“Economic security is the foundation of women’s empowerment, and by funding projects that improve women’s long-term economic stability, the government is advancing gender equality in Canada.”
That was how the minister responsible for the Status of Women, Maryam Monsef, introduced a $10 million initiative in Edmonton on Friday. Three Alberta projects, spearheaded by Elevate Aviation, the Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association, and the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA), were announced.
Each of them will use different means to create programs that provide jobs and opportunities for women. Elevate Aviation will lead a national project that aims to improve women’s financial security through access to careers in the aviation industry in Canada.
The Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association will focus on economic barriers faced by immigrant women who are fleeing domestic violence. APEGA will lead a project to increase women’s participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
“All of the projects we are funding will fit under two themes,” the minister told me. “The first is building partnerships to address systemic barriers that limit women’s economic security. These include accessibility of childcare, the gender wage gap and pay inequity. We’ll be introducing pay equity legislation in the House of Commons this fall.”
“The second theme is increasing private sector leadership and investments in women,” Monsef said. “This too has the goal of providing more economic security to more women.”
APEGA will collaborate on the project with other organizations that support diversity. It will work closely with engineering and geoscience employers.
“We want to ensure that women currently working in the professions, and those entering them in the future, don’t face unintentional systemic barriers,” said Alissa Boyle, who will be the project coordinator. “We want all members to be valued, welcomed, and included in the work force.”
This kind of program might be a great help to someone like Callie Lissinna, a mechanical engineering student at the University of Alberta.
“I’m part of the group that deals with data that is collected from the University’s research satellite which was launched last year,” she told me. “It’s exciting for me to participate in this work, and, at the same time, have the chance to share it with younger students through our outreach program. My goal is to someday have a chance to lead a project like this and to see younger students who are following me have the same kind of opportunity.”
The retirement of Canada’s baby boomer work force is already underway. Those jobs, and many more which will be part of the new economy, will have to be filled by someone. This project announced on Friday has the goal of making sure that at least some of those jobs are filled by women.