As a little girl I wanted to be an actress so to “live many different lives.” I did not become an actress but I did reinvent myself often in life. In high school I was good with maths and loved sciences and had a strong role model in my chemistry teacher. However, my parents were both economists and I ended up following their path. I had no difficulty in completing my master’s but I did not particularly enjoy it.

Parents/family are primary role models and more often than not the only ones. Being able to experience and learn about the myriad of options out there is an opportunity we must try to offer our children, to open their horizons and allow them to make their own choices.

I became aware of the horizontal segregation when I moved to Switzerland in 2003. But only in 2010 did I understand the reasons for it, the main one being the gender stereotypes that lead to biases, which are often unconscious. As a scientist at heart I was particularly touched by the very low presence of women in STEM careers. In a discussion with an official in Geneva where I was trying to understand the reasons for this, I was told: “Women can’t keep up with the pace in research work.”

I was particularly disheartened by the fact that the situation was seen as a ‘women issue’ with a disregard to the external factors on which women had very little influence, aka the scarcity of childcare, inflexible working hours. Worse still, with nearly no role models in view, no surprise that girls/young women cannot project themselves in such career paths.

As a mother of two daughters I was very motivated to help change that and in 2010 I co-founded a non-profit in Geneva, ‘Expanding Your Horizons’, to increase the attractiveness of both sciences and science careers for girls, by organizing hands-on career events led by mostly female scientists. Having experienced ‘live’ the extraordinary impact of role models on our youth, my engagement became stronger and in 2018 I founded MOD-ELLE, a Swiss association whose mission is to tackle gender stereotyping in career aspirations for young people.

Our first project ‘Modèles d’Avenir’ connects primary schools with inspirational, diverse female volunteers from all walks of life, who come into schools to talk to the children about their jobs and show them how what they are learning at school can lead to an interesting, exciting future. Our in-school activities feed curiosity, break down gender stereotypes and open children’s eyes to future possibilities.

Careers become brilliant only in hindsight, they start with big unknowns and are made of hard work! Dare to follow your heart!