Bio
Throughout my career, I have met great people whose support, encouragement, inspiration, collaborations have led me in my projects - > thanks to Jacques, Dave, Jean-Paul, Danièle, Françoise, Gérard, Michel, Geneviève, Charlène, Violette, Dominique, Julie, Rebecca, Maxime, another Maxime, Réjane, Muriel, Guillaume, Pierre, Grégory, Raul, my colleagues from the OFCE, PRESAGE and Sciences Po…
first and foremost thank you Xavier!
My scientific background
I started studying economics at the University of Poitiers. I then obtained a bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University Paris Dauphine, and then got a research diploma (D.E.A.) from the University Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne.
Thanks to a research grant, I began my PhD in 1997 under the supervision of Jacques Le Cacheux. The aim was to analyse the effects of social benefits on labour supply by combining a theoretical approach using the neo-classical framework with an empirical approach based on an evaluation of the Minimum Income (Revenu Minimum d’Insertion, RMI) in France. During my PhD, thanks to a grant from the French-American Foundation, I was a visiting scholar in the Department of Economics at the University of Berkeley under the supervision of David Card. On his advice, I used a diff and diff method to evaluate the effects of RMI on the labour supply behaviour of beneficiaries. At this stage my work did not include any explicit gender perspective, even if the issues of labour supply within couples were addressed. I defended my thesis in March 2001.
In September 2001, I was recruited in the OFCE by Jean-Paul Fitoussi on the proposal of Jacques Le Cacheux, to work on a European project led by Danièle Meulders -> the MOCHO project. The aim was to compare family policies in Europe with regard to their ability to enable women with children to pursue their career. This project has paved the way for me to take a gender perspective in my research. The many discussions I had with the philosopher Geneviève Fraisse have nourished my reflections on equality and on the thoughts of feminism: the episod of September 2023 of the Podcast Genre etc. is one of these conversations -> Faire de la recherche en féministe, in French). In April 2015, in the frame of the Alliance program, I was a visiting researcher at Columbia University in SIPA to work with Yamisne Ergas on gender equality with an international perspective and a pluridisciplinary approach.
In 2018, I obtained the accreditation to supervise research (HDR) with the support of Dominique Meurs, you can read the summary of my work here (in French) -> De Monsieur Gagnepain à Madame Gagnemiettes: la métamorphose incomplète de l’État social français. In the prolegomena of this report, I sought to understand why feminist economics has been institutionalized as a branch of the discipline when this is not the case within the other social sciences. What specificity of economics has led female researchers to put forward a feminist approach into their discipline? To answer this, I became interested in the history of economic thought and in the feminist critic of sciences. At the request of Julie Gazier, director of Presses de Sciences Po, I have gathered this analysis in a book, L’économie féministe, published in October 2020, and in Brazil in 2023.
My current research is diverse (labour market, education, family policies, history of thought …), but it is always related to inequalities, gender, discriminations -> a page of this website is dedicated to some of my projects.
My academic activities
In 2010, Françoise Milewski and I developed at Sciences Po a transversal program in gender studies, the Research and Teaching Program of the SAvoirs sur le GEnre, PRESAGE. This singular program irrigates all Sciences Po activities. It is hosted in the OFCE.
Today, I am the director of this program with the support of its executive secretary, Violette Toye, and the steering committee composed of Françoise Milewski, who also chairs the scientific council, the political scientist Réjane Sénac, the historian Elissa Maïlander, the sociologist Marta Dominguez, the political scientist Maxime Forest, the political scientist/ international relations Hélène Le Bail.
The program conducts research in gender studies at Sciences Po crossing all disciplines. It boosts the educational offer by guaranteeing the quality of the courses. To enhance the teaching followed by students during their curriculum, we deliver certifications both at the Bachelor and master levels. The Sciences Po degree is then accompanied by a certification in gender studies that validates the acquisition of solid knowledge in this field. Finally, the program fosters collaborations with Sciences Po’s partners, in particular Université Paris Cité: as such, I am a member of the steering committee of La Cité du Genre, Université Paris Cité.
In the dynamics of PRESAGE, the Presses de Sciences Po have opened a publication field dedicated to gender studies, that I co-directed with Janine Mossuz-Lavau until 2020, today with Réjane Sénac and Rebecca Rogers. We have published numerous books from various disciplinary backgrounds.
In June 2022, I was promoted to the level of Officer in the National Order of Merit by the Ministry of Research. This price rewards the collective work accomplished to promote gender studies in research and higher education.
The High Family Council
Since April 2023, I have the honor of chairing the Family Council within the HCFEA, back to my first research topics on social and family policies and for which the gender perspective is key.
The Council’s mission is to stimulate public debate and provide public authorities with forward-looking and cross-cutting expertise on issues related to the family. The Council is composed of 74 members, including 13 members representing the State and social security funds, 14 members representing the family movement, 7 members representing associations or bodies contributing to policies in favour of vulnerable families and persons with disabilities, 16 members representing insured persons and employers and 18 qualified persons.
In 2023, the Council will work on issues of purchasing power of families in times of inflation, with a specific focus on food. On this precise point, it will be necessary to adopt a more structural approach (access, quality and sustainability). The Council publishes many rich and well-documented reports that I advise you to consult on the Council’s website.