The women shattering the glass ceiling

In OECD countries, women are in the majority in knowledge-intensive occupations outside science; among the younger generation, they are even more highly qualified than men. One might therefore expect them to be far less visible in the world of mathematics. Think again! Though admittedly fewer in number, they are often in the front row.

Let's give research pride of place, beginning with its nec plus ultra, the Académie des sciences. Its mathematics section has twenty-seven members, three of whom are women: Alice Guionnet (ENS Lyon, Rhône), a specialist in probability; Michèle Vergne (Institut mathématique de Jussieu, IMJ, Paris), a specialist in geometry and Lie algebras; and Claire Voisin, also at the IMJ, who specializes in algebraic geometry. Voisin holds the only mathematics chair at the Collège de France to be occupied by a woman. Among her many distinctions, she received the CNRS Gold Medal in 2016.