Women and science : the L'Oréal's Award. A contemporary model to promote women's presence ; Femmes et science : le prix L'Oréal. Un modèle contemporain pour promouvoir la présence des femmes ; Donne e scienza : il premio L'Oréal. Un modello contemporaneo per promuovere la presenza femminile

Abstract

The starting point from which this work originated is to understand and investigate the problem of inequality, from a sociological perspective, through the gender category and specifically in science. The difference in the number of women at the highest level (and not only) of professional hierarchies in science (universities, laboratories, research centers, institutions) is a reality. Our research aims to investigate the mechanisms through which gender inequality operates in the scientific world and, to achieve this goal, we have used a case study considered particularly important and useful, that of the For Women and Science Award, an important international recognition dedicated to women who work in science. After defining the theoretical horizon which constitutes the context of the thematics of our research, we have realised a secondary analysis of data and then, we have developed and submitted the award's winners to a structured interview, integrating, in this way, the preparatory study phase with the direct voice of the protagonists. The core of the research is represented by the case study of the L'Oréal's Award, which has permitted to establish a direct dialogue with the scientists who have succeeded in science and therefore it has helped us to highlight some of the key dynamics responsible of inequality. On one hand, the Award's case study reflects how the presence of women in the scientific world is still perceived as a phenomenon to be underlined, therefore, in certain aspects, to be protected, showing that gender equality in science must not be taken for granted, but rather as an objective to be pursued with perseverance and determination. On the other hand, it stresses that scientific research has become - as the European Community has not failed to highlight and as the literature underlines - a constitutive aspect of a developed society and of its economic and political dynamics. We may wonder: why a multinational has decided to invest in an area apparently so far from its own sector? How is the ...