Working women are the social norm today in France. However, inequalities between men and women remain stark. In such a context, this paper will consider the role of associations in women's access to the labour market. Indeed, the non-profit sector seems to be conducive to women's employment. Recent investigations, conducted by economists or sociologists, confirm this. On the one hand, 70% of associations' employees are women in France; associations provide access to employment, including for working-class women far from the labour market. On the other hand, the part of women in management positions, despite the existence of a “ceiling glass” as everywhere, is a little higher than in profit sector's organisations. Finally, even though the wage gap between men and women is still present, it is lower than in the private. Questions arise as to the nature of mechanisms at work in this sector. In particular, informal aspects of those organizations, coexistence of employees and volunteers, humanistic values they defend; are all those characteristics neutral in terms of gender? It can be assumed that these elements can introduce a "proximity public space", intermediate space between the public and private space and more easily accessible to women as public space. The question remains, however, in this way, whether associations do not become forums for relegation, contributing to confine women they employ in devalued segments of the labour market.