[Equality Month] Three questions to Joëlle Kivits, Vice-President for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

We met Joëlle Kivits, Vice-President of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, to find out more about the goals, highlights and new features of Equality Month 2024, which is being held throughout March at Université Paris Cité.

Can you tell us more about the Equality Month?

Equality Month is one of the key activities of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Mission’s. Its aim is to raise awareness among the entire university community regarding respect for our differences, whether we are students, members of the teaching and research staff or administrative staff, whether we are just visiting the campus or have been here for many years. Mission EDI works throughout the year to prevent all forms of violence and discrimination. Equality Month is an opportunity to take concrete action on a variety of themes: sexism, racism, validationism, LGBTphobia, verbal abuse, etc.

What’s new and what are the highlights of the fourth edition?

Each event is a special in its own right!  Of course, Equality Month has its not to be missed events: theatre forums, theatrical performances, conferences, etc. LGBTphobia will be the main topic of a theatre forum; racism will be tackled at a conference where Carole Reynaud Paligot, co-author of the comic strip “Comment devient-on raciste?”, will analyse the phenomena of racialisation; grossophobia will be tackled by a theatrical reading followed by a discussion with researchers and patients, etc.

New new types of formats are being introduced: workshops on verbal self-defence and cyber-violence awareness are being organised for students; a walking tour to discover the unknown history of the Colonies, much of which was played out in the heart of Paris. And there will be plenty of opportunities for sports events, too, with a photo exhibition entitled “Cris d’alerte” (“Warning Cries”) by skater Sarah Abitbol, raising awareness of violence against women in sport.

Finally, we were particularly concerned to extend our activities beyond the “big campuses”: Villemin will be hosting the “Cris d’alerte” exhibition, and two of the 4 verbal self-defence workshops will be held in Malakoff and at the IUT Rives de Seine. Beyond Equality Month, we will be trying to continue this work, and to be active on sites that are sometimes far away.

Find out about the full programme >

Who is involved in this year’s edition?