Too many women still fall under the blows of their husbands today.
This Franco-Haitian of 1.75m with a strong character had the bitter experience of it a few years ago.
She was able to draw from her the necessary resources and the support of friends to stop this infernal spiral.
From November 25 to December 10, as part of Orange Day, an international campaign of UN-Women France for the eradication of violence against women and girls, she encourages breaking the taboo.
And is increasing awareness-raising actions with the Zonta Paris Port Royal Concorde (1), particularly among high school students.
Aware that a large majority of victims do not have the means to make themselves heard, it is through this service club, which she has chaired for three years, that this energetic senior manager in IT decides to put her experience and his free time for the benefit of their cause.
With a team of volunteers, she crisscrosses certain districts of Paris to provide assistance to homeless women, arguing that
"many women flee the marital home, and prefer to live in the street, rather than continue to suffer violence, and this same. with the children ”
.
She brings them personal hygiene and care products, little consolation, but which allows these people to keep a good appearance because some work.
"For three years, she recalls, the Zonta has granted financial and in-kind donations to various associations such as Agir pour la santé des femmes (ADSF), Aurore, Samu social, Les Captifs, Très d'Union…"
, so many structures that act on the ground against precariousness.
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Domestic violence: a site to help victims archive the traces of attacks
On the basis of the observations and testimonies collected during these raids, it alerts the public authorities to the worrying situation of homeless women.
Their voice was heard.
Thus on November 27, 2018, the deputy Patrice Anato, elected of the Republic in progress of Seine-Saint-Denis, submitted a written question to the government in full Chamber on the case of these women.
Six months later, she received a response from the government.
The entire question and answer text is published in the
Official Journal
of July 9, 2019, page 6432.
In May 2020, the Zonta Paris Port Royal Concorde took part in an investigation on behalf of the UN into violence against women, during confinement, in France.
To carry out this study, Léa N'Guessan, lawyer at the Paris bar, and Cynthia Perrod, vice-president of the club relied on the figures and official announcements on the French government website, but also those of national associations:
" During the last week of March, the police recorded a significant increase in reports of violence within the couple, + 36% in Paris and + 32% in the gendarmerie area. "
The numbers are overwhelming, she says.
"My father used to tell me when I was a child that I would always be inferior to my brothers because I was a girl"
Julienne Morisseau
To understand the springs of its action, it is necessary to question the atypical course of Julienne Morisseau.
Born in Saint-Laurent du Maroni, Julienne is the eldest and the only daughter of a family of 5 children.
His parents, originally from Haiti, fleeing poverty in their country, immigrated to French Guyana in the 1970s. His mother is a cleaner and his father works as a farm worker before becoming a pastor.
"My father told me when I was a child that I would always be inferior to my brothers because I was a girl"
, confides the young woman, who has always strived to thwart this fatherly prediction.
Thus at 18 years old, in 2002, her economic and social baccalaureate obtained with distinction, she flew to the Metropolis determined to conquer the world.
After obtaining a Master in work administration and employment management, at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and training in Business Engineering, in a business school, she began working life, in 2007, with a title of manager in engineering and business negotiation, as a corollary of digital studies.
But it doesn't stop there.
In 2017, she attended a seminar on the higher cycle of administrators at the Center for Advanced Studies of the Ministry of the Interior, which earned her an administrator diploma.
At 36, the young businesswoman excels in new information and communication technologies, a fundamentally masculine environment.
She works as a senior executive within the French group Naelan.
His professional success does not make him forget his origins.
Once her working day is over, the Guyanese woman puts on her volunteer cape and her feminist cap.
In 2014, she founded an association that gives access to free education to 200 disadvantaged Haitian children (girls and boys) each year.
To finance its philanthropic works, it devotes a good part of its own income.
Four years ago, an artist friend Jean-Bernard introduced her to Janine Ndiaye, one of the co-founders of Zonta Paris Port-Royal Concorde, and to Hélène Chayenko, the former president.
And it is quite naturally that Julienne finds in this association, whose values she espouses, the structure that she was looking for in order to be able to carry out actions towards women.
Julienne first becomes a member, then president.
“When I took over the club presidency in 2017, he was in agony.
Most of the members were too old or sick, ”she
observes.
This is confirmed by Hélène Chayenko, who resigned in 2006 for family reasons:
"There were only five members left when we had been the most important club in France,"
recalls the retired journalist.
Julienne caught up with the club with intelligence and insight, added the one who sees in her successor a person
"bright, conquering, charismatic and full of future"
.
Scholarships for young girls
Convinced that access to education for girls is the basis of women's empowerment, she deploys relentless communication around the various scholarship programs (2) - no less than six - granted by Zonta international to young girls. to encourage them to pursue studies in high technology, aeronautics and sciences, in order to access positions where women have so far been poorly represented.
She believes that many college girls have missed out on these opportunities either because they don't know about it or because they don't dare.
“They think it's not for them,” she says
.
Yet since the program's inception in 1938, Zonta has awarded no less than 1,638 Amelia Earhart scholarships (totaling over $ 10.6 million, to 1,209 young women from 73 countries).
The scholarship honors Amelia Mary Earhart, the famous American aviator who disappeared in 1937 aboard her plane.
She was the first woman to take a transatlantic flight.
Julienne Morisseau invites young girls to apply by highlighting women with exceptional backgrounds.
Like the astrophysicist Ersillia Vaudo Scarpetta:
“I was 23 years old and I had just graduated in astrophysics at the University.
This grant allowed me to deepen my research, ”
says the scientist.
She has worked for the European Space Agency for thirty years.
"I encourage all the girls to try their luck,"
advises the one who holds the position of director of the diversity office at ESA.
Julienne Morisseau cites other examples of female personalities who distinguished themselves after receiving a scholarship.
This is the case of the scientist Bérengère Dubrulle, research director at the CNRS at the CEA (Commission for Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies).
She also cites the example of astronomer Andrea Ghez, the fourth woman to receive the Nobel Prize in physics, on October 6.
“In January 2020, we awarded two Amelia Earhart scholarships endowed with an amount of 10,000 dollars to two doctoral students, including one from Madagascar.
They are preparing their thesis in the military and materials department ”, proudly declares Julienne Morisseau, who sees diversity as a real richness.
Other scholarships are available.
Just send an email to receive the application.
In 2019 we celebrated the 100 years of Zonta.
On this occasion, Julienne Morisseau organized a conference on the feminine Francophonie, at the National Assembly, where she highlighted female talents: scientists, winegrowers and activists who share a common affection for the Francophonie and its culture.
On December 4, it was in the grounds of the Fondation des Gueules cassées, hosted by Olivier Roussel, the director general of the Union of Head and Face Injury (UBTF), that she closed the centenary of the organization by bringing together a hundred guests as part of the campaign to eradicate all forms of violence against girls and women around the world.
The evening, in partnership with “ChaisElles-Women and Wines, ended with a recital by a young pianist Justine Verdier, followed by a tasting of small bites prepared by the popular Haitian chef, Carline Irantus de Saveur Creole 509. All washed down with a feminine cocktail, with wine and champagne from winegrowers on the menu.
The final touch to this awareness evening was brought by the famous caramandes de Benoit Chocolaterie, held by the Benoit sisters.
One way to focus on disciplines in which women entrepreneurs excel, while being under-represented.
(
1) Parisian member of
Zonta International
.
This service and advocacy club was on November 8, 1919, in Buffalo, New York.
Zonta International has a consultative voice with the UN Economic and Social Council.
(2) All scholarship applications should be sent to: info@zontaparisportroyalconcorde.fr