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"Mathematics is extremely reassuring! It's either true or false; it's very objective. And there's the beauty of mathematical objects and results. Before writing a thesis, I passed the Agrégation competitive examination which secured me a teacher position as a lecturer. I enrolled for a master's degree in probability and then specialised in dynamic systems. This field combining probability, analysis, geometry and algebra, focuses on analysing systems which evolve over time. I undertook considerable studies on Sinai billiards and Lorentz gas models, which are drawn from physics. I was also interested in random walks in random environment,
which model inhomogeneous environments. Mathematical models are often simplifications of reality. Once a model is fully understood, a more complex model can be developed to bring it closer to the complexity of life.

During my thesis, I would not allow myself to say silly things and then I realised that it was very important to say silly things because that is how ideas start. The excitement from ideas that merge together and the miracle of collaboration means that a solution suddenly emerges from all these silly things put together! When I accepted to lead the gender equality mission, I conducted a statistical analysis on careers. It is catastrophic in mathematics, notably because of, in my opinion, anti-local recruitment at the faculty level. I was amazed to discover that all disciplines had a glass ceiling. Senior lecturers are supposed to be recruited after their thesis. Requiring applicants to have completed multiple post-doctoral positions, at an age at which women may want children, is a very effective way of eliminating many female applicants, including very bright ones who have other career options."

Françoise Pène,
University Professor in Mathematics, University of Western Brittany

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