The theme chosen by Canada’s Status for Women for International Women's Day 2011 is Girls' Rights Matter. According to the website the theme focuses on the importance of equality and access to opportunity for all girls and women throughout their lives. This theme encourages us to reflect on the situation of girls in Canada, and to look beyond women's relative privilege domestically, to the international context. This theme also connects to the United Nations (UN) theme for International Women's Day 2011: Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women. A girl who enjoys equality has a greater likelihood of being self-confident and aware of her own potential, and of being empowered to access the education, training and career opportunities that will contribute to her success in life.

Of course girls’ rights matter. I much prefer the UN theme of Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women. As women we need to encourage our young women to pursue careers that will make a difference for the world and themselves. Women are underrepresented in science and technology careers. Women in Nuclear (WiN) Canada is doing its part to help girls recognize the many wonderful careers in the science and technology sectors through GIRLS Science Club, our work with Skills Canada promoting the skilled trades and technologies to young women and the launch of our video “The Catch” last fall that encourages young people to keep up their math and science courses. WiN has also authored a paper, “Women and the Nuclear Talent Pool,” debunking many of the myths around women’s ability to take a leadership role in our industry.

The UN has recently formed a new organization called UN Women. Their executive director, Michelle Bachelet, describes IWD as a century of women using their collective voice to organize for change. Ms. Bachelet goes on to say that when IWD was first celebrated 100 years ago only two countries allowed women to vote. Now women vote in almost every country, 67 countries have legislation for equal pay for men and women and 126 countries guarantee maternity leave.

In Canada we still have a long way to go. Women now make up half of the workforce and represent over half of the university students but stereotypic biases are still preventing them from leading Canadian companies. Last week, Catalyst Canada, reported the number of women breaking into the top executive jobs at Canadian companies remains small, growing at a snail’s pace. As of June 1, 2010 women held 17.7 percent of top officer positions, up form 16.9 percent in 2008, an improvement of less than a percentage point. In 2010, more than 30 percent of companies had zero women senior officers. We need to translate equality into more opportunities for women at the top of our organizations. Much has been researched about the fact that diversity of thought leads to an improved bottom line. Canadian companies need to stop the group think happening as like-minded people sit around a board table and make decisions. They need to embrace diversity of backgrounds and thought to create executive teams that challenge the way things have always been done and think differently about how things are done in the future.

The UN website states that for the women of the world, the IWD’s symbolism has a wider meaning: It is an occasion to review how far they have come in their struggle for equality, peace and development. It is also an opportunity to unite, network and mobilize for meaningful change.

March 8, 2011 is indeed our opportunity to review how far we have come and to unite, network and mobilize for meaningful change. Are you ready? On this IWD I challenge all women to ask the hard questions of your leadership. Why do we not have more women at the top? Be armed and ready for all the myths to be presented as reasons. Then debunk those myths with research from Catalyst and others.