OREANDA-NEWS. Alstom has joined forces with the "Elles bougent" association in an initiative to promote engineering jobs for high school girls and female students at the "Elles bougent pour l'industrie en Rh?ne-Alpes" forum, which is aimed at encouraging women to start a career in industry in the Rh?ne-Alpes region of France.

This event, which will take place in Grenoble on 26 March, will bring together 200 high school girls and students from the Rh?ne-Alpes region with engineers and technicians working for companies in the industrial and scientific sectors (transport, aeronautics, energy, digital etc.). 

During the forum, students will be able to meet four female engineers from the Alstom Transport site in Villeurbanne, all of whom are sponsors of the "Elles bougent" association, to discuss job opportunities in the railway industry and careers in engineering. Claire Riffard, one of the sponsors, who is a project manager at Alstom Transport Villeurbanne, will also talk about her own career during a round table discussion on the transport sector.

Alstom, which recognises diversity and believes it is a source of strength and wealth for the future, has been a partner of the "Elles bougent" association since 2008 and now has 87 sponsors in the Transport sector. Since 2007 the company has been taking measures, which have also been set out in an agreement, to encourage diversity amongst its staff in terms of gender, nationality, social backgrounds, education etc.

"This partnership with "Elles bougent" is proof of Alstom's desire to boost the role of women in technical positions. By helping female students discover exciting professions and job career opportunities within our company, we aim to increase the number of women applying for positions at Alstom and, more generally, within the entire industrial and engineering sector," said Bouchra Harkat, Human Resources Manager at Alstom Transport Villeurbanne and the "Elles bougent" representative for the site. 

Set up in 2005, the objective of the "Elles bougent" association is to encourage women to take up engineering and technician positions in sectors where there is generally a lack of female talent.