A woman's conquest of the male bastion of inspection: The case of Lilyane Forestier (1964-1991)

The purpose of this study is to bring to light Lilyane Forestier's conquest of a male bastion from the 1960s onward: first at the Inspection Jeunesse et Sports (French Inspectorate for Youth and Sports) in 1964, followed by the school inspectorate responsible for sport and physical education in 1976. A PE teacher from the city of Paris from a working-class background, Lilyane Forestier was not, on the face of it, a likely candidate for her future career and achievements. Yet by forging her own path and seizing key opportunities while also developing specific ``gender strategies,'' Forestier was able to climb the ladder and, in doing so, to promote a conception of sport and physical education which, though perceived at times as going against the grain, contributed in some way to furthering a differentialist vision of individuals. Having conquered much of the male bastion of school inspection and inspectorates, Forestier was able to achieve a degree of freedom that she saw as a significant level of autonomy. However, this apparent autonomy also represented a kind of power that ultimately served to exercise a form of domination, particularly in terms of gender hierarchy. A key figure of French school inspection who retired in 1991, she never joined the Inspection Generale (General Inspectorate), a body from which Yvonne Surrel-the first woman to be appointed to the body in 1961-stepped down in 1977, the year of her retirement.