United Nations CSW Side Event

CCWESTT and CAGIS are hosting a United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW67) side event This event is virtual and open to the public. 

Event: Gender equity in Science, Technology, Trades, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM): Barriers and evidence-based solutions

Date: Friday, March 17, 2023

Time: 

12:30 pm – 2:00 pm NT

12:00 pm – 1:30 pm AT

11:00 am – 12:30 pm ET

10:00 am – 11:30 am CT

9:00 am – 10:30 am MT

8:00am  – 9:30 am PT

Place: Zoom. Simultaneous live interpretation to French will be available.

Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_5IcqcqdJQv2Z1AS5EBCFig 

Background

Women remain under-represented in STEM education and occupations in Canada (Dionne-Simard, Galarneau, LaRochelle-Côté, 2016; Frank, 2019; Wall, 2019) and around the world (Encinas-Martin, 2020; UNESCO, 2020).   This underrepresentation is detrimental to women’s economic empowerment because STEM fields include some of the fastest-growing and highest-paying occupations (Wall, 2019).  Additionally, diversity can improve innovation and performance (e.g. Gomez & Bernet, 2019).

Girls, women, and gender diverse people continue to face barriers in their STEM interests, education, and careers.  These barriers are related to ongoing societal bias, expressed numerous ways including differential evaluation of work (e.g. assignments, applications), differential access to opportunities (e.g. mentorship, promotion), sexual harassment in the workplace, and more.  These factors can be compounded by intersectional identity factors such as race, disability status, sexuality, and more.

However, there are evidence-based approaches that can support girls’, women’s and gender diverse people’s interests, education, and career trajectories in STEM.  These include approaches that can facilitate ongoing interest in STEM among girls to funnel the pipeline, in addition to approaches that support women in the workplace for retention and career advancement.  

Speakers

Larissa Vingilis-Jaremko, PhD (speaker and moderator)

Founder and President, Canadian Association for Girls in Science (CAGIS)

President, Board of Directors, Canadian Coalition of Women in Engineering, Science, Trades, and Technology (CCWESTT)

Jeanette Southwood, FCAE, FEC, LL.D. (honoris causa), P.Eng.

Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Strategic Partnerships

Engineers Canada

Diya Kalia

Student and Youth Advocate

CAGIS Teen Ambassador

Eden Hennessy, PhD

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Data Specialist

Office of the Associate Vice President, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Wilfrid Laurier University