Interview with members of the PEP Unit
The Cellule PEP philosophy in three words?
PARITY and PROFESSIONAL EQUALITY!
When was the cell officially created?
The cell was created in June 2021.
What prompted the creation of the cell?
Inserm has adopted a plan for professional equality between women and men, with the aim of creating a Parité Égalité Professionnelle network to serve the entire community. We were then asked to set up a unit in each structure and department, made up of people with different profiles, each with a mission statement.
What challenges were encountered and how were they met?
The role of the PEP unit is to relay the awareness-raising campaigns set up by the various supervisory bodies, propose actions, stimulate reflection and monitor the structure’s progress in terms of parity and professional equality.
The first challenge was to recruit people willing to get involved in this mission and respect parity within the unit itself. The unit currently has 8 members (5 women and 3 men – last recruit in January 2022). In order to monitor the Unit’s situation in terms of parity, it was necessary to update the staff list in 2022, and this led to the observation that there was a gender imbalance at the center, as at national level, with a deficit of women in positions of responsibility and at the highest grades. All members of the unit then attended one or more training courses to raise awareness of these imbalances and of the existence of gender bias, stereotypes and prejudices.
The first act of awareness-raising was the production of an initial Newsletter, followed by a seminar given by Prof. Isabelle Régner on “Égalité Femmes-Hommes en milieu professionnel: les effets des stéréotypes de genre” (“Gender equality in the workplace: the effects of gender stereotypes”). The many discussions and questions raised by this talk made us realize just how much information dissemination work is needed to raise awareness, and how difficult it is to communicate clearly so that everyone feels concerned. As a result, we set up a poster campaign on sexist and sexual violence (SGBV) on the CRCM’s various sites, produced 3 new newsletters, launched the “50 Faces of the CRCM” operation to mark the CRCM’s 50th anniversary, and had our organization’s new PARITY plan validated by all the CRCM’s internal bodies.
What is the cell’s proudest achievement?
The operation we’re most proud of at the moment is the “50 Faces of the CRCM” operation as part of the CRCM’s 50th anniversary celebrations. The aim of this operation was to showcase portraits of women and men representative of the CRCM’s professional and human diversity. We decided to draw lots (to guarantee the greatest possible representativeness of the center’s staff) for 25 women and 25 men, members of the contractual and statutory staff, present at the CRCM in 2022. We worked in close collaboration with the IPC’s communications department, which provided us with its expertise and managed the logistics and distribution of the portraits on social networks. The operation culminated in the physical display of the 50 portraits on a “stretched fabric” in the CRCM’s entrance hall, allowing anyone coming to the CRCM to discover the center’s professional and human diversity.
Any plans for the future?
We have a number of projects underway, such as “Osez l’ESR au féminin”, a training program designed to remove women’s self-censorship in terms of career advancement. We’ve been able to identify women who could benefit from this training, and the estimate has been sent to the relevant authorities – we’re awaiting their approval.
We have also contacted AMU’s Equality and Respect Unit to arrange an awareness-raising seminar for all staff on harassment, discrimination and SGBV. We will announce the date of the seminar as soon as it has been set.
We will also shortly be offering the possibility of borrowing books on the issues raised by the unit.
We continue to monitor the Unit’s parity situation, updating the staffing table twice a year.
An anecdote to share?
As part of the “50 Faces of the CRCM” operation, despite 5 proof-readings of the poster, one of our colleagues from the design engineering corps was awarded the title of assistant engineer (!!!). And yes, it’s a testament to the enormous amount of work that’s gone into it that you can’t see the mistakes at the end, just like in a publication! It’s a good thing she came to tell us!
Finally, a little message to pass on?
To develop our actions and our communication, we need you, your feedback and discussions. So don’t hesitate to come and talk to us – we’re all winners!
Members of the PEP unit