Men need to discuss workplace sexism in Waterloo region, says advocate

A coalition of local groups wanted their discussion of sexism in the workplace in Waterloo region to be a 50/50 split.

But of the 40 men they invited to the conversation, only two said they'll come.

"I think it's an uncomfortable conversation," Karen Scian of NextGen Waterloo Region, one of the six groups organizing the event, told CBC K-W's The Morning Edition host Craig Norris.

She said some men are busy.But for many, they're just not sure what their place is in the conversation.

"They don't get it. They want to get it," she said. "They, truly, sometimes believe they get it but they can't until they understand the lived experience."

The coalition invited all genders from people in all sectors, from tech to government to non-profits.

Listen to the whole interview with Karen Scian:

Event to still take place

The event is called Building a Better Workplace: Is Sexism Alive and Well in Waterloo Region? It will be like a "human library" where women will sit at tables and share their experiences of what it's like to work in Waterloo region.

Some of the stories are deeply personal, which is why organizers which also include Women's March Canada, Coalition of Muslim Women of K-W, Code Like a Girl, YWCA K-W and Feminine Harbor chose specific people to take part in the event, such as leaders in the community.

They had hoped it would be an equal attendance of men and women. But even though only two men have said they'll come, the event will go on.

Part of the plan is to use the event to help form a Building Better Workplaces strategy a evaluative and educational tool to look at sexism in the workplace.

Scian noted the plan is not to "march in there with our feminist flags" and evaluate a business, but instead create a tool that will help the company self-reflect on things they could do better.

'This is a big thing'

One example of an easy thing companies could do to help women and families get rid of breakfast meetings.

"Breakfast meetings were the bane of my existence as a single mom on city council," Scian said. She said she could never make them because she had to get her children out the door to school.

"That means I missed out on places I should have been, that I earned the right to be at."

She said workplace sexism is a conversation everyone needs to be part ofno matter what gender they are.And she hopes they will step up and work with groups like the ones organizing Wednesday night's event.

"This is something that's big. This is a big thing in this community," Scian said.

"There are a lot of organizations that need to have a conversation about how they build better workplaces for women, for families, in the future. We want be part of that conversation as a team."