Good afternoon, everyone. I hope you are well.
What we are hearing is very interesting. For several weeks, we have been studying the issue of non-traditional jobs for women. We have heard about a lot of things. One of them is education. Often, the image of women in non-traditional jobs is not sold well, even in the academic community. When we travel around Quebec, in the cégeps, we see that it is not being sold to our young women. We might say it is not attractive or we are selling it badly. Last week, we met with women in mining. That seemed very interesting. We wondered how it could be that we don't hear more about that.
I have two daughters, aged 21 and 22. When I talk to them about non-traditional jobs, they always have the same image, a woman in construction or mechanics and pipefitting, as if these were the only two jobs and there were no others.
I would like to ask the question for pretty much everybody. If we want there to be women in non-traditional jobs, it's a question of education. Is there a way to do it? Could the government or governments, because there are several levels of government, work together to find positive ways of attracting women into non-traditional jobs, by making them attractive? In medicine, you have to study chemistry and physics. We know that women don't find that very... Most girls have a lot of difficulty with anything non-emotional. How would you sell it? That is one of my first questions.
I would also like to ask male doctors whether they feel that people are resistant to there being women in non-traditional jobs. I put the question to either the men or the women, or both. Is there also resistance in the unions? We have heard women say that unions were not open to them entering non-traditional jobs. Those are my two main questions.
I would like to ask the CIAFT representatives whether we could see the letter. I was involved in that case and I want to know. I would very much like you to tell me about that rejection. I learned about it this morning and I would like to understand it to.