As the Kelowna Capital News prepared to put out the 29th edition of Women in Business, the team was faced with the question of whether or not the concept was still relative in 2021.
To put it simply: Yes, it is.
The pandemic has exacerbated and further highlighted the slow progress Canada has made towards gender parity – women were the ones to bear the brunt of job losses when COVID-19 forced businesses to shutter doors and day cares were closed.
Women still face income disparity, general bias, timidity and stereotypes that undermine their capabilities, leading to less opportunity for promotion. From judgement over their work-life balance to questions of their physical strength, women are held to societal roles that undermine their position in the workplace.
In fact, women made up only 43 of the 538 named executive officers among Canada’s 100 largest publicly traded corporations in 2020, down from 53 in 2019.
In this edition, we interview women who are employed in typically male-dominated industries or in a position that was historically filled by a man.
These women share their stories of being underrepresented in their field and leadership roles – in the hope that their perseverance and success become the guiding light for the next generation of women in business, so they continue to break glass ceilings and meet their goals.
Women in Business shows who the movers and the shakers are in Kelowna and that there is always a space to share stories of successful women.
That is the hope at least that the Capital News team wanted to achieve – after all, I am a woman in business.
~ Jen Zielinski, Bureau Chief of BC, Interior South Division
@Jen_zeejen.zielinski@bpdigital.caLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
