I’m regional director for women’s rights. I make sure that public gender equality policies are implemented within public services, regional authorities, the business world and within labour and management organizations. I’m responsible for preventing and tackling violence against women and ensuring equal opportunity in the workplace, in terms of both equal treatment and access to positions of responsibility.
I’m passionate about the diversity of the topics I cover in my work, and the multitude of people involved and the many possible solutions.
In addition to the fact that my work contributes to ensuring equity and equality among people, I like that I’m helping people live better together and bringing a flicker of hope to the young people around me by opening doors and creating prospects for them.
My career path. I’ve always been guided by my curiosity and passion, and my desire to share knowledge and to learn about new fields and find new things to do. I started off in the financial sector, and then went on to manage continuing education programmes and a training centre for adults. But I slowly moved more towards consulting and have worked for a number of large companies on management issues, especially change management. This led me to work with the regional employment and labour directorate. I learnt about public administration and met some really motivated people working in public policy for the country. This made me want to put my professional experience to work for others by joining the regional delegation for women’s rights in Franche-Comté. For the past 13 years, I’ve been working to pass on my energy to others, especially young people, and to lift them out of the prevailing gloom. I also do what I can to help them overcome stereotypes and to give them hope by showing them what is possible. There are men and women who are ready and willing to band together and speak with their hearts. Often the obstacles are caused by mutual misunderstandings and poor timing.
A downside or obstacle ? You come across some very stubborn people. You have to be aware of that and adopt strategies to get around it. And things often move too slowly for my liking. There’s some inertia in our society, after centuries of male domination. In my field, there are too many women, because men often shy away when it comes to gender equality. But we can’t have equality without them. I’m convinced that we’ll achieve equality when both men and women take the issue on board.
I’m particularly proud that, thanks to me and my equal opportunities colleague with the regional education office, our region has gained recognition for its commitment to gender equality and to diversity in training and employment. We set up a network of equal opportunity representatives in schools and other innovative initiatives to, for example, promote equal opportunities in science and technology and to award prizes for diversity. In addition, we train equal opportunity representatives, hold academic seminars on equality and train young teachers in gender equality, and this year we ran digital workshops for schoolgirls.
I’m also proud of my ability to innovate and bounce back. You must never give up, always look far ahead, and keep believing in yourself.
