With the end of 2019 we greet 2020 with renewed energy and enthusiasm. SWE Toronto has many exciting events planned for the upcoming year as well as plentiful opportunities to get involved in our committees as well as on our board.

2019 has been a busy and fruitful year for our affiliate. We rang in the new year with a newly formed board and in June, had our first ever election and AGM (Annual General Meeting - open to all SWE Toronto members and volunteers). By the end of 2019 we had a full 13-member board ready to serve the Toronto SWE community.

Returning this year you will see our National Engineering Month (NEM) event which will take place in March and of course our International Women in Engineering Day event (INWED) which will take place in June.

We will also continue to host the events that we do best, which include our monthly Coffee Club held last Saturday of each month at Coffee Creeds Bar on Dupont and our SWE Speaks events held monthly, typically mid-month. We will also aim to host more SWE Social events to help us have a bit more fun in 2020!

Being almost halfway through the year of my term as president I can say with confidence that SWE Toronto is better than ever. We are the most active Global Affiliate in the world and it brings me great joy to see where we are today compared to where we were when we first started.  Now we have a full 13-member board, 20+ volunteers, dozens of events under our belt, and a set of bylaws. We have received recognition from SWE headquarters in Chicago who helped us to achieve Not-fot-Profit (NFP) status February this year. We have signed a partnership with OSPE (Ontario Society of Professional Engineers). And we have been called to the table for 30 by 30 discussions by PEO who recognizes our importance and presence in the Toronto community.

I look forward to meeting more of our SWE Toronto community in the rest of the 2019-2020 active SWE Toronto year and help assemble the SWE Toronto 2020-2021 board of directors. Please feel free to get in touch with me if you have any questions about being active on the board. You can reach me at president_Toronto@swe.org
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​I wish that I had known the powerful, the embedded, intricate weaving of stereotypes into the fabric of the world of technology. It is very hard for women professionals to understand these barriers because they are so invisible and so illogical. Stereotypes affect every area of life; they provide short cuts to enable everyday life to function. Life would be impossible if we had to rationally assess every situation we confronted.
 
I have come to believe that there is no industry, especially in Canada and the United States, because of the centuries of stereotypes about the suitable roles of men and women, more designed (unintentionally) for women to fail in than technology.
 
Understand that even when organizations, and many of your male colleagues, want you to succeed, gender based stereotypes work against those efforts because they are invisible. For example, the way meetings have always been conducted are embedded with gender preference; or the humour among men that has traditionally made work life bearable can be poison to women. 
 
The most powerful stereotype, which has been honed in Canada and the United States, is that success in technology requires logic, objectivity and aggression; and these are qualities subconsciously thought to be possessed only by men. Women, regardless of whether they have a professional degree or not, according to society, do not possess these qualities. This means that there is an unconscious belief that you cannot be trusted to be logical when the really big problems occur; that your views are not objective because your tone of speech and the inflection of your words, all sound very “emotional”; and if you are aggressive, you will be labelled as “unfeminine” or worse.
 
However, when you understand that the discomfort you feel or the conflicts you experience are probably not a result of any inability but rather the barriers to inclusion that stereotypes create, you can begin to tackle those barriers: become knowledgeable about these barriers; read the books written by women who have gone before you; be engaged in women’s professional support networks; find mentors and sponsors; and commit to navigating the obstacles.
 
Your presence in technology is changing the gender order; it represents a desire for equity, even if reality is somewhat different. I often asked myself, and many professional women now ask me “why do I have to put up with this?” or “why me?” when the challenges seem overwhelming. After all this isn’t what you learned in school. 
 
When you feel like giving up, remember your presence in technology does have power, like a butterfly wing, that seems so small, even invisible; but which can affect the weather currents, that then change the agricultural growing season which then can affect the economy. A butterfly wing can change everything.

​SWE Toronto started in 2016 when a few engineering graduates got together and wanted to make a space in the city where they could speak to other women in the industry and to discuss the issues they faced in the workplace. Over this time, there have been numerous women who helped along the way and, for International Women in Engineering Day, we would like to feature them in our blog as a way of recognizing their achievements and show our appreciation for their support.
 
Interviewers: Alessandra Massaro and Evangeline Philos
Interviewees: Marilyn Spink, Valerie Davidson, Helen Wojcinski, and Barbara Sylvestre-Williams.

The following interviews are the personal opinions of the interviewees and do not reflect the opinions of their employers. 

​MS: Promote yourself and celebrate your small successes. Work hard but not so hard that you have no time to build relationships at various levels within or outside your organizations. Always keep learning!

VD: Discover engineering by exploring as many opportunities as possible.

HW: I truly believe that you have not fully joined the profession until you get your licence. It is vital for new graduates to get those four years of relevant, engineering work experience and make the effort to get their licence as soon as they’re eligible. I cannot stress the importance of this enough.
 
Another piece of advice that is related to getting your license is ensuring that you research and pursue employers who encourage and support EITs in obtaining their licence, and even better, have a formal training program.  It is a great way to assess if they value the licence. One of the goals of the PEO 30 by 30 task force, PEO’s response to an Engineers Canada initiative to raise the percentage of newly licensed engineers to 30% women by 2030, is to engage employers in creating welcoming environments for newly graduated engineers, especially women, in pursuing licensure and staying in the engineering field! 
 
Some other tips: join your PEO chapter, OSPE, or other engineering organizations; get involved in the industry; network and meet other professionals; find a mentor and a sponsor; get your license! And when it seems hard to get through all the licensing process, don’t give up! Reach out to your network to help you get there. Your Professional Engineering license is important and valuable for your engineering career!

BSW: Mentors were never obvious.  They emerged here and there.  20  years ago there were no programs or groups like SWE.  At my age, I enjoy mentoring.  Many do not realize I get many lessons and observe tremendous force coming up with the new generation.  Not just young professionals but future engineers that are connected to issues in a very specific way and able to solve problems many of older age were told to ignore, or deal with alone.

VD: Mentors were key influences in my decision to pursue graduate studies and to continue on a career path in engineering when I finished.   My early mentors were male and they understood the culture – academic and professional – in ways that I did not.   They encouraged me to explore different opportunities,  to recognize my strengths and to follow my own path.  

HW: For far too long women have been expected to solve the gender inequity problem in engineering.  This is problematic as the root of the inequity faced by women in engineering are attitudinal and behavioural in nature and engrained by societal norms.   It is also unreasonable to ask the underrepresented group to solve an issue that is not necessarily understood or acknowledged by the larger majority.

For gender equity to be realized in the profession,  men must be onboard with solving the issue and willing to be part of the solution.  I was fortunate in that I had many encouraging men throughout my career.  My main motivation to study engineering occurred in high school when my brother-in-law,  who is an engineer,  encouraged me to go into the field because he loved it and thought it was a great profession.  Later,  I had the opportunity to work at the Ministry of Transportation for supportive male engineering bosses and mentors that encouraged me to pursue and continue in my engineering career.  If it was not for these men who were supportive and progressive in their senior roles, I might not be where I am today. 

However, there were very few women in senior engineering positions at that time to act as role models.  Even today, there aren’t enough women engineers in senior roles.  We cannot expect these few senior women to mentor all the young women engineers and EITs.  We need more men in engineering taking young women under their wings to mentor and sponsor them.  We also need to modify the way that we mentor and sponsor to not only make it more inclusive, but to also more formally integrate it into the workplace and HR policies. Although it must be visibly spearheaded by senior engineering management,  HR could also be a key advisor in developing mentoring programs.
 
Early on in my career there were some senior engineers that would take junior male EITs to the golf club and later mentor them in the clubhouse.  Women didn’t really golf that much back then as decisions were being made at the 19th hole.  During one of my summer employments, the company I worked for had a golf club.  When I asked to join they told me “sorry, it’s only for men”.  These attitudes are no longer acceptable but still some of these behaviors, though subtler, remain.  It is therefore important for men to find inclusive ways to mentor junior EITs.

​MS:  Wish#1 - That the “male mad scientist” stereotype of a person who has a passion for science and math no longer exists so young women see themselves as “scientists” and pursue, without hesitation, careers in STEM. Wish #2 – That the leadership of organizations who hire engineers increase their diversity – culture, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, etc. With increased diversity, it is proven that organizations make better decisions. In engineering, there is a business case to address the needs of their technical talent. Workplaces that support parents will retain them throughout their child raising years. As we know it is women that often take the majority of the burden in child raising.

​BSW: Absolutely. It happened early in my career where I was in a hostile work environment. I felt alone, without support and surrounded by bullies. At the time I thought "if this is what engineering environment is then I rather not pursue it!". I would like to point out that throughout my undergraduate studies, I worked each summer at various industrial companies and never met with such environment. It can take years to recover and gain confidence back. I left the position and the company. I emerged alive and am successful in my career as a professional engineer. Be kind to yourself! I told myself I would never abuse my status and be a better engineer, opposite of how my career begun. I promised to excel, to teach upcoming generations and, most of all, to create safe and respectful work environment.

​BSW: Ok here it goes: I completed my graduate studies in 2 years with A average, while working full time, published before my thesis was submitted, defended my thesis 6 months pregnant and was nominated for Governor General Medal for my studies and thesis work. I had a very supportive supervisor Prof.  Mehrab Mehrvar. My latest achievement: I am very proud of being able to solve a 3x3 Rubik's cube in under 3 minutes…and now I am a TRAILBLAZER!

VD: I am very proud to be the founding Chair of the Ontario Network of Women in Engineering (ONWiE). ONWiE is a unique collaboration that includes all of the schools and faculties of engineering in Ontario. Members offer a number of outreach programs to dispel stereotypes and show young girls and their parents that there are amazing opportunities in engineering.  Since the first Go ENG Girl event in 2005, the number of applications by female students to Ontario engineering programs has tripled. I think I was a catalyst in helping ONWiE get started but it is the continued commitment of the members to collaboration and the leadership of Mary Wells (ONWiE Chair 2013 -2018) that are keys to its success. ONWiE’s achievements demonstrate the value of collective impact and I think this is a strategy that should be considered for other WiE activities.

​VD: I wish that I had a superpower to eliminate human prejudice and the implicit biases that contribute to stereotypes and societal attitudes that are incorrectly framed by gender. Unfortunately these preconceptions affect personal choices that women make at an early age (e.g. will I be popular if I do well in math? should I study engineering?). They also influence STEM workplace culture and hiring and promotion decisions. I realize that complete elimination is an ideal but we need to be persistent in challenging these biases so they do not continue to restrict the number of women who pursue STEM careers.

HW: My main objective for 30 by 30 is that the call to action on addressing this inequity is fully embraced by PEO, and by all men and women engineers. Responsibility for this issue needs to be owned by the entire engineering profession and not just a small group of women engineers. I’m hoping to engage men so that women no longer have to talk to each other about the same issues over and over again. 
 
I’ve been fighting this fight for a long time. In 1990, just two years after obtaining my Professional Engineering license I joined PEO’s Women in Engineering Advisory Committee (WEAC) because I was already dealing with these issues and I was passionate about making positive changes in the profession. Almost 30 years later, it really disheartens me when I hear stories of young women today experiencing many of the barriers that I and my female engineering colleagues faced. I feel like my generation let them down, we did not get the job done. 
 
I believe that one of the biggest barriers facing women engineers is still in the workplace. While more work needs to be done to encourage young women to enroll in engineering, I think we also need to focus on what happens to them once they graduate and how difficult it is for them to find a pathway to licensure and to stay in the profession. In today’s industry, inequity sometimes isn’t felt until after women get their license, perhaps even before that, while they are an EIT. It’s still not as welcoming a career as it can be for women and this needs to change.
 
While numbers matter, I also believe we need to focus less on the numbers and more on the attitudinal and behavioural issues preventing us from reaching the 30% goal. We need to work on getting women to the finish line of licensure, building up their engineering experience and onward to senior leadership. I’m hoping to pass the baton to the next generation of women leaders like the women in SWE Toronto to carry this issue over the finish line.

​HW: Oh yes, the very first time I walked onto a construction site, the site supervisor told me “you don’t belong here”. I had a really tough introduction to my career because I worked in such a male dominated and often times hostile work environment. There were virtually no other women, no one to look up to or to provide a safe sounding board. I would often ask myself, “why am I doing this to myself?  There must be easier ways to make a living!” However, despite wanting to throw in the towel on many occasions, I loved working in the field and seeing how infrastructure was built.  I thought it would make me a better engineer.
In fact, I ended up staying for several reasons:

1. Because my husband was super supportive of me being in the engineering field. He, too, was an engineer and always told me that I absolutely had the right to be there. He encouraged me not to let others decide when I should leave the field. “You decide if you want to quit. Don’t let these guys push you out!”
2. I had what I called a kind of a positive rebellion. The injustice of the experience really pushed me to keep going. I wasn’t going to let others determine what I could and could not do. It really bothered me at how unfair it was for women to work in such an environment. 
3. And, as I said before, I loved what I did! I loved seeing things being built and seeing Ontario’s economy prosper through infrastructure. 

I eventually left the industry years later when the crown corporation that was overseeing the design and construction of the Highway 407, and at which I was a Manager of Design, was sold. Upon completing my MBA, I followed my interest in change management and eventually started my own business; however, I’ve always kept my Professional Engineering license, even though I’m not practicing anymore, and I’ve always stayed involved in the profession. I’ve also incorporated my engineering skills and analytical approach into my management consulting practice, and into effecting societal change, such as the 30 by 30 initiative. I’m still very proud to say I’m a professional engineer.