# *"Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité"*
"Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité" is the motto of the French Republic. And the iGEM Evry Paris-Saclay 2020 team has understood this well. In fact, France is the country of human rights, the land of asylum, of freedom; and a multi-ethnic country. France is built on ideals aimed at the integration and participation of all. That’s why, education here is free; and the university is accessible to all.
Thus, the values of the French Republic and iGEM have convinced us, from the start, that science is the common property of humanity. No matter who or where a person is from, she/ he is allowed to have a voice in synthetic biology, and in science in general. Just as iGEM is open to everyone, so is our team!
## Constitution of our team
One of the obstacles that some minorities face in institutions is when the recruitment process is selective. In contrast, our team was open to everyone. We launched the invitation on social media and on college bulletin boards. No conditions for participation were set. It was enough to be willing to take up the challenge!
Indeed, we are a team of 15 students, with 2 advisers and 3 PIs. We are 50% men and 50% women. Our team was built naturally: motivation brought us together and no positive or negative selection made to shape this perfect cast.
However, the distribution according to our skills shows us that in the Wet Lab we have more women than men, while the Dry Lab is 100% male. The Human Practices team is made up of 50% men and 50% women, our advisers are a woman and a man, our PIs are 2 women and a man.
*Distribution of male/female of our team.*
In addition to having an equal distribution of men and women, we are a multinational team. And almost all habitable continents are represented (except Oceania). That makes us a mixture of cultures; this amalgamation brings wealth, values, vision and a winning spirit.
*Here is the map of the distribution of the team members.*
*Distribution of male/female of our team.*
## Our team facing the movements for the rights of minorities
During this year of iGEM 2020, a very important social movement emerged, in May, first in the United States, then in France and worldwide: Black Lives Matter. Although this movement was initiated in 2013, it was the death of Georges Floyd that led to the global social movement. This scourge that we understand, but fortunately we do not live every day in France. Or at least, France, through civil society, works day by day for the integration and protection of all, without distinction of origin, race or religion.
However, the recent terrorist attacks in France remind us that the freedom to be, to think, freedom of expression... equality and fraternity are not understood in the same way by everyone, or across all civilizations. But, above all, the team is mobilized for the inclusion of people with diverse identities.
In this sense, our team did not wait for the #BlackLivesMatter movement to integrate people of all ethnic origins. As seen on the map, the team members were born in 10 different countries on 4 continents. Looking at our photos, you can see blonde, dark, frizzy hair; blue, green, brown and black eyes; and skin of all shades from black to white.
Science has no age, disability, gender, marital status, economic status, LGBTQ + status, race, ethnicity, religion, personal beliefs, or work experience.
iGEM brought us all together with one goal: to do science and to do our part to make the world a better place for all of us.
We are the Evry Paris-Saclay team, one of the (if not) the most colourful, multicultural and diverse teams in the iGEM 2020 competition!