Thank you, Madam Chair.
As you said, my name is Saadia Muzaffar, and I'm the founder and president of TechGirls Canada, or TGC, which is a national not-for-profit that's in its 11th year of advancing a STEM economy where women thrive.
We conduct research and capacity-building pilots to identify better ways to not only increase women's participation in STEM-led innovation sectors but also focus on how they fare in terms of promotion and pay equity once they get their first jobs in the areas of their training and expertise.
I have had the privilege of representing Canada's commitment to supporting women's participation in STEM at the United Nations, at APEC and with Global Affairs Canada. I'm deeply grateful for this opportunity to share some of the insights from this work with this distinguished committee whose mandate is very close to my heart.
My statement today focuses on the work that TGC has been doing for the last seven years, which is the economic empowerment of Canada's immigrant women in STEM. Most Canadians are surprised to learn that immigrant women are the majority of Canada's women in the STEM workforce, at 52% and counting. As of 2021, Canada is home to 426,350 working-age immigrant women in STEM. Those numbers are increasing year over year with our immigration system's focus on attracting the best STEM talent from around the globe.
Considering this, many are then surprised to learn that, on average, immigrant women in STEM earn 55¢ to every dollar that non-immigrant men with the same qualifications earn. Despite representing the majority of women, they also encounter the worst outcomes across the board in unemployment, underemployment and job match.
Finally, and perhaps most surprisingly, immigrant women report challenges finding work in STEM sectors that have had long-standing labour shortages, such as in digital technology, clean tech, cybersecurity, health care, advanced manufacturing and technical trades. This disconnect between immigrant women who are well qualified to contribute their expertise and the industries that need it for growth and innovation creates a situation that makes little business sense. We are leaving hundreds of millions of dollars on the table by not utilizing their skills in service of Canada's global competitiveness.
TGC's research and partnerships in all 13 provinces and territories show that there is a need for support in four particular areas.
Number one is in developing specialized employment training programs that bridge newcomer women in STEM to their respective fields in Canada.
Number two is to develop partnerships for employer engagement so that these programs address industry-specific demands and skills, which will result in the right jobs and better pay for this critical talent pool.
Number three is to create sector-specific job match tools and programs so immigrant women in STEM are not asked to delete their master's and Ph.D.s off their résumés and pushed outside of STEM into survival jobs in retail, hospitality, personal support work and customer service.
Number four, and most importantly, TGC and our partner organizations are keen to implement evidence-based support programs for employment retention and career mobility that not only focus on getting them good-paying jobs but continue further to address workplace integration issues.
We believe that improving economic equity for immigrant women in STEM will improve economic outcomes for all women in STEM.
Thank you for your time, Madam Chair and committee members. I look forward to your questions.