THUNDER BAY -- The old adage ‘a woman’s work is never done’ could just as well apply to the long road toward gender equity in the workforce today.
Events began Saturday to commemorate International Women’s Day on Mar. 8, simultaneously celebrating women’s career successes while striving to improve workplace access.
Thunder Bay-Superior North MP Patty Hajdu hosted a brunch at Silver Birch restaurant to seek feedback on her mandate as the Minister of the Status of Women.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has directed her ministry to improve leadership opportunities and economic outcomes for women while developing strategies that will put an end to gender-based violence.
Hajdu cited a 2015 study by hedge fund company MSCI that showed global firms where women make up 30 per cent of boards produced a 15 per cent profit edge over their competitors.
“This isn’t just good social policy. It’s good fiscal policy as well,” she said.
While Canadian women are increasingly accessing higher education in financial and legal programs as well as so-called STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), Hajdu pointed out workforce data shows women aren’t holding long careers in those fields.
She added the local economic picture presents an additional challenge, as males still dominate the traditional and well-paying extractive sectors.
“Thunder Bay’s a resource-based extraction town so some of the gender inequalities in those industries are profound and significant,” she said.
“For example in mining, only four per cent of women participate in that sector. When you look at the history of our economy, it’s likely women have had a much harder time gaining access to some of those more lucrative fields.”
Getting down to business
Professional women developed a local organization in 2000 to strive for gender equity. Sixteen years later, the Thunder Bay Women’s Business Network has transformed into a web of entrepreneurs who hold monthly events to foster small business development.
Fifty of its members filled the Coliseum Building at the C.L.E. Grounds with displays on Saturday for its ninth annual Expo.
Treasurer Lucy Belanger has seen strides in the number of small businesses local women are operating but she also sees the toll taken on business and home life due to imbalances in domestic work-sharing between men and women.
“To be honest, it’s sometimes difficult for them because they’re trying to balance that work-home life,” Belanger said.
“Becoming a woman business owner takes that much more energy, that much more time commitment and that much more support from their home, whereas a male sometimes has it a little easier because – it has been that way forever.”
Some women experience challenges accessing capital because their business ideas are attempting to appeal to markets lenders see as unproven.
Despite Erin May’s success with the Body Mind Centre she founded in 1994, banks still denied the yoga studio owner a loan when her business expanded into the former Bailey’s Sea and Ski location in 2003.
May only qualified after she recruited male business owners to co-sign her loan.
The Body Mind Centre reached capacity in its new location within a year and expanded its footprint again.
May is reaching out once more in 2016, this time taking new programs online.
“I think the most important thing is to follow your heart,” May said.
“A lot of times when we do marketing programs, they tell us we need business plan. That’s very left-brained. If we listen to our hearts and what we really want to do with our lives, we’ll line up with the things that really matter.
“For me, it doesn’t feel like I’ve ever worked a day in my life.”
