Women in the community had the opportunity to attend two workshops back-to-back last week organized by the Women’s Leadership Network.
A seminar for senior leaders and human resource leaders on Nov. 29 looked at the challenges women have to face during the hiring process. Participants brainstormed on ways to tackle diversity issues and how to create more opportunities for women.
“In order to implement change and diversity in organizations here in Prince Rupert it’s starting with leadership and trickling down through the rest of the staff,” said Shannon Bahm, an executive in the Women’s Leadership Network.
The next day, a two hour workshop dealt with mentoring relationships and how to network and create a supportive environment. Cheryl Kristiansen from SCWIST (Society for Women in Science and Technology) came from Vancouver to run the MakePossible workshops.
“There was a lot of great conversations that were created about asking for help and that it’s okay to ask for help, it’s okay to say no to things,” Bahm said. “Also, what are the barriers that we face here in Prince Rupert and how do we start overcoming them.”
She sees this as an opportunity for women to start building confidence and to start building each other up. “I look forward to more of this dialogue and more change to come.”