I've been part of the Defence Women's Advisory Organization since it started a long time ago.
One thing we do know about women, no matter where we serve, is that networking and how women network is quite important. In a force where you can be a minority in the group, losing that network can make you feel very isolated. I come from health services, so I've come from a fifty-fifty split throughout my career. What we end up doing is creating informal networks of professional support. That's on the support side. We've also done it—I'm going to go back to the comment about mentoring.
Women have been mentoring women for a very long time. It does not necessarily know the barrier between “I'm a public servant” and “I'm a member of the Canadian Armed Forces”. We tend to network as groups and we create networks. There are networks that support, as well as share questions like, “How did you tackle this problem?” I think one of the key things, moving forward, is to carry on looking at a gender-focused mentoring approach, where we're talking about how we confront and overcome issues in life, and asking each other's experience. That has actually been my experience in my career.
The last thing I'd like to add is that, as a member of the Canadian Armed Forces and as a woman, I have been supported by men and women in my life. As I have grown up in this organization, I have been very fortunate. I have been mentored from a very young age, before it was popular to do so. I've also carried on to having mentors who are men, as well. So I've been able to get a broad view.
I thought I'd like to share that.