Canadian Women's Forum Gets $405,000 to Attract Workers

Great news for Canadian women in the IT sector.  The federal government is giving the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance’s (CATA) Women in Technology Forum project a cool $405,000 cash infusion over the next two years.  The project aims to enrich the lives of women in tech sectors and will look into attracting and retaining female IT pros. The Ontario Women’s Directorate will also be adding money to this initative and as well, the Status of Women Canada has earmarked funds for the Supporting Women’s Leadership in the Advanced Technology Sector project. The project includes a Ryerson University-led national study of technology companies about how to best attract and retain women in technology jobs.

According to CATA, the project wants to help identify and solve issues women face.  Some of these challenges include balancing family obligations with demanding work schedules, and tackle cultural issues about women working in IT.

A lot of women personalize the (socialization, hiring, and industry) issues to cope, and that results in them not coming in at all, or leaving the industry. We need companies to unite to deal with it.

The University of Ottawa is also participating: It will conduct case studies, profiling women who have started and lead technology companies.  Other topics of focus will be networking, mentorship and giving women the right skills necessary to succeed.