OTTAWA: THE FUTURE IS NOW
by Susan McCrae Vander Voet

The Women and the Impact of Microtechnology conference, held in Ottawa on June 25 - 27, was definitely a huge success. Over 600 women from all parts of Canada attended and resolved to take immediate action to ensure that microtechnology is used for the benefit of women rather than their detriment.

The conference examined the issues and made recommendations in the areas of employment, training and re-training, education, health and safety, information access and control, as well as legislation related to all aspects of the microtechnology industry.

The conference proceedings will be published in the fall
and will be available for purchase from CCLOW.

The following actions were instigated at the conference:

I. EMPLOYMENT, TRAINING AND RETRAINING

( i ) A letter will be sent immediately to all federal MPs insisting that employers (under federal jurisdiction) be compelled to train and retrain women. Suggested measures for doing this include the introduction of federal contract compliance as well as new laws entrenching specific employment rights wherever technological change is introduced.

( i i ) The Canada Employment and Immigration Commission will receive requests for special programs to be set up and for the allocation of training funds directed towards the integration and advancement of women in the microtechnology industry.

( i i i ) There will be regional lobbying of Ministers of Education to ensure that suitable, affordable training courses in computer literacy are established.

( i v ) That special attention be paid by provincial governments to the needs of immigrant, native, handicapped and poorly educated women is also a priority.

( v ) It is recommended that a national World Re-search Institute be established to provide informed guidance in the humane application of the new technology. Funding from federal and provincial governments is requested and women must be involved in the planning of such an institute.

II EDUCATION

( i ) The conference delegates agreed to lobby Ministries of Education and school boards to introduce strong measures to ensure that high school girls pursue math and science studies, and are counselled about careers requiring these subjects.

( i i ) Women must be involved in the decisions about curriculum changes, the introduction of computer hardware into schools and the development of suitable software programs to encourage girls' interest in microtechnology and computer science from an early age.

( i i i ) Statistics on the number of women math and science teachers and the number of girls in math and science courses should be available.