4th episode of our series of " best-of " of summer 2016. This week, we offer you a selection of articles published in our section " A concept under the magnifying glass ", which aims to equip reflection and discussion on the equality of concepts that we are used to hearing and sometimes using without necessarily knowing their genesis, the richness of the subject and the full extent of the possibilities they offer for a quality debate on diversity.

The glass ceiling

We talk about it all the time, we all know more or less what it is about (especially when we bump into it), but do we even know when this expression "  glass ceiling" dates from? Who invented it? In what situation? And then let's discover those who described it before the letter (such as a very famous filmmaker of the 1940s) and all the variations that this metaphor has inspired to deepen the question of inequalities in access to opportunities : from the sticky floor to the mother's ceiling via the glass floor...

The Smurfette complex

What does it change to be a woman alone in a man's world? The American essayist Katha Politt borrowed the image of Smurfette from Peyo to explain it brilliantly. A lesson in pop-cultural intelligence to reflect on the question of singularity, self-definition and expression, the effects of the perception of others on their identity...

The Marie Curie Complex

When we meet great women, we are often tempted to talk about " exceptional women". But are we really doing these women a favor (who don't necessarily want to be iconized, but would perhaps only prefer to highlight their great qualities in all humanity) and above all, are we really advancing equality? Because the " exception ", in the end, is it not curiosity, rarity even, even strangeness that confirms the rule rather than defies it? Historian Julie Desjardins asks all these questions in her book Le Complexe de Madame Curie.

The Matilda effect

3% of French streets that bear the name of a woman, not a single writer who has not been programmed for the literary baccalaureate since its creation, 3.2% of female historical figures in second-year history textbooks, 4 women in the Pantheon... But where have the exemplary women gone, who deserve to be remembered for their contribution to the progress of humanity and also to be paid a little tribute? Certain.es imagine that they are rare in our minds because they are rare in life. Others, such as Robert King Merton and Margaret Rossiter, instruct the way in which the official narrative of history is written, which in this case still too often sends women to the margins. We owe them the concept of the Matthew/Matilda Effect.

Queen Bee Syndrome

Anyone who has read and/or seen The Devil Wears Prada must have thought of someone they knew: an abominable and unmanageable dragon lady, even tougher than a man... And especially with other women. Myth or reality? A bit of both, my captain! A myth cleverly maintained by those who resist the rise of women and greedily seize the first opportunity to denounce any awful counter-model that it is difficult to want to be like. But there is also an element of reality when, in order to succeed, many women feel obliged to adopt and overplay the codes of virile authority in its most archaic aspects. Which is more difficult to forgive them than their colleagues of the opposite sex. The Queen Bee syndrome opens up the debate on the complexity of the feelings that women in positions of authority inspire in others as well as in themselves.