Subject: AVO
Women In The Labour Force: Québec's Chemical, Petrochemical, Refining And Gas Industry Adopts Tools To Favour Recruiting And Integration
MONTRÉAL, Sept. 24, 2020 /CNW Telbec/ - Just 30% of jobs in the chemical, petrochemical, refining and gas sector are held by women. To address that labour gender gap, CoeffiScience, the sectoral workforce committee, is today launching a guide to best practices to facilitate and support the recruiting and integration of female employees by companies. The initiative is supported by Québec's Ministry of Economy and Innovation.
"Following the February 2019 publication of the report on the role of women in the industry and the findings that emerged from it, we committed to rolling out a number of initiatives to improve the situation, one of which was to demystify certain things about careers in our industry," explained Guillaume Legendre, General Manager, CoeffiScience. He added: "The guide we are launching today will give the 600 companies in the chemical sector across Québec tools for better overcoming obstacles to improving the representation of women in the workforce."
The guide, written following an exhaustive review of tools published by other manufacturing industries and a compilation of best practices, will among other things support companies in recruiting women workers and in their onboarding process.
The suggested practices include:
- Fostering greater presence of diversity and women in the recruiting process;
- Review or implementation of policies framing work-family balance and harassment;
- Adapting physical work environments to the needs of female employees (e.g., work equipment adapted for women: clothing, workstations, machinery).
Demystifying the industry
This initiative is part of a broader campaign kicked off by CoeffiScience this past spring to promote the inclusion of women in the industry. Misconceptions and lack of knowledge about trades as well as the reality of work in companies have been identified among the main obstacles to attracting more women to the field. The sectoral committee has been working to correct those perceptions through such means as online portraits in the form of videos featuring women working in the industry as role models. Other initiatives will follow in the coming year.
Extensive support
CoeffiScience works with the Association pour le développement et l'innovation en chimie au Québec, Bitumar, Indorama Ventures, Collège de Maisonneuve, Celanese, Greenfield Global, Knowlton Development Corporation, Chimie ParaChem, Unifor Québec, the Fédération de l'industrie manufacturière, Suncor Energy, Valero Energy, the Québec Ministry of Education and Higher Education, and the Commission des partenaires du marché du travail.
"Here at Énergir's technology school, we are proud to train women technicians to work on our natural gas network," said Josée Bradette, Management Co-Chair, CoeffiScience, and Director of Skills Development, École de Technologie Gazière ? Énergir. "It's still essential, though, for us to keep up our collective efforts to meet the challenges of integrating women into our industry. And that's exactly what this guide offers, by providing organizations with a coaching tool to help them attract and retain women in an industry where they belong."
About CoeffiScience
As the sectoral workforce committee for the chemical, petrochemical, refining and gas industry, CoeffiScience is a source for dialogue, guidance and reference on labour-related issues affecting the industry. It brings together companies, workers and partners in the industry to identify workforce development needs common to all and oversee concerted actions to address them.
For more information, visit coeffiscience.ca.
SOURCE Coeffiscience
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