ABSTRACT
In 1925, a bright young female engineer named Marie-Louise Paris founded an engineering school for women, the Women’s Polytechnic School (École Polytechnique Feminine). Herself a graduate from the electro-technical institute in Grenoble, this ambitious woman was concerned with the need to provide women with formal scientific and technical training so that they could gain access to professional engineering. She also wanted to help them advance their careers. She achieved her ambition. In 1938, the Commission for the Title of Engineer included the Women’s Polytechnic School on the list of institutions that could grant the title of engineer to their graduates. Since the end of the Second World War, all sorts of highly responsible jobs have been offered to the schools graduates, a fact that underlines the impact of this woman and her ideas.
