‘Je suis Léa’: French scholars living in poverty demand change

Carina Bury has a PhD in international law, teaches at two Parisian universities and is writing her second book. But despite her accomplishments, she’s struggling to pay for groceries and the upfront cost of medical exams. 

“I was at the store recently, picked up the groceries and went to the cashier and then realised I had reached the card limit. I’ve had to rely on my father to pay for basic things like groceries and medical scans,” said the German-French scholar. “And I’m not the only one. Many lecturers have ended up at [food banks] and they are meeting their own students there.”

At one point Bury, who teaches at Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne and Paris Nanterre, even sought a job at McDonald’s and an organic fruit store after she was rejected for permanent academic positions, having graduated with a PhD.

She works as a vacataire, a temporary worker in the public sector who is paid on an hourly basis. It is an arrangement that has been used to bring in professionals who teach while pursuing another career. Many aspiring professors in France take on these temporary roles as they try to establish themselves in academia.

“I’m only paid for the hours I spend teaching in front of my students. I wasn’t paid for the 120 copies I have to correct, or the hours I spend on exam surveillance. Anyone who didn’t get any sort of permanent contract is basically living under the poverty level, which is my case,” she said.

Bury earns about €40 (£30) per hour of classroom teaching and does not qualify for unemployment benefits. Along with writing a book, she is also preparing for France’s Agrégation – a national exam offering a route to a permanent university professorship. She fears tha taking on a full-time job outside academia would leave her with little time to prepare for the highly competitive exam, work on her book and also publish research.

And Bury is not alone. France has more than 150,000 hourly paid teachers, according to a government 2025 report. Although many have other jobs, the report acknowledges that gaps in data make it difficult to establish how many face financial precarity. 

The chronic job insecurity, low pay and burnout has pushed Bury to launch Je suis Léa, a movement hoping to challenge the conditions young researchers have to deal with. Léa does not refer to a specific person but a symbolic persona that captures the struggles of academics in precarious positions.

Bury was inspired by Germany’s #IchBinHanna, a social media campaign and protest movement aimed at shedding light on the lack of permanent academic positions in the country, which gained widespread support a few years ago.

Je suis Léa has 12 demands, including a parliamentary inquiry into precarious employment in academia. It’s also calling for pay to be increased to €80 per hour and more permanent positions for academics. Just one month into its launch, it has already collected hundreds of testimonies from university workers. The movement comes at a pivotal time in France, with political campaigning under way ahead of presidential elections in April. 

Bury said despite massive support for the movement, speaking up about job precarity has been challenging for many academics. Even well-intentioned professors or supervisors can make them feel as though it’s their responsibility to manage stress that comes with uncertainty. 

“We’re often told to do more yoga to manage stress or see a councillor. It implies that it’s your fault and that you’re not so resilient. Of course this is important but it’s not the core of the issue. That’s why many people don’t want to speak up. I’m not asking for the moon, I’m asking for some very basic conditions,” she said. 

seher.asaf@timeshighereducation.com