oy oe i h

Welcome to campus women’s Halloween Column. In keeping with the spooky concept of Halloween I thought it might be appropriate to tell a horror story. I didn’t need to delve into the resources of fiction to find a suitable piece of literature. I merely looked at the world we live in and here are some of the things I saw;

A young mother, Barbara Baillie, was pronounced dead shortly after arrival at the Victoria General Hospital, around 8 pm Friday, October 19, 1990. It is believed the woman died of strangulation

during a domestic dispute. Neighbours said police

were called to the house several days ago to investigate a domestic dispute. Baillie’s funeral will be held Tuesday morning.

Women were raped this week.

Women were physically assaulted this week. Women were sexually harassed this week.

Women were ridiculed this week in the name of comedy (even in Our Own paper)

Women suffered emotional abuse this week. Women took self-defence courses this week at the Charlottetown YMCA.

These items are only a few of the horror stories women dealt with this week.

Spooky isn’t it!

Committee to cross Canada seeking briefs on Women in engineering issues

The Canadian Committee on Women in Engineering will be holding public forums in Vancouver, Regina, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax to give employers, cducators, students and engineers an Opportunity to present’ their views surrounding the low representation of women in engineering.

The decision to hold day-long forums in major Centres in Canada was made following the Committee's first public forum in Ottawa on Sept. !2. Thirteen briefs were presented by educators,

~ Campus Women

By Ella Holt

researchers, industry representatives and students; almost 200 people attended.

The public forums will be held on Nov. 16 in Vancouver; January 29 in Montreal; Feb. 19 in Regina; March 6 in Toronto; and in early April in Halifax.

At its meeting on Sept. 13, the committee also decided to contract out research that will demonstrate the "best practices universities and industries are implementing to attract, retain and advance the careers of women engineers," said Monique Frize, chair of the 19-member committee.

"We hope the research results will give engineering schools and employers of engineers practical techniques and program ideas that will help them improve the environment for young women wishing to work as engineers."

"At a’few universities in Canada, where concerted efforts are being made to reach into junior high schools, over 20 per cent of first-year students are female," Dr. Frize said. "One of the questions our committee wishes to pursue is: What are these schools doing that makes the difference?"

The committee also wants to find out what, if anything, employers of engineers are doing to ensure that female engineers have the same opportunities for career advancement as their male colleagues. "One recent study of professional engineers in the 25-39 age group shows that 36 percent of the males held supervisory positions compared to only 18 percent of females. We would like to discover why this is occurring.”

The results of the research will be presented at a national conference, Women in Engineering: More Than Just Numbers. To be held May 21 to 23 in Fredericton, NB, the conference will focus on

The UPEI X-Press

October 25, 1990

Page 9