Women in Non-Traditional Careers

There is an ever-growing need for younger people, including women, in trades. There is a widening gap in the trades industry, especially in Canada. As of 2013, less than 25% of skilled labourers in trades are under the age of 25, and the number continues to decline. Further to that, according to Statistics Canada, less than 5% of the workers in skilled trades are women. Trades jobs are plentiful in North America and the pay is generous. So, what is it that’s keeping women out of the trades?

Fear of workplace harassment

Many women fear that working with an all-male staff will put them at risk for workplace harassment. This fear is what keeps many women out of skilled trades.

Fear of what others will think of them working a “man’s” job / Women in trades stigma

When people think of trades workers, they might have preconceived ideas of big, burly men with hard hats and steel-toed boots. Many women feel they would not belong in this type of workplace, and may worry about how others may view them (“that’s not very ladylike,” “she must be a lesbian if she works a trade job,” and other such closed-minded views).

They don’t think they will be physically strong enough

Many trades positions require extreme physical strength and fitness, which women can absolutely achieve and maintain. It may take work, but it is possible. However, there are many other trades position that simply require good physical health, and it is worth the research to find out which trade would be appropriate for you if this is a factor you are worried about.

Why are women needed in trades?

The Conference Board of Canada projects that there will be approximately one million people needed in skilled trades by the year 2020. That is a huge number which cannot be filled by men alone. Women are encouraged to close the labour gap sooner than later, as the average age of skilled trades workers is 55 years and skilled, experienced people will be needed desperately within the next ten years.

THINKING ABOUT A CAREER IN TRADES?

Don’t be apprehensive just because you are female! Workplace culture is shifting significantly, as is how women are viewed in the workplace. Gender and societal “norms” are bending and changing to allow women the freedom to choose whatever career path they wish.

Women all over the world can build successful careers in non-traditional roles and there are many supports available to do so. Each province in Canada supports women in trades by offering their own program (for example, British Columbia offers a Women in Trades program through the Industry Training Authority, Alberta offers a program called Women Building Futures, etc). If you don’t live in Canada, contact your local government to ask what programs they have in place for women wanting to enter a trade. You may be surprised by what you find!

By Jennifer Andrews

Human Trafficking in your Hometown

“That doesn’t happen here.” This is the usual response when I bring up the ever-present issue of human trafficking in Canada. “That’s only in other, more underdeveloped countries.” My friends and family say naively. It is astonishing that there is such a lack of knowledge regarding the trafficking of women and girls (and I mean girls: the average age for trafficking victims is 13 years and is getting younger) that is prevalent in “first world” countries. I suppose it is an issue that is not easy to talk about, and therefore not talked about. Canadian citizens continue to remain in the dark about something so heinous and cruel yet it has become one of the biggest legal issues in the country.

Unlike the preconceived notions of many of those around me, female trafficking victims in Canada aren’t just relocated into Canada from other countries. Many victims are Canadians who come from marginalized groups such as Aboriginals, young girls, immigrants, minorities, and abuse survivors and have lived in the country all their lives.

I was discussing the issue with a friend recently who was in disbelief that this could happen in her own backyard. She asked questions such as, “how does this happen?” “Why does our government let this happen?” and “How can we help?” All very good questions which require addressing:

How does the trafficking of women happen in Canada?

Often, trafficking victims are lured by traffickers who use deception to trap them with promises of better living conditions, a career, or are simply abducted. The trafficker could be an organized crime ring/gang, pimp or even a friend or family member. Many female victims have a history of sexual abuse and domestic violence. The victims may be lured from public places such as bus or train stations, shops and in the street however the internet is becoming the biggest medium for luring victims in.

Traffickers use many techniques to be able to continue to exploit and traffic women. Many times they threaten their lives and the lives of their loved ones. They will also isolate them from their loved ones and use techniques such as torture, rape, starvation and confinement to keep them conditioned.

Women and girls from other countries are falsely promised a job in a peaceful country or a whirlwind romance and then forced into trafficking.

Why does our government let this happen?

It is not an issue of the government allowing trafficking to happen. Trafficking is a very underground, lucrative business that is extremely difficult to trace. Victims can be hidden behind businesses such as escort services and massage parlors. They may also be working in residential brothels which are very hard to find without a proactive investigation.

There are currently many initiatives taking place in Canada to combat human trafficking. This is what Public Safety Canada has to say about their efforts:

“Canada was among the first countries to ratify the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children. Our efforts are guided by this Trafficking Protocol and seek to prevent trafficking from occurring, protect victims of human trafficking, bring its perpetrators to justice and build partnerships domestically and internationally. To effectively combat this issue will require the involvement not only of the federal government, but of provincial and territorial governments as well. And to be successful, governments must also work closely with law enforcement, civil society and others.

While many initiatives are underway, both at home and abroad, the time has come to consolidate all of the activities into one comprehensive plan with an unwavering pledge to action. The Government of Canada's National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking proposes strategies that will better support organizations providing assistance to victims and helps to protect foreign nationals, including young female immigrants who arrive in Canada alone, from being subjected to illegitimate or unsafe work.

The National Action Plan builds on our current responses and commitment to work together with our partners to prevent and combat this disturbing crime. It leverages and builds on Canada's international and domestic experience to date and provides aggressive new initiatives in order to address human trafficking in all its forms.”

There are many other not-for-profit organizations that are contributing to the halt of human trafficking such as the Canadian Women’s Foundation and many others.

How can we help?

·         Spread the word. Educate your friends and family on the issue, they may not even know that it is happening right in their own city.

·         Ask your MLA and/or MP what they are doing about human trafficking.

·         Make a donation or get active with an organization that is involved with combating human trafficking.

·         Write an article for your local newspaper or online blog.

·         Contact the local authorities and/or a women’s crisis line if you suspect it’s happening in your community.

It is time for Canadians (and residents of other “first world’ countries, for that matter) to open their eyes to this hideous crime. The longer we are blind, the longer traffickers profit.

Sources

http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/pubs/ht-tp/htta-tpem-eng.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking_in_Canada

http://www.canadianwomen.org/trafficking

By Jennifer Andrews

Love You for You, Despite what the Internet Says

If you spend any amount of time on the internet, you’ve probably heard of Pinterest. If not, I’ll give
you the run down: Pinterest is an online scrapbooking website wherein users are able to “pin” or post pictures and links to their favourite things. I spend far too much time on the site, making me what they call a “pinaholic.” As a pinaholic, I’ve naturally seen every category on the site. I enjoy browsing all of the items in each category, except for one: Health and Fitness. Allow me to elaborate.

It was my first night as a registered user on Pinterest. As a newcomer to the site, I took some time to
look around the site and become familiar with it. When I came across the Health and Fitness category, I was excited as I am very much into natural health remedies, yoga and keeping myself healthy. It took one click of the mouse to change my mood that fateful evening. The first “pin” I came across had a picture of a woman’s thighs with the caption “Get that inner thigh gap!” Unimpressed, I continued scrolling. The next pin: “Change your natural body shape with these 5 easy moves!” and the next: “3 moves to lose the muffin top.” The trend continued throughout the posts and with every passing pin, I felt worse about myself.

For the next few passing weeks, I became obsessed with my body. I started thinking about all of the
things I needed to change – my muffin top, the fact that my thighs rubbed together, my “apple” body
shape. Preceding my Pinterest experience, I had self-esteem and self-image issues. It has taken years
for me to love myself for who I am, for every nook and cranny, for every imperfection. I had taken many steps and progressed by leaps and bounds when it came to improving the way I viewed myself, and then I ran into one of the biggest obstacles in quite some time – the health and fitness section of Pinterest.

How silly it seems now, how trivial, how ridiculous that I allowed a website to impact how I feel about myself. At the same time I am frustrated that a section of a website that is meant to promote health and well-being can actually be in itself quite destructive. My experience with this category only opened my eyes to other issues with the site that have the potential to negatively impact female users. While browsing the Women’s Fashion category, I did not have to look far to find posts with captions such as: “Dress yourself skinny!” and “How to pick the right bathing suit for your body” (this one included a picture of different sizes of women, the larger the woman, the more cover was suggested).

Being that Pinterest is such a widely used site, I believe it is very important for women and girls who use it to be cautious and think about what they are seeing when they both browse and post on Pinterest (and all social networking and various websites, I should add). It is crucial for us to remember the following:
1. Not everything in health and wellness is truly relevant to improving your well-being
2. Not everything we see on Pinterest or any website is true and always question what you read
3. You are beautiful just the way you are

Whilst browsing the internet, you will find things that upset you. You will find things that make you
question your self-worth, your self-esteem and how you see yourself. So where do you go from here?
If you have Pinterest, post things that encourage positive thinking and that will be beneficial for your
female followers to see. If you use any other websites (including social networking sites), use them to
empower yourself and the women around you. Don’t put up with body shaming, gender shaming or any other kind of negative messaging – it is in our hands to change it, and we have the power!

Jennifer Andrews

Don't be that [Insert Gender]

This week in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, a radical men’s rights group called Men’s Rights Edmonton started a campaign entitled “Don’t be that Girl.” The campaign sprouted as a parody of the “Don’t be that Guy” message that was created to bring attention to the fact that sex without consent is rape.

See one of the campaign posters here:

http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/topstories/2013/07/09/li-poster.jpg

With this twist on the well-known original campaign, Men’s Rights Edmonton intended to shine a spotlight on women who report false rape/sexual assault allegations, highlighting that lying about sexual assault is a crime. I must speak to how greatly this organization has perverted the original message. The campaign has ground up the crucial message that non-consensual sex is rape and spit it out, turning it into a blame-game. It is an act of victim shaming and it is absolutely possible that this campaign will have a negative impact on the victims of sexual assault. I have no doubt that it will prevent many victims from coming forward and reporting this hideous crime.

In addition, according to Sean Armstrong of the Serious Crimes branch of the Edmonton Police Service, false accusations are not common: “I was a sexual assault detective for 4½ years and in that time I only dealt with one [false accusation], and I dealt with numerous files,” he states, “so they are very, very rare.”

Men’s Rights Edmonton writes on their website:

“Men’s Rights Edmonton believes the original “Don’t be that guy” campaign is hate speech. It specifically targets a gender and all members of that gender as perpetrators of rape. Sexual violations, including rape, can be committed by anyone. While a majority of reported sexual assaults are committed by men, associating or claiming all men are potential rapists is analogous to claiming all minorities will commit theft.”

I agree that their organization has a valid point in saying that not all perpetrators of rape are men. It is true that women have committed such acts as well as their male counterparts. However, I do not believe that spreading the message that non-consensual sex is rape is hate speech. I also find it difficult to believe that the original campaign targeted all men as potential rapists. The title of the original, “Don’t be that Guy” was targeted towards males as just as Men’s Rights Edmonton stated, the majority of reported sexual assaults are committed by men. It has been studied, however, that the majority of rapes are committed by men, but a small percentage of men who admit to repeated rapes.

At the end of the day, no, not all men are rapists, women can commit these heinous crimes and also falsely report them (albeit on an extremely rare basis), and yes, this is a crime. We are all aware of the illegality of falsely reporting a crime.  So, will someone please tell me what the point of this campaign is, aside from Men’s Rights Edmonton throwing an anti-feminist temper tantrum?

If you would like to find out more information on Men’s Rights Edmonton, you can find it here:

http://www.mensrightsedmonton.com/

Jennifer Andrews

The Saboteur

In today’s society, there is a great struggle for equality between the sexes. Feminists face challenges from every angle; at home, within their circles of friends, with their partners and in the media. But there is one unexpected threat - opposition or setback from within their own gender.

It is a large misconception that men and men alone perpetuate gender bias, sexism and promote rape culture (rape culture: A concept which links rape and sexual violence to the culture of a society, and in which prevalent attitudes and practices normalize, excuse, tolerate, or even condone rape).  It is becoming apparent that women are playing a part in it as well.

As women, we grow up in a society which dictates what we are to wear, how to act, and how to think. From this conditioning, many of us are quick to judge others of the same sex if they do not conform to the “rules” that our largely misogynistic society has set in place. Many of us are guilty of contributing to a sexist, misogynistic and prejudiced way of thinking. Ask yourself if you have ever done any of the following:

·         Judged a woman/girl on appearance alone

·         Called a woman/girl a “slut”

·         Made an assumption about a woman’s sex life or sexual orientation based on her clothing

If you answered “yes” to any of the above, don’t feel bad. Many women have learned this behavior from friends and family, even their own mothers. I admit I am guilty of it myself, and it has taken much effort to realize the damage I cause to the fight for gender equality when I think or speak this way. When we allow ourselves to follow these imaginary rules and fall into the stereotypes, we are telling society, this is okay. Women should be treated as objects, assessed and criticized. We confirm the notion that a woman is a “certain way” and deserves a particular type of treatment due to her appearance, which inevitably contributes to society’s toleration and normalization of rape. We help rape culture continue to grow.

What can you do?

Think

It seems simple. Think before you speak. Think about the thoughts that enter your mind before they even get there – are they judgmental? Stop them in their tracks. We don’t have the right to make assumptions about anyone without knowing them. Remember that part of feminism is the freedom for women to choose who they want to be, what they want to wear and how they want to act without fear of persecution.

Speak Up!

Don’t be afraid to spread the word. If you witness this kind of stereotyping and prejudice, say something!

Get Active!

Contribute to Delta Women. Start your own blog. Tweet something, make pamphlets, educate – anything!

If we all do our part, no matter how difficult it may be, we will be successful. Only when we present a united front will we achieve true gender equality.

By Jennifer Andrews