16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence in Engineering

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women - #Purple4Prevention

The Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office (SVPRO) at Waterloo is partnering with the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region (SASC), Conestoga College, and Wilfrid Laurier University to address sexual violence on campus through a new campaign: #Purple4Prevention.

Get your t-shirt on November 25th by visiting SVPRO in the Student Life Centre (SLC). A tee costs $10 (sliding scale if $10 is too much for you), and $3 of each sale goes directly to SASC. 

Action: Starting November 25th and throughout the 16 Days, take a selfie of yourself in your purple tee and post it on social media with the hashtags #16DaysUW #Purple4Prevention. Consider including a note about what consent means to you.

Please visit the #Purple4Prevention website for more details.

Virtual Screening of Picture a Scientist

Join UWaterloo Women in Engineering for a free screening of Picture a Scientist, a documentary raising visibility around gender bias and racism in the sciences.

Please visit Picture a Scientist - Free Virtual Screening for more details.

The Experience of Women in STEM

Educate: Watch Picture a Scientist by yourself or with friends, classmates, and/or family.  Here’s the link to access the free virtual screening of Picture a Scientist, or you can check it out on Netflix.

Reflect: Have you experienced gender-based discrimination? Have you witnessed gender-based discrimination? What did you do?  What would you do differently now?

Virtual Screening of Picture a Scientist (cont.)

Join UWaterloo Women in Engineering for a free screening of Picture a Scientist, a documentary raising visibility around gender bias and racism in the sciences.

Please visit Picture a Scientist - Free Virtual Screening for more details.

What’s in a pronoun and why do they matter?

Educate: The Centre for Teaching Excellence has put together this excellent tip sheet for learning about pronouns. While the intended audience is course instructors, the information is easily applied by anyone interacting with other people. Take a moment to read through it.

Action: Consider adding your pronouns to your e-mail signature, Zoom name, etc. Consider how you will introduce yourself and include your pronouns. Practice using “they/them” pronouns to avoid misgendering someone who has not told you their pronouns.

Virtual Screening of Picture a Scientist (cont.)

Join UWaterloo Women in Engineering for a free screening of Picture a Scientist, a documentary raising visibility around gender bias and racism in the sciences.

Please visit Picture a Scientist - Free Virtual Screening for more details.

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG)

“Indigenous women make up 16% of all female homicide victims, and 11% of missing women, even though Indigenous people make up 4.3% of the population of Canada” (statistic gathered from the Assembly of First Nations). This violence against Indigenous women, girls and Two Spirited folx is also present in the US (please visit the website of the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women for more details).

On June 3, 2019, the final report of the National Inquiry looking into the systemic violence against Indigenous women and girls was presented to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, including 231 Calls to Justice. 

Educate:

• Learn more about the MMIWG inquiry in this 4 minute video. 
• Read the PDF of the executive summary of the MMIWG final report.  
• Review the information gathered on the KAIROS Canada website.
• Learn more about Land Back Camp and the role it is playing to create a safe space for Two Spirit IndigiQueer folx in our community.

Action: What can you do to address the systems that have resulted in the death and disappearance of Indigenous women, girls and Two Spirit folx? Support local organizations such as:

• Anishnabeg Outreach
• Healing of the Seven Generations
• Land Back Camp

Virtual Screening of Picture a Scientist (cont.)

Join UWaterloo Women in Engineering for a free screening of Picture a Scientist, a documentary raising visibility around gender bias and racism in the sciences. 

Please visit Picture a Scientist - Free Virtual Screening for more details. 

The Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office

The Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office (SVPRO) at the University of Waterloo provides support to those who have experienced violence of a sexual nature.

Educate: Look through the website and the linked resources, such as how to respond to a disclosure and hone your bystander intervention skills.

Action: Visit The Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office webpage, and check out their Give Support page to learn more about what you can do.

WhiteRibbon.ca Draw the Line Workshop – 12-1:30 PM via Zoom

White Ribbon is an organization that engages men and boys in the prevention of gender-based violence by promoting equity and transforming gender norms. In this Draw the Line session, we will cover definitions of sexual violence, unpack its root cause as it relates to gender expectations and offer the audience tools to become role models and advocates in the prevention of this issue.

The goals of the session include:

• Unpacking Sexual Violence and Gender Expectations in the post-secondary sector
• Prevention: Allyship, Consent Culture, Disrupting Rape Culture
• Discussing how sexual violence prevention relates to your role as a student at University of Waterloo
• Bystander intervention: on-campus scenarios

By participating and completing the survey, you have the chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card!

Educate: Take a moment to read through the resources on the Whiteribbon.ca website. 

Action: for current undergraduate and graduate students of all genders, register for the Draw the Line Workshop here.

Bystander Training 

Have you ever seen something happen and thought to yourself: “That’s not right. What can I do?” Enter being an active bystander – that person who knows what to do, whether it’s to distract, delay, or document. That person can be you too! 

Educate & Action: Sign up for free bystander training at ihollaback.org so you will know what you can do the next time that something like this happens.

Coming Out in Engineering: A Panel Discussion (6-7:30 PM) 

What is it like to identify as LGBTQ+ in Engineering at Waterloo and beyond? Stop by this panel discussion hosted by EngiQueers, with panelists from the faculty, industry, and alumni of Waterloo Engineering, to learn more. There will be opportunities for members of the audience to ask questions. 

Educate & Action: You can register to attend in-person or join the panel through Zoom.

Click here to register to attend in-person.

Click here to register to attend virtually.

This panel discussion will not be recorded. 

Intersectionality & #metoo

Gender-based violence doesn’t look the same for everyone. When additional factors such as race and class are layered on top, the experience of gender-based violence can look quite different. Learn more about the amazing Black women behind the terms “intersectionality” and the Me Too movement.

Educate: Kimberlé Crenshaw, professor at the School of Law at UCLA and Columbia Law School, introduced the term “intersectionality” in 1989 while describing the experiences of Black women with the US legal system.  Learn more about intersectionality by watching this video or this interview with Vox.

Educate: Tarana Burke, the woman behind the #metoo movement in 2017, has recently released a memoir titled “Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement”. Read about Tarana Burke and the movement in this book interview with The New York Times (TW - sexual assault).

What is Rape Culture? What is Consent?

Educate: This 2-minute video defines rape culture - both what it is, and what it is not. We all have a role in addressing our environment and questioning things like gender roles and sexuality as they are portrayed in the media and beyond.

Educate: So, what is consent? This 4-minute video titled “How do you know if someone wants to have sex with you?” does an excellent job of breaking down how to check for consent, what it is and it is not, and some examples. This is part of a larger collection of short videos addressing related issues, so if you’ve got questions about how to handle certain situations, check out these videos.

Action: Now that you’re up to speed on consent, take a selfie in your purple t-shirt and post it to social media with #purple4prevention and #16daysUW.

Celebrating women in leadership

The amazing women in positions of leadership in our community and beyond, from Deans of Waterloo Engineering Mary Wells and Pearl Sullivan, to Mary Simon (Governor General of Canada) is impressive. While women and non-binary folks in leadership are a minority in Canada today, it’s important to remember that it has not always been this way, nor does it need to be this way.

Educate/Reflect: Yukon Regional Chief Kluane Adamek shares the important roles that women have played for generations and are playing in her community and across Turtle Island in her inspiring 5-minute TED Talk.

National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women

For engineers in Canada, December 6^th 1989, holds special importance as it was the day that 14 women were killed at École Polytechnique in Montreal.

Action: Please join the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women ceremony at 10:30 AM.

Please click here to register for the virtual livestream.

Educate: Learn more about the 14 women who were killed that day. Many memorials and scholarships have emerged in the aftermath of the shooting, including the Order of the White Rose.

Responding to Disclosures of Sexual Violence

Do you know what to do if someone tells you that they’ve experienced sexual violence?  There are a few important things that you can do to support the person.

Educate: Click here to learn how to respond if someone discloses they’ve experienced sexual violence.

Action: For Faculty and Staff, you can sign up to take the Sexual Violence and Response training offered by UWaterloo. This is a two-part workshop, taking place on December 7th from 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm, and December 9th from 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm. An asynchronous course is also available on LEARN; follow the instructions under "How Do I Access the Training?" to self-enroll. 

What is SASC? What is Male Allies?

There are all kinds of great local agencies, groups and support services for those who have experienced sexual violence and for those who want to break the cycle of violence. One such group is the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region (SASC), who run a program called Male Allies for male-identifying folx who want to address the systemic and everyday forms of gender-based violence.

Educate & Action: Learn more about the great groups in our local community, like SASC, and what you can do to support them and the work they do. You can donate financially, volunteer your time, or help support the work that they do.

What effect has COVID-19 had on gender-based violence?

Educate & Action: Learn more about how COVID-19, and especially social distancing and isolation, have increased the risks women and children face. Take a look at Western’s Centre for Research & Education on Violence Against Women & Children, which includes tips on what employers can do to help (PDF) when one's home environment isn’t safe.

Responding to Disclosures of Sexual Violence (cont.)

Part two of the Sexual Violence and Response training takes place today, from 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm. For more details, refer back to the events of December 7th.

International Human Rights Day

So...now what? Here we are on Day 16, so we’re done, right? Well, not exactly. These 16 Days are just the start of the activism required to address gender-based violence in Engineering, at Waterloo, and beyond.

Action: If you haven’t posted a selfie (ideally in your purple shirt), post to social media using the hashtags #purple4prevention and #16DaysUW.  Share what consent means to you (check out the December 4th post if you would like some ideas).

Action: Start planning what you can do for Consent Week (here is a link to last year’s page), which will be taking place on January 24th - 28th, 2022.

Action: Tell us what you think about the 16 Days in Engineering campaign by completing our survey. You could win 1 of 3 Outreach gift packs for providing your feedback! Winners will be randomly drawn from respondents.

We will draw the names of our winners for the survey on December 17, 2021 at 9:00 am! Please fill out the survey before this time to be eligible for our draw.

We know that these topics can be difficult in the moment, or triggering for folks who have either experienced gender-based violence or now realize that they have perpetuated harm. You are not alone.

On-campus help and support for students:

• UWaterloo Counselling Services

For support outside of UWaterloo business hours, for emergency support, and for students outside of Canada:

• Campus Wellness Links

Help and support for UWaterloo staff:

• Campus Wellness - Faculty and Staff

This would not have been possible without support from the following people and organizations:

• Meaghan Ross & Amanda Cook at SVPRO
• Leah Foster & Sam Vandekerckhove, the Engineering Wellness Coordinators
• Sam Lawson, Nikita Cruz & Leanne Predote in Engineering Outreach
• Olga Mugisha at Whiteribbon.ca
• Kate Armstrong
• The Glow Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity
• The Centre for Teaching Excellence
• The team behind Picture a Scientist
• NNEDV
• ...and many more