To sustain the momentum for change created by the CCWE's work, action will be required on many fronts. Such action must include monitoring, measuring and reporting on progress in the implementation of the CCWE's recommendations, as well as an ongoing media campaign to keep the issues before the public. It will be necessary to maintain the monitoring, reporting and communications functions at least until the end of the decade.
Periodic independent reporting about overall progress will provide momentum, identify remaining roadblocks and highlight successful endeavors. As was suggested at the CCWE's national conference in May 1991, progress should be assessed at a stock-taking conference. Such a conference should be held no later than 1995.
To support this work and offset the isolation felt by many women engineers, existing regional communication networks and the networks inspired by the CCWE forums and national conference should be financially and morally supported by provincial and territorial professional engineering associations and linked into a national network.
The organizations listed below should be responsible for implementing the CCWE's recommendations. The lead organizations should co-operate to collect and analyze the data and qualitative information needed to measure progress against the CCWE's goals, publish this information in summary form in their annual reports, and discuss it at least once a year at the board of directors level. Organizations in supporting roles should provide advice, information, support and forums for discussion.
THE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL SYSTEM
Lead responsibility:
- Council of Ministers of Education of Canada
- Canadian Education Association
- Canadian Teachers' Federation
Supporting role:
-
Federal-Provincial-Territorial Ministers Responsible for the Status of Women
- Canadian Guidance Counselors' Association
Industry, Science and Technology Canada
- Status of Women Canada
- Statistics Canada
- Conference Board of Canada (Education Council)
- Association of Community Colleges of Canada
- Canadian Congress on Learning Opportunities for Women
- Canadian Association of School Administrators
- Canadian School Boards Association
- Canadian Association of Deans of Education
THE UNIVERSITIES
Lead responsibility:
- Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada
- Canadian Association of University Teachers
- Canadian Federation of Engineering Students
- National Committee of Deans of Engineering and Applied Science
- Association of Community Colleges of Canada
Supporting role:
- Canadian Engineering Human Resources Board of CCPE
- Northern Telecom-NSERC Women in Engineering Chair
- Statistics Canada
- Industry, Science and Technology Canada
- Canadian Association of University Continuing Education
- Conference Board of Canada (Education Council)
- Canadian Congress on Learning Opportunities for Women
THE WORKPLACE
Lead responsibility:
- Canadian Manufacturers' Association
- Association of Consulting Engineers of Canada
- CCPE and ACEC provincial/territorial associations
- Canadian Labor Congress
Supporting role:
- Employment and Immigration Canada (via the Federal Contractors' Program and the Employment Equity Act)
- Status of Women Canada
- Provincial government departments responsible for employment equity legislation
- Canadian Council of Professional Engineers
- Canadian Labor Force Development Board
- Northern Telecom-NSERC Women in Engineering Chair
- Other employers' organizations, including Canadian Nuclear Association, Canadian Petroleum Association, Mining Association of Canada, Canadian Forestry Association, Canadian Pulp and Paper Association, Aerospace Industries Association of Canada, Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers' Association of Canada, Canadian Construction Association, The Chemical Institute of Canada, Canadian Association for Chemical Engineering, Information Technology Association of Canada, Canadian Advanced Technologies Association, Industrial Biotechnology Association of Canada, Canadian Steel Producers Association.
- Women in science and engineering associations, including the Society of Canadian Women in Science and Technology (SCWIST); Women in Science and Engineering (WISE); Women in Scholarship, Engineering, Science and Technology (WISEST); Association of Women in Engineering and Science (AWES); Canadian Association of Women in Science (CAWIS).
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION
Lead responsibility:
- Canadian Council of Professional Engineers
- Association of Consulting Engineers of Canada
- Provincial/territorial professional associations
- Academy of Engineering
- Engineering Institute of Canada
Supporting role:
- Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board of CCPE
- Canadian Engineering Human Resources Board of CCPE
- Canadian Engineering Qualifications Board of CCPE
- Canadian Federation of Engineering Students
- National Committee of Deans of Engineering and Applied Science
- Northern Telecom-NSERC Women in Engineering Chair
The goal of the CCWE has been to encourage men and women, especially in the engineering profession, eminently suited. Achieving this goal is not a simple matter, nor is it the responsibility of only one organization or group of individuals. Now that the CCWE has disbanded, it is up to all the organizations listed above to do take up the challenge.
We can change laws in a matter of months. But to change attitudes, values and behavior requires years-even generations. And it requires partnerships among governments, educational institutions, business, industry, labor, non-governmental organizations and others