So today one of my supervisors cornered me during my Spanish lesson and inquired about
my "ideas" in regards to gender for the employment centre at the school. This came out of nowhere since this woman is apparently not impressed that two of us arrived with little Spanish ability...and I've had little contact with her since I arrived. (On a side note: the other non-Spanish speaking CIDA intern left Argentina yesterday). I feel this may be a reason why she's suddenly interested in gender! Anyway, she wants to meet tomorrow evening so we can talk about my "ideas" Oh yeah I really don't have any ideas off the top of my head especially since she's been pushing the teaching English agenda for awhile now....
So..anybody have any ideas on how to increase women's employability? (specifically for students) Something like that... It's not exactly for the disadvantaged since the students who come to the school can afford the tuition. My meeting is tomorrow at 5pm...any help would be greatly appreciated!
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Hi Ai,
Sorry I was in the field last week and not checking the blog much. How did your meeting go? I am not exactly sure what you are doing or what the organization is like. But, not knowing the situation much and with the impression that these are a bit more well off educated people. It might be interesting to do some self esteem workshops, or leadership for women. If they have the technical skills for employability it is sometimes how to present themselves to their employer or to gain confidence in their skills. Even in North America this is a big problem for women and a contributing factor even for the wage gap. It is not always that companies aren't willing to give equal pay but that women do not ask for more, at the risk of seeming pushy or even thinking that it is in their position to ask. Just an idea. You could also hold workshops on themes like sexual harrassment in the workplace, maybe this is not increasing their employability, but something good to know and open a dialogue about. This may not be well received depending on your org. Let me know where you are at and feel free to bounce any ideas off me. That is great that she wanted to meet and hopefully, you can take this opportunity and run with it and push for it.
On a side note, I was out with Becky Thomas today and she was asking if we had been in touch and I realized that you are also an IPMP grad. Talk soon.
Hi Tracy, the meeting didn't go that well and I didn't leave with a very good feeling. Thank you for your suggestions! Unfortunately, the school is underfunded (I bring my own toilet paper to the school)so there is no chance for any sort of funding for workshops. I am going to shift focus and work on editing a Gender Toolkit for Niagara College and needs assessment surveys with my fellow NC interns in Peru and South Africa (Sarah and Leigh). I'll be able to finally put my IPMP skills into good use. Speaking of IPMP, Becky and I went to school together last year. She's the one who informed me about the women's summit in Buenos Aires :o)
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