32

How can we explain the persistence of professional inequalities between women and men despite all the measures and systems put in place in organizations? In this article, we draw on the theories of social representations (SR), and more specifically that of their structuring by distinguishing the irremovable central core elements from the more flexible peripheral elements. We explain how attempts to change gender stereotypes can prove futile and suggest adopting a more comprehensive approach integrating all the components of SRs, the relevance of which we highlight through the results of a study carried out in a multinational engineering company. Four methods of data collection and analysis were used: the associative network method proposed by De Rosa (1995, 2003), the substitution technique proposed by Guimelli and Deschamps (2000), the test of context independence proposed by Lo Monaco and Guimelli (2008) and finally Vergès's prototypical analysis (1992). The main contribution of our research lies in the construction of a new tool for the prevention of gender inequalities, enabling the creation of tailor-made practices based on the analysis of the content and structure of SRs.