Meet Andréa Dih Kahn, ESSEC Alumni's new representative at Grandes Écoles au Féminin
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Andréa Dih Kahn (MBA 22) has just been appointed ESSEC Alumni's representative at Grandes Écoles au Féminin (GEF), the inter-school network that has been working for gender equality in the workplace since 2002. Interview.
What is Grandes Écoles au Féminin?
Founded in 2002, Grandes Écoles au Féminin (GEF) aims to promote gender equality in the workplace. The network raises awareness, exerts influence and takes action to break through glass ceilings. It brings together the alumni associations of ten schools: CentraleSupélec, INSP, École nationale des ponts et chaussées, ESCP, ESSEC, HEC Paris, INSEAD, Mines Paris - PSL, Polytechnique and Sciences Po, representing nearly 400,000 graduates. ESSEC Alumni is one of its founding members. Alongside the ten founding members, other alumni associations have since joined the network, which now numbers 19. All of them have signed the GEF Gender Balance Charter, committing to improve the visibility, representation and participation of women in professional life.
You are ESSEC Alumni's representative in this network. What will your role involve?
My term of office is three years and renewable. My role is to represent ESSEC Alumni within the network and to sit on its board of directors, which brings together one representative from each founding association. It is an entirely voluntary commitment, and one that requires genuine availability. In a sense, I am the link between GEF and ESSEC's women alumni: I put forward ideas for the events organised by the network and promote them within our community. GEF regularly hosts talks by leading executives: we have, for example, welcomed Arthur Mensch, co-founder and CEO of Mistral AI.
Why did you choose to get involved?
Women's rights are a cause particularly close to my heart, and there is still a great deal to be done, especially on equal pay. In my day-to-day work, I run a consultancy: I support companies through their transformation by helping them examine their impact. Advancing gender balance in the workplace is, in the end, already part of what my work is about. I work with associations and strive to build ecosystems in which women can develop their leadership. After graduating from ESSEC in 2022, I immediately got involved in the Digital & Technology Club: I am convinced of the power of networks.
How do you view progress on gender equality in the workplace?
Things are moving forward, but slowly. The EU Pay Transparency Directive should, I hope, shed light on pay inequalities. Women are still at a disadvantage, and the gaps widen with motherhood: with the same career path, they still have to prove their competence. Some sectors also remain very far from parity: I am thinking of tech, where women are still rare on executive committees. There is still a lot of work to do!
ESSEC Alumni takes action
As a founding member of the GEF network, ESSEC Alumni has long been committed to gender parity: career workshops, EWA Boost' mentoring, signing the Grandes Écoles au Féminin Gender Balance Charter… Every year, ESSEC Alumni devotes time to parity by organising a range of events. In May 2026, the Maison des ESSEC hosted a Life Long Learning Careers event on the theme ‘Careers under algorithms… will the future of work be fair?’.
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