Status of Women committee  I'd say that in our entrepreneurship program, most of the women are from diverse backgrounds. A lot of them are international, coming from Africa—Nigeria and places like that—so we hope they'll integrate into our society and represent us well. We also have some aboriginal progr

Status of Women committee  I will echo the previous comments. I think it's a worthwhile thing to do, and it's a social responsibility for all of society to make sure that happens.

Status of Women committee  What happens in universities is that a lot goes on at the lower levels, department by department, discipline by discipline. The Canada research chairs has been a good program to encourage a different way of appointing professors, in particular in new fields, emerging fields, and

Status of Women committee  —that in order to get down into the trenches, you need leadership.

Status of Women committee  Yes.

Status of Women committee  I'm going to talk about aerospace in particular because that's my field. The chair I had was supported by Pratt & Whitney Canada, which is in the aerospace field. I'll give you some numbers where it has improved. Pratt & Whitney started a women's leadership initiative in

Status of Women committee  The University of Ottawa has the highest percentage of women professors in engineering, which is about 20%.

Status of Women committee  But in biomedical, as I mentioned, it's fifty-fifty, and in computer science, by some oddity, it also fifty-fifty, which is quite rare.

Status of Women committee  I don't think it's necessary. There are mentors of all kinds. What we recommend to our workshop participants is to have a board of directors, in terms of mentors, to have many different kinds of mentors. A lot of the women don't want to have only women mentors, because they know

Status of Women committee  I think the comply or explain program is good as a start but if nothing happens within a couple of years I think we have to go to stronger measures. I think that's what Minister Duncan has done with the universities. You now have the freedom to create something. People are ingeni

Status of Women committee  It's done all the time. We are constantly running camps and weekend events and all sorts of stuff. Some attitudes by some people in the school systems tend to steer women away. Most women I meet tell me a guidance counsellor told them at some point that physics was not for them.

Status of Women committee  Thank you. I have to say that I agree with the first speaker on many points. I'm honoured to have been invited to appear before this committee to be a witness on the economic security of women in Canada. Thank you for the invitation. I would particularly like to thank the gentle