The "pipeline problem" is a myth - it's not a pipeline problem, it's that you have to go out and find the women
Recap: Women in the World Canada 2018 Summit
WCM| September 11, 2018
WCM was fortunate to attend the 2018 Women in the World Canada Summit. We were honoured to be in the company of many incredible women and their allies.
Here are some highlights we'd like to share with you:
- It takes a whole society to support women in managing a work-life balance. Its policies, childcare centres, and in the corporate world there needs to be recognition that women can get pregnant and will return to the workforce - Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
- The predominant issues is no longer getting women into the workforce, but retaining them - we require constant discussion to not only target the entry pipeline - Justin Trudeau, Canadian Prime Minister
- In regards to men and sexual harassment in the workplace: the next steps are for guys to listen and process what women are saying - men need to be okay with the discomfort. Everyone needs to be having these conversations, including men, so they can learn what behaviour needs to be called out - Michael Ian Black, Comedian, Actor, Author
- In order to ensure that current social justice movements don't become a phase, we need to keep our feet on the neck of the monster who is waiting for the movements to pass and to reinstate previous norms - Steve McQueen, Director, Co-Screenwriter, Producer
- To increase female representation in the workforce, we need two things: intentionality/planning and simple math. We require the intent and plan of action, as well as the basic numbers of what we're trying to achieve - Carolyn Tastad, Group President North America and Executive Sponsor Gender Equality, P&G
- The "pipeline problem" is a myth - it's not a pipeline problem, it's that you have to go out and find the women - Michele Romanow, "Dragon," CBC's 'Dragon's Den' and Co-founder, Cleabanc
- The belief that the reason women aren't in more leadership roles because they lack confidence and ambition, is a myth. We need to change the definitions of ambition, confidence and leadership - these traits are informed by male bias. Women don't need "fixing" to be leaders - Carolyn Tastad
- The lack of girls and women in STEM has a lot to do with representation. We need to talk about math and science differently - it has everything to do with how we invite people. We also need design thinking in order to train our children to be thinkers - Michele Romanow & Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, President, Stubhub
We would also like to thank Christine Lagarde, Managing Director at the International Monetary Fund, for giving a shout-out to WCM's Return to Bay Street Program!
