In light of the recent outbreaks of sexist and racist posters, emails and messages sent over various social media, a lot of attention has been focused on the female student population on campus. This extra attention has only been adding to that already received by most of the outnumbered female engineering students on a day to day basis. In hopes of clearing the air and finally initiating some informed discussions on the topic, an open forum will be held on Monday, March 28 from 5:30-8:30pm in RCH 112 open for anyone to attend.
The purpose of this forum is not to focus solely on the recent outbreak, but rather to begin the process of acknowledging the difficulties often faced by engineering students, both male and female, and hopefully start to reach a mutual understanding. Throughout the organization process for this forum, the word ‘feminism’ was tossed around a lot, and it often rendered a very harsh four letter word-like reaction from most of those involved. It was quickly realized that we’re attempting to walk a very fine line that exists between true feminism and extremism. It’s very difficult to identify the empowerment of women as feminism without references to extreme bra-burning protests fuelled by rage and illogical thinking that in the end typically only degrades men and empowers no one coming to mind. We want to make it exceptionally clear that in no way is this what we’re aiming for. Feminism should not be the new ‘F’-word, but rather an opportunity to empower women and men and eventually reach a sense of equality between both men and women, particularly in a field as unbalanced gender-wise as engineering.
The event will consist of opening remarks from Mary Wells from Women in Engineering and keynote addresses from several speakers including faculty members and Scott Rankin, the current Engineering Society president. There will also be open discussion groups focused on shedding some light on some of the inequality issues faced by any subgroup of engineering students. There will also be time fo attendees be they staff, undergraduate or graduate students to share some of their experiences from either school or co-op placements. They can be positive or negative experiences, and both male and female students are encouraged to speak. By doing this we hope to finally shed some light on real difficulties that are currently being faced, and finally remove the ‘it’s not happening here, it’s not happening to me’ stigma. The main focus of this entire session is awareness, which can only be reached through open and frank discussion. If you are at all interested in speaking, or have any questions regarding the forum please email Cailin Hillier at cehillie@engmail.uwaterloo.ca.
The session is meant to be informal and open for anyone to attend. Staff, undergraduates, graduates, whomever may come as they please and are not required to stay for the entire session but are encouraged to stay for as long as they can and share what they’d like. Dinner will also be provided so there’s no need to go hungry.
Outside of this session, we want to emphasize that no one should have to struggle through any type of vicious discriminatory attack or difficulty alone. If you have been the target of one of these attacks we encourage you to contact Police Services at 519-888-4911, or ext. 22222 on campus landlines. Counselling Services is also open during the week for open appointments if you simply need someone to talk to. When in doubt, even offering to help someone or asking them if they’re alright can make the biggest difference. Hopefully, from this string of despicable acts we can emerge a much more united and equal community – mark your calendars for March 28!
Leave a Reply