How can we encourage women to pursue scientific careers? In recent years, a number of mentoring or awareness campaigns have been put in place to encourage French high school students to study maths, physics or engineering sciences, while they remain underrepresented in these fields. One of the last large-scale initiatives is the Filles et Maths program, launched in 2025, including work on gender bias, the implementation of “role models” or timetables featuring flexible hours.

The program was nonetheless met with criticism: while women remain under-represented in some disciplines, they also remain a minority in the highest positions across the board in the academic world, from mathematics to social sciences.

In France, gender inequalities are therefore not limited to access to scientific studies: they cut across all university careers and make many women leave French Higher Education and Research before securing tenure. This “drain” is explained by several factors among which motherhood holds an important place. A survey in Denmark illustrates that unlike men, one in three women abandon their scientific career after the birth of their first child.

The survey I have been conducting among doctoral students and social scientists highlights the difficulties faced by women who became mothers before becoming permanent employees. Since the 1980s, recruitment requirements have become tougher with candidates needing to have written a good PhD paper, regularly have their work published, participate in scientific events and get involved in the life of research labs. Much of this work falls under hope labour, that is, unpaid work done in the hope of future employment.

In this context, what could be called the myth of the “total researcher” takes shape. This is based on the double penalty of being a productive scientist (without necessarily receiving any financial reward) and embodying the ideal of a career woman, devoted companion, and dedicated mother all rolled into one.

However, this ideal of the “total researcher” clashes with the actual conditions of scientific work and motherhood.

Paying the motherhood penalty in........

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