Françoise Gaspard has degrees in history, political science (from the Institute of Political Sciences in Paris) and civil law (former student at the Ecole Nationale d’Administration).
She has led a political career as an elected representative (as a mayor, a European minister, a MP at the French National Assembly, and as a regional and local councillor).
Having fulfilled both parliamentary and local government roles for twelve years, Françoise Gaspard opted to go back to academic research. A lecturer at the EHESS in Paris, which is attached to the Centre for Sociological Analysis and Practice (CNRS laboratory), her work has led her to teach and hold conferences in numerous universities in Europe and America. She has served as a technical advisor in Europe and Africa on the introduction of gender into legislation and political matters. In January 1998, she was French representative to the Commission on the Condition of Women at the UN, then expert advisor to the CEDAW (Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women) from 2001 to 2008 and vice-president of the committee in 2007 and 2008.
Her academic work focuses particularly on the history of migration, urban sociology, social movements and the history and sociology of women and gender, and women’s rights.