This is an unexpected duo.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal chose Miss France Ève Gilles as an “ambassador” to encourage girls to study mathematics and launch themselves professionally in this field.
In a video published this Thursday on Miss France's Instagram account on the occasion of World Mathematics Day, Gabriel Attal insisted that he wanted to "continue to move forward for math" while increasing "the proportion of girls who make maths a “top priority”.
“Too many girls censor themselves, we must succeed in changing that,” said the head of government.
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Ève Gilles, after Gabriel Attal, also speaks in this video.
“There is a lack of parity in this matter.
The world of mathematics is the professions of the future such as artificial intelligence, engineering, statistics, astronomy, research,” said Miss France, who wishes to become a statistician and who therefore studies in the field of math.
“I noticed in my promotion at university that there were too few women (…) Too few of us choose mathematics and science, so let’s have many get involved,” he said. she pressed.
A dropout among girls in mathematics
According to a report made public last January by the Institute of Public Policies (IPP), a general dropout is observed among girls from first grade in mathematics.
According to Thomas Breda, one of the researchers who carried out this study, this phenomenon is “possibly linked to types of stereotypes about the kinds of skills that make it possible to be good at mathematics”.
“When it comes to imagining someone very intelligent, students tend to think of men,” Thomas Breda told AFP.
Also read Baccalaureate reform, stereotypes during orientation… Why girls no longer calculate science
In December, the Pisa report on the level of students showed a “sharp decline” in the level of young French people aged 15 in mathematics.
“Raising the level in mathematics is a very high priority,” Gabriel Attal insisted in his video on Thursday, who notably recalled having established “level groups” in mathematics and French from the next school year.