reflecting on an important year for gender equality.

As the year is coming to a close, we reflect on our accomplishments and ponder what comes next. One thing that struck me this year is how important and relevant the promotion of gender equality still is. At Randstad Canada, we celebrated our Women Transforming the Workplace program’s 10th year anniversary this year. With that celebration came a renewed motivation for what’s still left to do. Because there’s still a long way to go. 

The national research we conducted this year revealed that, despite the fact that women's issues are definitely more heard and seen, women still don’t have confidence that they will be treated fairly in their workplaces. That was painfully obvious during the pandemic, which revealed worrying disparities. The majority (63 percent) of women surveyed, felt the pace of change is slow, and despite heightened societal awareness, they still aren't being offered the same opportunities as men.

Although this appears to be a grim outlook, the “new normal’’ is offering some promise for women. Business norms have shifted, and more employers are seeing the need for change and innovation. Work environments are steadily becoming more flexible and processes are becoming more transparent. Together, let’s continue to make it everyone’s responsibility to drive change and to build more inclusive workplaces that will empower women and allow them to thrive. More than ever, women are a force to be reckoned with in this new world of work!

To everyone who participated or contributed to Women Transforming the Workplace this year, I want to extend a heartfelt thanks to you. It's because of your voices that we're able to achieve what we do. To kick out the year in style, we created a video highlighting how far we've come thanks to barrier-breaking women like you. Check it out below!

Happy holidays! #ForwardTogether

Marie-Noelle Morency