photographist

“First a stage actress and playwright, then a high school teacher and journalist, I was nearly 50 before I passed my PhD. Being a sociologist, I wove my past experiences from Eastern Europe, then Switzerland into my work. I became a feminist because I experienced difficulties at that time. In the 1960’s it was not customary for a woman to direct actors, no more in the East, than in the West. Nor was it usual for a woman to establish herself as a trade union or political leader. I often came up against the difficulty of making women’s voices be heard and allowing their demands concerning women’s rights to be taken seriously. Legislation has changed a number of things, but what takes place in reality is another story. Much remains to be done concerning gender inequality, discrimination, power relations that are still very masculine and the existing hierarchies.

Equality, at different levels, including the professional sphere, is fashionable in France at the moment. But when you look at the so-called care and domestic work, you see that women perform more than three quarters of these tasks. This is one area of resistance where we must break down the barriers so that the situation truly changes. One of the themes in my teaching aimed at developing awareness among my students concerning women/men inequalities. The European Union, where I took on a role as an expert in social sciences, was instrumental in relaying and supporting programs in favour of equality. They provided us with funding that allowed us to act. And that, in turn, gave a boost to gender studies in different disciplines. While I remain critical about the somewhat formal dimension of this work, I nevertheless believe that it is a factor of very favourable exchanges.”

Jacqueline Heinen
Emeritus Professor in sociology, University of Versailles St-Quentin-en-Yvelines

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