One of the things we're noticing when we're talking about the participation of aboriginal women is that all aboriginal women tend to find professions that end up contributing back to families and communities. For quite some time we actually haven't done, and still continue not to do, a very good job, when we're doing census information, of capturing statistics of where we're already working and where we have been working. We tend to stay in our homes, sometimes caring for children longer but also caring for the elderly, and yet that's not being taken into account as being an actual certified personal support worker. With things like midwifery, traditionally if you're doing that but you don't have a mainstream certificate, that's not being captured.
So a lot of this work has already been done. As opportunities are increasing for post-secondary, we're finding oftentimes that the interest lies in health, education, and the types of fields we are already working in.
That's not to say that we don't absolutely need specific supports for women who are looking outside of those traditional roles. We do, but when we put the emphasis in the promotion to say, “Get a job in the trades”, or, like my pen says, “Apprenticeship is hip”.... But what does that mean, and how is that actually contributing back? So we are suggesting to really look at supports for what we are already working towards.
The other point I was really trying to make on that is that despite the fact that we are performing...and aboriginal women are exceedingly successful at getting their post-secondary when that opportunity is available to them. There are a lot of barriers to that opportunity being available, but when it is, there are not always employment opportunities at the other end.
We know we're still dealing with racism. We know we're still dealing with sexism. We know we're still dealing with sometimes lack of opportunities or, I guess, “checkmark-box-able” opportunities in some locations; it might be informal work that is available in their community rather than perhaps what would be considered a job on the census.