International Women’s Day

Break the bias is the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day.  The academic world is no stranger to bias. Women still face significant barriers in their careers, such as pay equity, unconscious bias that hinders their advancement, extra workload or invisible work.

The last two years of the pandemic have made the inequalities that women face even more glaring. Some of our female colleagues have experienced particularly difficult personal situations and have needed accommodation to reconcile their work with their childcare or elderly care responsibilities.

We have made numerous representations to the Employer regarding these accommodation requests. Whenever asked, we have supported these requests and, in some cases, helped to reverse the Employer’s decision to the benefit of our members.

Of course, there is still much work to be done. As the negotiation consultations have just begun, some of your suggestions resonate strongly with respect to equity and addressing the biases that women face. We will continue to tackle these biases on behalf of our female colleagues and push for a more equitable workplace at Concordia University.