Equality, diversity and inclusion in the school's DNA

Raising awareness against gender-based and sexual violence and harassment

Centrale Nantes is strongly committed to diversity, equality and inclusion among its staff and students. In 2020, it set up an Equality and Diversity Commission, the aim of which is to enable everyone to embrace their differences and identities without fear of how they will be viewed by others, and to maintain equality and respect for all.

This committee works in 5 main areas: international, gender equality, disability, secularism and LGBTQI+.

The year 2023 will see the introduction of a support and reporting system for situations of harassment, discrimination and gender-based and sexual violence (HDVSS) accessible to staff and students, whether victims or witnesses.

The system has 3 components: support, reporting and legal proceedings. At any time, a victim or witness can contact the school's reporting unit, which will initiate proceedings. Resources both inside and outside the school are mobilised to provide appropriate support. Lastly, legal proceedings may be initiated, either by the victim or by the headteacher via a report to the public prosecutor (in accordance with article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure). This procedure is independent of that of the school.

All reports sent to the reporting unit are dealt with on an individual basis in order to hear what the victim or witness has to say and to offer appropriate support.

Awareness of the HDVSS is the subject of a compulsory one-day awareness-raising session for first-year engineering students.

Raising awareness of sexism

The Sexism Fresco is a collaborative, educational team workshop designed to unravel the mechanics of sexism and identify the dynamics that fuel the vicious circle of gender inequality.

The workshop is divided into 3 phases:

• Reflection phase: discover the concepts and statistics, and reconstruct the sexist mechanism using collective intelligence.
• Sharing phase: exchanging experiences and lessons learnt within your own organisations, past or present.
• Action levers and role-playing phase: identify areas for action in the workplace, and project yourself into concrete situations in the world of work.

According to the StOpE initiative barometer, for more than 8 out of 10 women, sexism at work is still a reality.

Centrale Nantes has democratised the sexism fresco by offering it to students and staff. The aim of the workshop was to increase understanding of the systemic issues surrounding sexism and to provide participants with food for thought so that they can take more action on the subject.

 

Play to raise awareness of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV)

Since 2022, a play has been presented to first-year engineering students.
In 2023, the students were able to attend ‘Des ponts à la place des murs’. For the first time, their presence was taken into account for the civic commitment they are required to make, which consists of 100 hours divided into 2 parts: 10 hours of awareness-raising modules to be taken at school and 90 hours of voluntary work to be carried out outside the school.

The aim of the theatrical performance is to tackle the subject of SSVs in a more forceful way and to get students more involved in the debate.
In 2023: the students were asked to position themselves in the room according to their point of view and to interact with the moderator of the session.

 

Lecture ‘Laïcité - comprendre / se comprendre’ (Secularism - understanding / being understood)

Lecture by a Professor of Legal History at the Faculty of Law and Political Science in Nantes. This presentation looked at the historical appreciation, the legal approach and the common perception of secularism.

‘Secularism is not one opinion among others, but the freedom to hold one’, a reminder from the Bureau des Cultes of the Ministry of the Interior.