Creativity, risk-taking and the ability to decide are also the responsibility of women<

Ordinary sexism does not stop at the corporate gate. On the contrary. In a corporate setting, it takes other forms, sometimes more banal or more pernicious. To reflect this reality, Usbek & Rica has chosen to give women a voice, initially focusing on those who hold positions of high responsibility.

They are CEO, HRD, innovation director, strategy director. They hold positions of great responsibility in communication, public affairs, insurance, transport or banking. They are in their forties, fifties, or more. And they all have in common to have suffered, by accessing still largely male spheres, a form of ordinary sexism.

A necessarily disturbing experience, which they now choose to share by taking up the pen. Without feeling sorry for themselves. Not in the spirit of revenge. Rather to inspire present and future generations. To remind you that in business, when you're a woman, you have to fight twice as hard – and sometimes against yourself! – when facing headwinds. And finally, to contribute, through the strength and sincerity of their testimonies, to engage both men and women on the path to equality.

After Bénédicte Tilloy (Schoolab), Frédérique Delcroix (SNCF), Alexia Lefeuvre (Novotel), Claude Nahon (Iddri, ex-EDF), Anne de Bagneux (Transdev), Françoise Bresson (Nestlé Waters), Paula Forteza (Ecology democracy solidarity) , Carole Thomas (Immobilière 3F) and Charlotte Girard-Fabre (consultant and international ice hockey referee), it is around Sabrina Sedoud, "chief innovation officer" of an international private bank, to testify.

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As far back as I can remember, I remember very well telling myself, as a child, that being born a woman was obviously not a gift. It was enough to observe a minimum of the daily life of the women around me, the mothers of my friends who were nevertheless well-to-do, the women in these advertisements, so docile and so perfect, to realize the obvious: I was born in the wrong camp. From this observation, I tried to slip discreetly into the other camp, that of the boys, that of freedom.

I was very sporty, at the same level as the most gifted boys in football and basketball in the playground. So I was quickly respected and accepted as a member of this band, thinking I had the same privileges. Looking back, I realize that it is thanks to these moments spent with them during all these years, thanks to this balance of power that I had to tame, that I never felt fear, weakness, inferior to them until today. We can clearly see the challenge that is played out from nursery school: to highlight collaboration between the genres rather than confrontation.

During my studies in finance in business school, I didn't really witness scenes of trashy sexism. I had obviously noticed that my female teachers were less represented or listened to than their male counterparts. At the time, I didn't have the keys to understanding the full meaning of these scenes, which seemed very ordinary to me and consistent with the norms of the society in which I lived.