Equity is a major issue for scientific and medical research insofar as it concerns not only access to careers and positions of responsibility, but also the way knowledge is produced and applied in the field of health. In this perspective, the Paris Brain Institute will host, on Thursday April 2, the 2026 edition of the Gender Equity Movement (GEM) Symposium, which this year explores an often neglected angle: how gender stereotypes, including those affecting men, shape inequalities.
A symposium dedicated to equity
The Gender Equity Movement (GEM) symposium is part of an institutional approach supported by the Paris Brain Institute aimed at promoting equity, diversity and inclusion within neuroscience research. Organized by the Gender Equity Movement – a collective bringing together scientists, physicians and staff committed to improving practices and raising awareness of gender-related issues – this event brings together every two years scientists, clinicians, healthcare professionals and institutional or industry stakeholders around issues related to gender in research and medicine.
The objective of this event is multiple. It aims in particular to promote scientific studies on the subject and give the floor to those who carry them out, to analyze persistent inequalities in scientific careers and research practices, and finally to encourage the emergence of concrete solutions to make science and society more inclusive. The symposium thus constitutes a space for interdisciplinary exchange, where approaches from neuroscience, medicine, social sciences and public policy meet.
Since its creation in 2022, this initiative has helped raise awareness among the scientific community and the general public about gender biases and their consequences on knowledge production, work organization and medical care. The 2026 edition continues this ambition by offering an in-depth reflection on the construction of male roles and stereotypes and their implications for equity.
“From boys to men: a journey through social expectations related to gender”
This 2026 edition of the Gender Equity Movement Symposium examines the norms weighing on boys and men, from the playground to the halls of power: how do education or school expectations shape lasting stereotypes? Why do fatherhood and leadership remain confined within narrow models?
For men themselves, these rigid expectations can hinder their personal and professional fulfillment: pressure to conform to an ideal that does not correspond to their wishes or their personality, difficulty assuming parental or collaborative roles, or exclusion from spaces of power if they do not fit into this mold. By reinforcing these dynamics, these stereotypes perpetuate structural inequalities – not only for women, but also for men who experience their constraints.
Speakers will share recent research and innovative perspectives on the links between gender, behavior, and the organization of scientific institutions. The event will also foster exchanges between disciplines in order to better understand the complexity of the mechanisms at the origin of these patterns and these inequalities.
This interdisciplinary dialogue constitutes one of the major strengths of the symposium, making it possible to articulate fundamental research, practical applications and societal issues.
Program and topics addressed
- Education of boys and emergence of stereotyped roles:
- Lisa Fourgassie – Université de Lille, France
- Pauline Martinot – Doctolib, France
- Philippe Faure – ESPCI, France
- Paternal instinct and fathers’ brain
- Darby Saxbe – University of Southern California, USA
- Wendy Saltzman – University of California Riverside, USA
- Marian Bakermans-Kranenburg – ISPA Lisbon, Portugal & San Sebastián University, Chile
- Leadership across species:
- Melina Packer – University of Wisconsin, USA
- Cédric Sueur – Université de Strasbourg, France
- Lou Safra – ENS & Sciences Po Paris, France
- Diversity in leadership (round table)
- Stéphanie Debette – Paris Brain Institute, France
- Elisa Caberlotto – Vichy Laboratories, France
- Mathieu Arbogast – CNRS, France
The event, which will be held in English, will be accessible live online (with professional simultaneous English-French translation). Replays will be available on the GEM YouTube channel.
To attend the event at the Paris Brain Institute: https://questionnaire.institutducerveau-icm.org/gem2026