Prime Minister joins HeForShe campaign

In a huge step toward gender parity across Canada and around the world, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was announced today as an official champion for the UN Women’s HeForShe campaign, and the second Canadian representative to take part in the initiative.

The campaign is a global effort to engage everyone, regardless of gender, to stand together and create a bold, visible force for gender equality and remove the social and cultural barriers that prevent women and girls from achieving their potential.

In 2015, Feridun Hamdullahpur, president and vice-chancellor of the University of Waterloo, accepted an invitation from UN Women to lead Canada in gender equity as a champion of HeForShe’s IMPACT 10x10x10 framework, which includes governments, leading universities and businesses around the world.

“Leaders like Justin Trudeau and Feridun Hamdullahpur from the University of Waterloo are showing all Canadians how vital it is that we achieve gender equality,” said Diana Parry, a professor and Special Advisor on Women’s and Gender Issues to President Hamdullahpur. “There is a wealth of evidence that shows that national productivity and economic growth is improved when the balance of genders in the workforce is more equal, and we need this kind of visible leadership to galvanize all parts of our nation to this challenge.” 

Feridun Hamdullahpur and Justin Trudeau during the Prime Minister's visit to campus in January 2016 

Waterloo is addressing gender equality by developing innovative programming aimed at a full spectrum of women, from young girls right through to the University’s senior leadership. The commitments include boosting female participation in STEM fields, enhancing the representation of female faculty on campus, and attracting and advancing female leaders to senior academic and administrative position at the University.

Since the launch of the campaign, Waterloo has taken a number of actions to further these commitments: 

• In September 2015, the University announced that it will award $288,000 in scholarships to 24 outstanding female students in STEM disciplines over the next four years
• In February 2016, the University of Waterloo Gender Equity Research Grants were established with $80,000 in support of research that investigates and addresses gender equity
• In March 2016, the Waterloo Women: Ideas, Makers, Innovators Ideathon brought together female entrepreneurs from across disciplines to connect, inspire, and explore their potential while seeding and growing innovations

“To achieve innovation we need to start with gender equality,” says Parry, “and the University of Waterloo is thrilled to have a partner in Justin Trudeau.”