still work to reach the mix of jobs

Dad works in industry, mom in personal services. The distribution of trades remains deeply gendered in France. This segregation is also observed in professional training for adults, according to the latest AFPA assessment.

Each year, AFPA forms just over 150,000 unemployed or retraining in the building, industry or tertiary sector.

Among the trainees, this year, Déborah Bulteau is one of the few women to have opted for a so-called male job, that is to say mainly exercised by men. She chose to be an electrician for installation and maintenance of automated systems, as a specialized worker. In her training session, there are only 2 in a group of 17 people and she was the only woman to exercise a technical profession in the industrial SME which recently welcomed her in internship.

At 45, Déborah Bulteau claims to have always been attracted to manual and technical areas. In her life before, she was a film projectionist in roaming, driver of super heavyweights, with, between the two, a passage in the army for 5 years. For his career, Déborah has just received the special prize for the Jury of the Trophies of Trades for them from AFPA, which distinguishes women who shake up codes and prejudices.

Eight out of ten employees have a non-mixing profession, according to data from the Ministry of Labor. Knowing that a profession is considered mixed when it welcomes between 40% and 60% of each genres.

This segregation is found in the choice of certifications. 84% of women in training are moving towards tertiary trades, mainly in administrative, assistance to people or cleanliness, mostly female. There are only 10% to opt for the building and 6% for the industry, according to Isabelle Pautrat, project manager mixed at AFPA.

Some women, she says, do not allow themselves to go to so-called male trades, due to a priori, stereotypes, or because they are not supported by their family environment, while in some cases, these trades are better remunerated, less precarious and allow to work full time.

Men must also fight gender stereotypes in the so -called female trades. AFPA is also thinking of launching trophies to highlight men who are oriented in training in which they are currently in the minority. For example, medico-social secretary or family life assistant. The project is in gestation.