Advocacy

The CATA WIT Forum Board Chair for the Advocacy Pillar is Mary-Ann Massad, CEO and Managing Partner, Knowsys Group Ltd.  
The CATA WIT Forum encourages anyone who has an interest in this pillar to contact Mary-Ann at mmassad@knowsysinc.com .

On January 30, 2008, CATA WIT Forum briefed Industry Minister Jim Prentice on the role that women can play to fill the talent gap and skills shortage in the ICT sector. The CATA WIT Forum presentation, lead by France Cyrenne, Accenture, also advocated a three-part action plan to help attract more young women into the technology industry.

Here is a summary of the CATA WIT briefing to Minister Prentice.

Elevator Pitch

Canada lags most OECD countries with respect to the number of science and technical degrees per capita. Canada also has a projected IT skills shortage - a shortage that threatens our competitiveness and our future economy.

Solving the gap of IT talent and skills is critical to the success of building Canada's Innovation Platform and economic growth.

One source of more IT skilled workers is immigration. But an existing and underutilized human resource is Canada's women.

Women are under-represented in the tech sector. But research shows there are few gender differences in underlying mathematical abilities. Young women do at least as well in math at school as young men. So why do fewer women than men study science and enter the IT sector?

Two documented reasons for the lack of women in technology are fewer advancement opportunities and lack of role models.

This discussion is about increasing the total numbers of high potential women in our universities, in the bio/IT/tech industries, and in leadership positions.

CATA WIT Ask

CATA Women in Technology Forum is a national community-based organization that provides connections and training to help women in the technology and biotech sectors advance in their careers and/or become entrepreneurs.

In November 2007, findings from a collaborative research initiative between CATA WIT Forum and University of Ottawa were released. This research, along with other studies, identifies two problems:

1. Negative perceptions about technology work and the uncertainty of the industry, as well as the lack of female role models inhibit female students from entering post-secondary science and mathematic programs and pursuing careers in technology.

2. Retention of women in technology careers is a problem for companies. Causes for women leaving these careers are family and life balance, and perceived or real barriers to advancement.

These issues are not new but there is also no improvement. Therefore, we suggest Industry Canada, in collaboration with organizations such as CATA WIT Forum, considers implementing the following action plan as a start to solving the problems

1. Research and communicate a series of case studies that profile successful women in technology who will serve as role models and mentors.

2. Develop a national communications strategy and campaign directed at girls and young women that addresses the negative perceptions of working in technology jobs and companies
   1. Create a benchmark report card that will provide an ongoing monitor of
   2. Key performance indicators, and
   3. Best practices of programs that are working in companies and organizations to encourage gender diversity.

Statistics

As many as 58,000 new jobs will be required in IT in 2008. But undergraduate enrolment at most Canadian universities is down about 50 per cent since 2002.
Conference Board Study 2007

In 2002, 22.8 per cent of the IT work force in Canada is female; this was down from 25.4 percent in 2000, and from 30 per cent in 2001.
Study by ICTC 1n 2002 on demographics of Canadian IT workforce

In October 2007, females comprised 25.8 per cent of the IT work force.
Labour Force Survey, Stats Canada and ICTC.

Women account for one in five engineering undergraduates. Their numbers have not kept pace with enrolment increases. Since 2000, the proportion of female engineering students has dropped by nearly two per cent.
Canadian Council of Professional Engineers

The number of women holding top executive positions in Canada's biggest publicly traded companies fell to 31 in 2007 from 37 in 2006. That compares to 507 men in similar jobs.
Rosenzweig Report on Women at the Top Levels of Corporate Canada

While women account for 46.6 per cent of the Canadian labor force, only 36.6 per cent hold management positions and a mere 3.8 per cent are at the CEO level in the S&P index of companies.
2005 Study Women Take Care, Men Take Charge by Catalyst

Nine out of 10 corporate board members in Canada are men. Almost half of Canadian boards are men-only, claiming they cannot find qualified women. The worst offenders are healthcare corporations, information technology and the telecom sectors.Women in the Lead 2006

Read previous year's advocacy platform:

2005 Advocacy 

2007 Advocacy