MAD HATTER PAGE 6

 

 

CAREERS FOR WOMEN

Three young women at Douglas College have
found a summer job they really enjoy -
helping other women find careers.

A Women's Centre project, sponsored by

the Challenge '85 program of Canada
Employment and Immigration, means Sharmeen
Lovett, Ruby Risjak and Lori Nicks will be
writing a manual on business and employment
opportunities for women in the school
districts of New Westminster, Coquitlam,
Maple Ridge and Burnaby.

"We're looking at catering to a wide range
of needs," says Lovett, a former student
at Mount St. Vincent in Halifax now
heading towards the University of B.C.

"The focus will be on non-traditional work,
but we intend to add at least a section

on self-employment opportunities for
women," Lovett says.

Project First of Its Kind

The project is the first of its kind in
This region, and the work has already

resulted in some interesting surprises
from local businesses and corporations.

"It's sort of hard to tell at this point
but | don't think things are as bleak as
what | though they were at first," says
Risjak, a psychology and sociology student
at Simon Fraser.

"One of the biggest problems is the amount
of competitiveness between women," Lovett
says. "There isn't anything like a women's
network around here because women are stil|
trying to break into the 'old boys!
networks."

Nicks, a university transfer student at
Douglas College heading towards a career
in writing, prefers to call it a "mixed
bag of tricks".

"Even the people who are unwilling to help
us with our survey are at least sending
us some response," she says.

The group, however, agrees that a serious
problem facing women is the uncertainty

many agencies face with recently intro-
duced cutbacks. O
"Some of the service agencies women
depend on have such small budgets they
can't even afford a slight rent increase,
and if they get one, they may end up
moving around," says Lovett. "This can
happen up to several times a year,
depending on the group and where they
receive their money from."

"As a consequence, the agency will even-
tually lose contact with the very women
they're supposed to be helping," Lovett
says.

The manual the students are working on
should help to alleviate some of these
problems.

From the information gathered on the
survey they are sending to 350 local
businesses, the three women are looking
at several possible formats.

One section will probably include a

listing of careers open to women in cor-@
porations, businesses and self-employment
areas. Another could include funding
sources, women's training centres, and
counselling centres, and these could be
divided either by topic or geographically.

Under the guidance of Marian Exmann, the
Douglas College Women's Centre coordinator,
they hope to finish the manual of
employment and career opportunities by
late August.

- DOUGLAS COLLEGE NEWS SERVICES

 

 

AFRICA RECOVERY AND
RECONSTRUCTION FUND

The International Bureau of the Assodation
of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) is
sponsoring a fundraising campaign within
the Canadian college system. The main
objective of this campaign is to assist
in the development of durable solutions
to combat the famine in Africa and to @
demonstrate our constituency's commitmen

to help in the current crisis.