This week, Fedactio honours Angélique Léonard, Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Faculty of Applied Sciences of the University of Liège and chair of the "Femmes & Sciences" Committee of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. In the context of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we spoke with Ms Léonard about her work to promote gender equality and empower girls and women in applied science.

My name is Angélique Léonard. I trained as a civil engineer in chemistry and materials science at the University of Liège. After my engineering studies, I completed a doctoral thesis followed by a postdoctoral stay abroad in Bordeaux and London. Then, I obtained a standing mandate as a qualified researcher at the FNRS and in 2009, I became a lecturer on a theme related to sustainable development in industrial processes. Since then, I have risen through the various ranks of the academic career, becoming professor and finally full professor. Since 2016, I have been a member of the “Femmes & Sciences” Committee and in May 2018, I have been chosen to be the chair of the committee.

This committee had been existing in an unofficial way for about between 15 and 20 years before being officially established by a decree in 2016. The main objective of the committee is to promote equal careers for women and men, especially in the scientific and academic fields. To do this, we had to undertake various actions. Firstly, we had to highlight the figures, which means we had to obtain gender statistics on the different fields of study and careers. Secondly, we also had to define a set of good practices to be disseminated within universities and see how we can help to improve the reconciliation of private and professional life in order to encourage the presence of women in the highest positions of this type of career.

As we have seen during this day, this is an extremely complex issue since we have seen that, in the end, women are just as competent as men. Indeed, when conditions are favourable, [Editor’s note. literally “stereotypes’ falsification”] their performance is similar to that of men. However, we can see that we have been immersed in a gendered representation of trades since we were very young, and we clearly see that because of this context, girls are moving more naturally towards trades in the fields of social work, personal assistance, childhood, health (medical, paramedical) or education and it is no accident. In fact, we can clearly see that women have put in place strategies to reconcile professional and private life and in most cases, these professions allow the necessary flexibility to reconcile these two aspects. On the other hand, we also note that boys project themselves more in the technical field, in production and in professions where the notions of competitiveness and performance are predominant. We must admit that these are not skills or profiles that are generally associated with girls. Once again, this amalgam is the result of stereotypes and it is precisely these stereotypes that must be questioned and challenged.

I do not think there are any real obstacles to integration. This is primarily because they do not choose STEM. However, when we talk about integration at different career levels, if we consider a career in STEM at the industrial level, we realize that the obstacles encountered are generally related to the reconciliation of private and professional life. For example, in my promotion as a civil engineer in chemistry, we were five girls. Only one of us tried the industry experience but she had a mental breakdown after about 5 years because of the extremely high pressure she experienced in her job. Maybe she was putting too much pressure on herself. A little later, she reoriented herself towards teaching, as did my other classmates and myself. When I made the choice to stay in university, while not knowing if I would have the opportunity to pursue a career there, I also took into account the reconciliation of my private life and my professional life. This reconciliation represents a real obstacle, given that, as we have seen during this day, the education of children remains a women responsibility for the most part, although this is changing.

We actually realize that today, we have all the cards to make things move in the right direction. We can thus cite the Pact for an Excellent Education implemented by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, which contains various points aimed at introducing all these technological concepts at the core curriculum. Its objective is to ensure that girls and boys have access to the same types of curricula and learn the same subjects so that there is no difference at this level. The fact that teachers, who will interact with children, have the opportunity to receive continuous training within companies and in skills training centres, makes it possible for them to be able to adapt their teaching methods and ensure that their courses are always in line with the rapidly changing society. We can also mention the initial training of teachers since the decree was passed last week in Parliament. Everything has to be built. The teaching toolkits provide for the gender notion to be integrated in a transversal way in the training of future teachers, but it must also be operationalized in the right way so that they can deconstruct stereotypes and have this gendered approach in their curricula and in the lessons they will teach children later on.

I would say to these young women they have to dare. They are as competent as men and if they dare to pursue STEM studies, there are plenty of great careers waiting for them, so do not be afraid and make the choice of STEM if it is what you want to!

Angélique Léonard holds a master's degree in chemical engineering and a doctorate in applied sciences. Aware of environmental issues a long time ago, she sensed from her studies that the treatment of sewage sludge would be a major challenge. Author of a final thesis on an industrial unit for drying sludge from wastewater treatment plants, she continued her subject with her doctoral thesis (2003). She is the first researcher in the world to have used X-ray microtomography imaging technology to study the drying of deformable materials, including sewage sludge, but also synthetic gels and agri-food products. 

Since 2007, she has been a qualified FNRS researcher. Today, she is a full professor at the Faculty of Applied Sciences of the University of Liège, where she has headed the chemical engineering research unit since 2016. She has received several awards, including the Frédéric Swarts Award delivered by the Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium awarded to original scientific research in the chemical industry. She has co-authored more than 120 articles in international journals and more than 120 conference proceedings.

In May 2018, Mrs Léonard was chosen to be the chair of the “Femmes & Sciences” Committee created in 2016 by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. The committee supports the empowerment of women in academic and scientific institutions. The council provides advice and recommendations on gender equality and discusses actions to be taken in this regard.

Mrs Léonard's work is perfectly in line with the actions implemented by Fedactio to give women a voice. We salute her career and all she has done for women in science. Finally, Fedactio supports the mission of the committee she represents to promote gender equality in applied sciences.

Within the framework of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science and in line with its campaign of putting women in the spotlight, Fedactio is considering the under-representation of women in STEM and highlights inspiring measures to remedy this situation.

In this context, Fedactio took part to the meeting “Regards croisés sur les carrières au féminin dans les STIM” organized by the “Femmes & Sciences” committee held on February 11 in Brussels. Angélique Léonard, Chair of the committee and Professor at the University of Liège introduced the topic before giving the floor to various stakeholders among which:

· Marie-Martine Schyns, Minister of Education in the Federation Wallonia-Brussels;

· Dominique Lafontaine, Professor of Educational Sciences at the University of Liège;

· Roberta Pattono, Member of the European Commission’s Directorate General of the Research and Innovation Department;

· Isabelle Régner, Professor and researcher at the Laboratory of Cognitive Psychology at the University of Aix-Marseille;

· Christel Opdebeeck, Policy Officer at the Flemish Ministry of Education;

as well as various representatives of field associations (Hypatia, Interface3, Elles bougent, etc.).

This meeting made it possible to raise the issue of the under-representation of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). In fact, today, the percentage of women in sciences is only at 34% in Europe and only 20% of people engaged in engineering are women. Although this number has increased since the early 1990s, women remain a minority in these environments, which stay very masculine.

How to explain this under-representation of women in STEM fields?

Contrary to the misconceptions pretending that this gap is due to the burden of family constraints, women's difficulties in building a professional network or even lower skills than men, the real causes are quite different. From childhood, in the school environment, little girls are confronted with an under-representation of women in most mathematics textbooks, among others, which hinders the process of identification with these trades. Moreover, the lack of a female role model in scientific careers only accentuates this difficulty of identification. There is also evidence that little girls, both at home and at school, experience positive discrimination, that is to say the practice of giving more attention to girls than boys because they are assumed to have fewer skills. As we grow older, this lack of interest in STEM only increases due to the weight of the stereotypes that shape our society. Who has never heard that women are good at literature and men at math? As Mrs Régner explained, tests have shown that the anchoring of these stereotypes in our memories is such that they lead to women's underperformance in these areas, which, ironically, only reinforces them. Finally, another discrimination, the wage gap, although declining, still remains at 17%. A "glass ceiling" that goes hand in hand with barriers to professional advancement to high responsibility positions.

Attracting young girls into STEM sectors: consequences and challenges

Beyond being a major societal issue, the consequences of this disparity are many. Dominique Lafontaine explains, for example, that most girls go into so-called socially useful professional sectors such as education, health or the human and social sciences, while boys opt for the exact sciences, engineering or information and communication technologies (ICT). The gendered disproportion in educational and career choices leads to a lack of diversity in STEM, which is felt even at the highest positions, where women are a tiny minority. Thus, decisions are still made by men, for men. Furthermore, women must take part in the digital revolution facing our society, otherwise they will struggle to find jobs, the majority of which will require skills in this area in the future.

How can we make a difference?

At the European level, Horizon 2020, the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever, will aim to better integrate women in research and innovation in order to improve the quality and relevance of scientific publications. To do so, the European Union works in collaboration with Member States, research organizations and the European Commission. As Mrs Pattono explained, since 2011 the European Union has awarded the European Prize for women innovators every year with the aim of promoting the place of active women in research and innovation.

At the Belgian level, Mrs Schyns highlighted the provisions relating to the multidisciplinary and polytechnical nature of the core curriculum provided for in the Pact of Excellence, which was created in 2015. Thus, girls and boys will receive a common and non-gendered training that is supposed to eliminate disparities. In Flanders, the Flemish STEM Action Plan 2012-2020, presented by Mrs Opdebeeck at the meeting, increased the number of secondary school students wishing to move towards STEM courses through the implementation of a ten-point programme to upgrade these courses.

Beyond the political sphere, there are many organizations working in the field to raise awareness among young girls to the development of their skills in STEM careers and to encourage vocations. Isabelle Deflandre, Director of the non-profit association "Elles bougent" and Simon Moreau, "Genre-et-TIC" Project Manager of the non-profit association “Interface3”, had the opportunity to present concrete actions implemented by their respective organizations, including information on the professions and the promotion of STEM sectors within the framework of fairs and events, or a system of sponsors allowing young girls to identify themselves with female role models who have succeeded in these sectors.

Our commitment

Fedactio has been working for many years in favour of gender equality, in particular through its "Women & Society" platform. Through our "Education" and "Entrepreneurs" platforms, we encourage young people to undertake studies and provide them with our logistical support and experience. It was therefore important for Fedactio to raise awareness among its audience of STEM issues and related problems by participating in this event. As a citizen movement, we also want to support existing initiatives or propose new ones in order to fight against stereotypes and gender discrimination. As to whether this will happen in the near or distant future, we are counting on your support.

The  secretary-general of EPN, opened the event by thanking the audience for  their interest and participation and mentioned 4 areas that EPN is  active on; to contribute to the professionals` vocational and career  development processes, to provide opportunities and platforms for  professionals to come together with their colleagues, thus to increase  networking and friendship possibilities, to contribute to the personal  and social empowerment of professionals and lastly to raise awareness  among professionals on issues like active citizenship, democratic  participation and civic organization.

He said that they organized various programs, events and projects in order to realize these objectives. He continued: “Professionals are actually the brains of their society with their level of education, knowledge and the capacity for innovation and creativity which are vital in today`s European knowledge-based societies. Thus, they need to actively participate in the social, economic, cultural and political life and be happy together with the people`s happiness and be sad as well with the grievances.”

He explained the main objective of this panel with the following words: “On the one hand, Europe has been going through a very serious economic crisis and is to face a wide shortage of work force in the near future while on the other hand, it hosts millions of multicultural talents who are quite young and dynamic, and are equipped with at least two cultures and languages. With this panel discussion, we want to stress on that these people represent a very important potential for the European economic and social future. We are now organizing it with the participation of mainly Turkish-backgrounded people, yet there will be the second series of this panel with the participation of people from all corners in Belgium. As a third step, we plan to undertake a similar event in the European Parliament in order to put this crucial theme on the European agenda.”

Dr Adem Kumcu began his speech by emphasizing the outcome that this panel would deliver. Having said that the profile of the participants of this evening perfectly reflect the process that has been achieved after 50 years of immigration history, he warned that this achievement shouldn’t be seen as sufficient. He continued: “The quality that is not known is not the quality in fact. You must work hard to be known and recognized, and the best possible place to do this is surely Brussels. Europe, too, should know you better as multicultural talents. There is a clear shift towards intangible assets than tangible ones in today`s world economy and it is important to highlight the contributions that those different perspective-holders can produce during this transformation process.” Kumcu underlined that multiculturalism was a significant asset and those who have this background could play an important role at their institutions and companies thanks to different perspectives and ideas that they come up with for the success of their institutions. He added that this was already supported by scientific datas.

Kumcu continued his speech as follows: “The migrant-origin people have taken serious steps in entrepreneurship and business sector in Europe. Yet, the same achievement haven`t been reached as far as professional life is concerned. Although there are reasons to blame migrants themselves for this failure, the exclusive and discriminatory regulations and policies that both governments and companies are pursuing are playing an important role in this picture. Statistically, if you look at the percentage of entrepreneurs who have been registered to the Brussels chamber of commerce last year you will see that the half of them are Turkish-origin entrepreneurs. However, if you look at the governing body of this institution you cannot see any Turks there. This is an extremely important point. As far as there aren`t people from Turkish community or other communities in the governance of such institutions we cannot talk about a healthy and sustainable economic and social development. If you look at the USA, you will see that the economy is largely dependent on the contributions from migrant communities. Here is the biggest difference between Europe and the USA. While USA sees these multicultural talents as an opportunity for its economic and social life, Europe sees them rather as a problem.”

After Mr Kumcu finished his speech, Mr Emir Kir, the minister of Brussels-region and French-community, took the floor. He thanked to EPN for inviting him to the program and giving this unique opportunity to address to such a distinguished audience. Having mentioned about the immigration process of Turkish people to Belgium and Europe as an introductory statements, he said that the first generation had to bear very difficult life conditions and had a very low level of literacy. “The fact that they didn’t know the language and the culture of the hosting country worsened their situation. Even though there have been significant improvements on these issues together with the second and third generations, we see that immigration is still an ongoing process and the notion of first generation is still alive”, the minister continued. In this context, he insisted that the integration policies that don`t take into account the heterogenic structure of migrant communities encompassing several generations would certainly fail.

Mr Kir continued to say that one of the biggest obstacles against integration efforts and success concerning the migrant communities is the problem of illiteracy. Referring to the research results that he himself let it conducted, he spoke like this: “Our people who are still coming here in Belgium through marriage or other reasons can also be deemed as first generation as they don`t know the language and the culture of hosting countries. At this point, education is quite important. I believe that we can come over these challenges only through insisting on education and that`s why we have to send our kids to the kinder-gardens from early years both for language and socialization reasons. According to the statistics, a child who has followed pre-elementary school begins the primary school with 3000 words while that who hasn’t done starts with 400 words and it becomes so difficult to follow up this gap later on. If we want to be more present in professional life we need to handle this issue of education from very beginning and be so sensitive as families.”

The minister stated that migrants had often been subjected to discrimination in our societies and even there are some political parties publicly supporting and promoting it. “In Belgium, a new law has recently been passed making marriages with third-country nationals much more difficult. We need to tackle with these, too. We need to be very active in societal life, and I believe that civil society organizations are the best solutions for these problems. NGOs like European Professional Network in this respect is quite important for me. I was also pleased to hear that your organization is not only serving to Turkish people but all professionals living in Belgium and is trying to build bridges among different cultures as one of the objectives. This is really worth appreciating.”

Well-known architect and the founder and the president of Vizzion-Europe, Mr Sefik Birkiye came to the chair to do his speech after Mr Kir. Mr Birkiye gave invaluable advices to the young professionals by telling his own life stories with successes as well as faults. He began his speech by describing his own world view that largely parallels with the one of renowned Czech thinker named Kafka. He continued as follows: “What is important in the professional career is surely to be able to leave long-lasting pieces of work in this temporary world. For me, there is no one infinite truth. Look at the things that we advocate 10 years ago! We probably don`t approve most of them anymore. So, it is important not to engage yourself in one reality but to approach everything through critical eyes. One day I was interviewed by someone who asked me what is behind my success story and I replied him saying `the right decisions I took`. He questioned further by saying well, what is the key to taking right decisions and I replied by saying `experience`. He insisted to learn more and further asked what is behind my experiences and I replied by saying `the wrong decisions I took`. Thus, taking wrong decisions is not something bad as they teach you the realities of life and make you more prepared for the future challenges.”

Mr Birkiye stated that what is distinguishing in his architectural works is basically the assertion of local culture and architectural motives and to combine them successfully with modernity. He said he was quite unhappy that we are going towards global homogeneous architectural structures where local elements have almost no place: “Today, locality and local motives are highly neglected in the name of sustainable economic growth and green environments. Lots of glass-covered buildings are being made accordingly, but I claim that these will not be sustainable. After 50 years we will say, ok this is out of fashion and let`s find something else. In fact, if you succeed to combine modern designs with local culture and elements you may have a real sustainable architectural culture and can build up various distinct residential places and cities that people love to see.”

The last speaker of the evening was Ms. Fatma Pehlivan who particularly mentioned about the significant contributions that Turkish entrepreneurs add to the European economy by providing some statistics: “Today, there are almost 140.000 Turkish entrepreneurs in Europe and they provide an employment for about 600.000 people. In Germany for example, the added-value of Turkish people to the German economy is around 40 billion euros. These contributions in Europe is so huge that I claim that if these people don`t exist in Europe now, Europe cannot survive economically and go bankrupt. We are expected to be in conscious of this potential and act with this power in mind. Besides, we have to come together with civil society organizations to make our voices better heard.”

In the Q&A session, Mr Birkiye emphasized on `enrichment through contact with other cultures` in response to one question. He reminded that Ottoman state had become culturally richer with the other cultures that it contacted with. Thus, he insisted that engaging with other cultures never means to forget your own culture. It does nothing but to improve yourself and help you gain a broader perspective. In response to another question, Mr Kumcu stated that the biggest problem with the migrants was the problem of none-institutionalization.

The panel ended with giving special gifts to the panelists and taking photos later followed by a reception.

The 20th breakfast talk of EPN was a highly useful and informative event that shared real issues and experiences on cybersecurity in Turkey as well as other countries, according to the attendee feedbacks. Computer Engineer and Cybersecurity Expert Huzeyfe Önal gave two-hour long presentation informative on a personal and business level. According to the expert, information is the most valuable and desired thing in cyber world with all countries and companies aiming for collecting more info about more people. It may be for commercial, political or social goals, Önal added. That’s exactly why cybersecurity is a necessary consideration for individuals and families as well as businesses and governments.

Önal further noted that the USA, China and Israel are the most powerful countries in cyber world, while India, the UK, China, Germany, USA and Korea are the countries that completed their national cybersecurity strategy. Elaborating on the methods and techniques being used, he said that cyber-hacking experts are often using social engineering techniques to gain the trust of their targets. Even the most important institutions fall for this, he added. As for cybersecurity tips, users should always be suspicious of unknown links or requests sent through email or text message and set secure passwords. With such and more measures, hopefully our world will grow to provide a safer digital environment for everyone.

Bilgic began his speech by saying that he was both surprised and pleased by the large number of young listeners who were present. The representative then gave advice about the professional life and shared his personal experiences with the audience. Furthermore, Bilgic underlined the importance of experience for both job seekers and entrepreneurs.

According to the representative young people should manage the power of thought and for this purpose they need to have access to sources of knowledge. He stated that, Fedactio, by making available those sources of knowledge accomplished an important mission to broaden the horizon of young people. Bilgic reported that he and the institution he represents support young people at all times and as a token of his sincerity he gave his number to all the attendees.

The program ended with the announcement of the next Breakfast Lecture in April.

EPN aims to contribute to the professional and social development of Belgian businessmen. They meet every last Sunday of the month around a breakfast table.

The special guest of this month’s breakfast, Ismail Cingöz, talked about Turkish non-governmental organizations on the eve of their 50th anniversary in Belgium.

120 people were present at this event. Cingöz mentioned that non-governmental associations should most importantly help the population, not burden it, and that Fedactio would support all organizations that work in this perspective.