Status of Women committee  Sure. There are a couple of things in that regard. One is that if a young woman takes every advantage to participate in events with Techsploration from the time she's in grade nine right through to grade twelve, she will have met 140 different role models in various careers. That

Status of Women committee  Actually, last year I was in Newfoundland because Techsploration was celebrating its tenth anniversary in Newfoundland. A few years after Techsploration began in Nova Scotia, we assisted them with starting the program in Newfoundland, and it has been really successful. We have s

Status of Women committee  We have a really broad network. We've just partnered with Mount Saint Vincent University. They looked at Techsploration “Women in Action” videos online. They liked them so much, they approached us to do a partnership. As a result, they'll be providing fifteen videos over the nex

Status of Women committee  No, at this point it isn't. When we begin our online workshops, parents are definitely one of the targets we want to reach out to. I think that parents definitely need a lot of assistance in that area. If they themselves haven't been exposed to careers in sciences or in engineeri

Status of Women committee  Our sponsors are really involved in the program. Of the 38, it's all on varying levels. They all give us some kind of financial funding, but the really important thing is that we also receive role models from their workplace. We receive representatives from the employers to work

Status of Women committee  I think the earlier you start, the better it is, of course. I think it is really important that grade nine be the latest that you reach the young women. At grade nine they're making important course choices, such as which math or science course to take, so we really want to work

Status of Women committee  Parents are involved in our programs in a number of different ways. For example, a parent may be one of the chaperones to work with the teachers to bring the girls to our events. We've had many parents involved in the program who get very excited to hear about the opportunities t

Status of Women committee  Actually, balancing work and family is a huge barrier. There are a lot of young women who actually graduate from engineering but when they have families they leave the profession. The main reason cited is that the work environment is very unfriendly for young women with families.

Status of Women committee  There's absolutely no question that accessible day care would make a huge difference. When it comes to the trades, there's also a lot of shift work involved, so part of the problem is 24-hour day care. That would be another area that needs to be looked at.

Status of Women committee  I believe that the biggest barrier of all is the lack of role models, so I'm perhaps not answering the question the way in which you would like it to be answered, but the number one barrier to young women is the lack of role models. I think that's where government really needs to

Status of Women committee  We have three first nations community schools, and we've had more that are involved with Techsploration. The first school began with us at its inception—the Waycobah school in Cape Breton. There's an awesome difference between how things were when the school began with us and how

Status of Women committee  Okay. I'm a self-taught person who does speak very quickly. Techsploration gives young women the opportunity to enhance their public speaking, presentation, and report-writing skills. They also learn about communication, leadership, and teamwork—all skills that employers want.

Status of Women committee  Techsploration was built from an idea. It began 14 years ago, because we believed if you wanted to make a change in the number of women in science, trades, and technology, you had to reach the young women. As a result, Techsploration provides young women from diverse backgrounds

Status of Women committee  Hello. Can you hear me?

Status of Women committee  My name is Tricia Robertson. I'm executive director of the Techsploration program and I have been since its inception in 1998. I have been researching policies, procedures, and collective agreements, and have developed programs related to women in science, trades, and technology