Featured Image Description: Michelle smiles at the camera in a professional headshot, in front of a solid blue background. They are wearing a brown blazer and round glasses.
International Women’s Day is a day to celebrate and support the leadership and success of all women.
Author: Russell Pollard (he/him)
For all women to be supported, leadership and approaches to establishing inclusion needs to be intersectional. This shaped the theme of WSP Canada’s acknowledgements of International Women’s Day 2024 which was centered on improving inclusion and equity for racialized women and Trans and Gender Non-conforming professionals in the industry.
Women of WSP (WoW) is the Employee Resource Group (ERG) of WSP dedicated to improving how women experience the workplace, employment and construction industry. Together, they build community for women working at WSP and educate colleagues to support inclusion and allyship.
“WoW’s mission is centered on creating a safe space for all women to find community, share knowledge and bolster belonging in a historically male dominated industry.”
Chunpreet Sahota, M.Eng., P.Eng., PMP, Structural Engineer, Buildings
Co-Chair, Women of WSP
WSP Canada’s committee of WoW is formed by employees across the country who share their time and leadership to support positive change. It is important to recognize with gratitude the time, effort and care committee members put into planning and implementing initiatives, on top of their daily work demands.
- Co Chairs: Chunpreet Sahota and Megan Atkinson
- Programming: Carly Portch and Hannah Little
- Programming Sub-Committee: Émilie Julian, Valentina Luengas, Claire Hobson, Linda Mazzoni, Craig Skrynyk and Yasmine Salem
- Community: Heather Kwiatkowski
- Communications: Christie Lucas
- Treasurer: Gladys Lutao
- Membership: Rachel Davies
- Secretary: Natalie Irwin
- Executive Sponsor: Olivier Joyal
Over one thousand colleagues came together for a presentation “Toward Inclusive Feminism: Embracing Intersectionality in Engineering”.
As a national company with offices across the country, WSP employees attended either individually or in “watch parties” in the common spaces of their respective locations. Learning about diversity and inclusion is a meaningful means of engaging staff with each other, while supporting underrepresented staff to feel seen and see leaders’ and colleagues’ commitment in action.
Michelle Liu (they/them) developed the presentation, leveraging their professional experience and personal voice to bring the facts and figures to life. Michelle is an Ottawa-based, Queer, racialized, and non-binary engineer (P.Eng), soon-to-be lawyer, speaker, consultant, and researcher. Michelle earned their Honours BASc and MASc in civil engineering—specializing in structural and pavement engineering—from the University of Waterloo and worked in design and construction management for various consulting engineering firms. Michelle is also a featured speaker for Pride Talks (www.pridetalks.ca), an industry initiative to support inclusion for 2SLGTBQIA+ (Queer) professionals in the consulting and construction sector,
During their presentation, Michelle presented an overview of feminism’s history in Canada, followed by concerns and achievements related to gender equity within the engineering profession. Michelle then defined intersectionality, highlighting that the achievements of feminism did not benefit all women. They outlined how racialized women and Trans and Gender Non-confirming professionals have historically not been considered by equity-establishing initiatives or organizations.
Until recently many such initiatives considered only “men” and “women”, while also mis-using the terms “gender” and “sex”. Michelle offered guidance and expertise on this, acknowledging how EDI initiatives have become more aware of intersectionality, though few have adopted intersectional approaches to the work.
“Michelle brings a brilliant ‘intersectionality’ of warm, inviting approachability and expansive, clearly communicated knowledge. I absolutely recommend their presentations.”
Monica, P.Eng., Senior Project Manager
“Michelle is an engaging presenter who really talks to their audience and clearly knows so much about the history and current, local context of intersectionality, on top of having a relevant and courageous lived experience to share. What an inspiration to all.”
Attendee
Michelle highlighted the need for engineers to apply an intersectional feminist lens in their engineering work and industry culture.
Engineers, architects and a great deal of other regulated professions are mandated to protect the public’s interest. Michelle encourages more intention by the profession for serving this obligation – starting with industry culture.
In engineering this requires supporting genuine allyship from men who make up a large majority (~87% in Canada) of the profession. Often men are reluctant to attend women-focused events, concerned they may not be welcomed or be intruding. On the flip side, women often feel they are talking in echo chambers with them selves with the “people who need to hear this” not in the room. Those who have reservations about attending identity-specific events can simply ask the organizer for clarification.
Events that do invite all to learn about identity-specific considerations are hugely beneficial to supporting awareness, inclusion and respect across identity groups. This event was open to all employees of WSP Canada and feedback highlighted the benefit of building awareness of diversity outside of one’s own groups:
“I was not sure what to expect. I really appreciated the historical overview and broader (inclusive 😊) context of the information. The presentation avoided an overemphasis on terminologies that ‘trigger’ resistance to hearing. Although I am a privileged, white, male I move forward with food for thought which will certainly change my approach in a positive way.”
Principal Engineer (identifying as male)
“More people like me need to see this presentation. Michelle’s lived experiences and intelligence shines a light on the dark history and evolution of oppression in all its forms, and importantly in a fact-based and compassionate manner”
Attendee (identifying as male, white, CIS, GenX)
The French delivery was conducted by Pascale Joëlle Fortin-Daigle. Pascale Joëlle is a non-binary, gender fluid, transmasculine person. Their ongoing self-discovery journey led them to entrepreneurship.
Founder and CEO of Hello Gender, they specialize in gender identity and expression. Through their work, they aim to educate parents and leaders on issues specifically related to the transgender community. More than their identity and their work, Pascale Joëlle is a multifaceted human with diverse interests. With their family and friends, they are creating a life worth living.
Image Description: Pascale Joëlle smiles at the camera in a professional headshot in front of a solid light purple background. Their body is slightly turned to the left while their face looks directly at the camera. They are wearing a sage green blazer, a gold bowtie and round glasses.
“Une super belle, claire, informative, sensible présentation. J’étais vraiment contente d’avoir pu participer, apprendre et me mettre à jour des plusieurs sujets.”
Attendee
This engagement is part of an ongoing collaboration between Framework Leadership and WSP Canada in support of equity, diversity and inclusion for employees of WSP Canada.
Framework Leadership is the consulting agency of Leading Professionals dedicated to meaningful work in architecture, engineering and construction with a focus on leadership development and training, workplace culture, and inclusion. This is a valued partnership with the aligned mandate of supporting all employees in their career development and experiences.
Thank you Women of WSP Canada for bringing this knowledge and engagement to your colleagues!
Kudos to the members of WoW for centering the most underserved women identity groups’ experiences and needs in their programming this year. Not only in educational content, but also in representation.
WoW committee members, along with speakers Michelle, and Pascale, are leaders in their respective fields. They also serve as examples of what can be achieved by underrepresented-underestimated professionals: building community, driving change, and supporting allyship and inclusion for all – WoW!
Leading Professionals is a publication dedicated to recognizing and supporting leadership in architecture, consulting engineering, and construction. This starts with you!
