate 10 recommendations amongst the teaching community.

In 2010 Sciences Po opened a Gender Research and Teaching Programme (PRESAGE) that works to integrate the question of gender within teaching. A Women in Business Chair was also created in 2018, with the specific aim of examining obstacles facing women in their careers, as well as ways of reducing those, so as to help female students develop their professional and entrepreneurial skills.

Assisting women in their careers

• Women make up 60% of the student body at Sciences Po. The university actively assists its female students via professional workshops (FR) designed to train them in assertiveness and self-confidence, salary negotiation, work-life balance, public speaking, and more.
• Since 2012, a regular comparative report on the circumstances of female and male employees has allowed us to assess the professional development of 1,200 members of the administrative staff at Sciences Po. Women, who comprise 60% of the workforce, are now being appointed to directorial positions and the overall wage gap is diminishing.
• Sciences Po is also committed to recruiting female academic staff and assisting women in careers in science and research: raising awareness of gender issues amongst the research community, relaxing the procedure for tenureship, maintaining vigilance on the composition of juries, etc.