A voir. Janine niépce, a look at women and work

A voir / Exhibition

Janine niépce, a look at women and work,

Cité de l’Économie, Paris, until January 5, 2025.

Niched at the center of the dark-wooden Hall Defrasse of the Citeco opulent building located in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, the exhibition showcases photographs by Janine Niépce, one of the first photographers to shed light on the daily lives of women in the home, doing unsalaried work that was not recognized by society, but which nevertheless created value. Niépce photographed the integration of these women into society as they left the home, as well as signs of female emancipation, such as young women’s access to scientific subjects, new fashions, young people sitting at cafés, women smoking... In her work, Niépce witnesses the changing role of women from the 50s to the

90s, offering a glimpse into their daily lives, highlighting their essential contribution to society, their struggles for freedom from motherhood and for equality, and finally their evolution within the professional world.

It is no surprise that, out of the 61 exhibited images, only 3 represent women in a construction-related environment. All dating interestingly from 1982, these images showcase three women engineers. Looking closer, Niépce seems to capture different portrayals of women facial expressions in this male-dominated field, each of which could reflect broader cultural stereotypes and gender dynamics of the time: A woman excessively-smiling in front of a group of men on a building site at La Defense: A women shouting

orders to men on a construction site of Gaz de France in the banlieue of Paris; A woman standing alone, working on an electric board.
In the first two cases, the “excessive” nature of their smiling/shouting might hint at an overcompensation for the gender bias in the field. The third image, where the woman is simply doing her job without any overt display of emotion or interaction, is perhaps the most neutral and least stereotyped. She is depicted as focused on her work, which suggests a subtle shift toward showcasing women professionals as competent, rather than being defined by their gender or how they interact with their male colleagues.