ABSTRACT This article examines the possibilities of implementing race- and gender-separated organisational models within institutional participatory mechanisms in the light of the concept of discretion. Based on an investigation carried out within a participatory mechanism in a French working-class neighbourhood, the text shows how discretion allows the existence of a homogeneous public in terms of gender and race, despite the French colourblind political context marked by the valorisation of the norm of ‘social mix’. The article highlights the effects of this discreet non-mixed organisation both in terms of individual empowerment processes for the participants and in terms of the acknowledgment of this group as a legitimate audience by local institutions.