To follow up that issue about the gender gap at different levels, my background was primarily in the private sector in a standard big law firm, and that was the number one issue I saw facing that industry. Every year they would hire 15 to 20 articling students in our office, and every year there would be four or five partners, and maybe one of them would be a woman. We were bleeding talent at the mid-levels, and we're talking about people who were at the top of their class in respective law schools across Canada.
I'm not 100% sure what the reasons were. I'm sure there are hundreds you could come up with, but it seemed as though the business development opportunities were based around beer over a hockey game and it seemed as though the social networks outside of working hours were a very big deal.
Do you see other things being obstacles that are keeping women from making that partnership level? Are there things the federal government could potentially do, aside from the transparency issue, to help women take that next step in the private sector?