Welcome to our Website

Welcome to Women's Network PEI. You'll find lots of information on our site about our current projects, Trade HERizons and Girls Unlimited. You can also find information about our referral service, past projects, fundraisers, board and staff as well.

Visitor's Notice

To find out more about Trade HERizons please click on the Trade HERizons tab on the menu above, or click on the links below if you...

  • are an interested woman wanting to explore a career in trades or technology
  • are an employer who wants to support women in trades and technology 
  • want to be a mentor to women in trades and technology
  • want to make a referral to Trade HERizons

Understanding and Addressing the Challenges of Developing Healthy Masculinity

What are PEI boys and men saying about what it means to be a man? Women’s Network PEI released research findings at a conference on Thursday, February 16. What About the Boys? Understanding and Addressing the Challenges of Developing Healthy Masculinity is a project designed to understand the needs and challenges PEI boys face in order to create a community response to build respectful, healthy boys who will be less likely to become involved in violent relationships with girls and women.

Women’s Network gathered information from 20 men and 20 boys from across the Island about how PEI boys define masculinity; the effects media and mainstream society has on those definitions; and opportunities communities are providing young men for positive role modeling and programming.

“The stereotypes about masculinity that exist on PEI are similar to what you would see in mainstream society everywhere”, says Pam Atkinson, the project’s coordinator. “The men and boys I interviewed overwhelmingly told me they felt they were not supposed to show emotions other than anger and they are tired of being emotionally constrained.  They wish to shed the idea that to be considered masculine they need to be tough, competitive, dominant and uncaring.”

The consultations also found that boys and men would like to be able to show a more nurturing side and not fear showing a range of emotions but are afraid to expose their true selves in public.

Says Atkinson, “ ‘gay-baiting’ is the common practice of using words like ‘gay’ or “queer” as a derogative name if boys do not fit the common stereotype and from our conversations with PEI boys, being gay is just about the worst thing you can call a heterosexual male.  We also heard that parents/caregivers have typically had a difficult time knowing how to support a child on PEI who is not interested in stereotypical male activities or is homosexual/transsexual because there are not many role models for boys outside of competitive sports.”

“We chose to release our findings during Family Violence Prevention Week, to highlight the connection between violence against women and girls and the rigid view of masculinity as one of being in control and unemotional”, says Michelle MacCallum, Executive Director of Women’s Network. “In order to eliminate violence we must help boys and girls learn healthy ways of expressing themselves.”

The conference also included a presentation from Dr. Bill Patrick, researcher and member of the New Brunswick Gender Justice Collaborative and Lorraine Whalley, Executive Director of the Fredericton Sexual Assault Crisis Center. The “Man-to-Man” toolkit they developed explores male gender socialization and sexism and has proven useful in involving men in anti-violence work.

Building on the input from conference participants, Women’s Network will use their research to create programming that addresses key health and social issues specifically for boys, including self-esteem, emotional literacy, positive male identity, healthy living, media literacy and healthy relationships.

Read full report: Understanding and Addressing the Challenges of Developing Healthy Masculinity

For further information, please contact: Pam Atkinson or Michelle MacCallum at Women's Network PEI

Trade HERizons graduates achieve success at Holland College during 2010-2011 academic year

Congratulations to our 2010 Trade HERizons participants on completing a successful year in their respective programs at Holland College.

Front row (kneeling left to right): Shasta Brennan graduated from the Carpentry program and is employed with a local construction company; Sarah Nuesch finished her first year of the Welding Fabrication program and is working with a local welding business. Back row (left to right): Lynn Bradley graduated from the Correctional Officer program; Kim Arsenault upgraded in the Adult Education program, has been accepted to the Bioscience Technology program and is working with a local bioscience company; Wanda Ellsworth completed her first year of the Computer Information Systems (CIS) program and is working with the college’s Computer Services Department this summer.

Videos - Women and Employers in Trades

Click on the links below to see videos of women working in the trades and what trades employers say about women in the trades.

Looking for Research Interviewees

A PhD student with the Faculty of Health Science, School of Nursing at Dalhousie University is doing research that looks at women with children becoming lesbian headed stepfamilies. If you are interested in being interviewed for this research, please contact: Tracey Rickards by calling collect at (506) 4716401, or by email: srickar1@unb.ca. For more info, please see this research project's  llletter of Introducation-Information (134,5 kB).

Tags

Boys                     Emplo yers

Equality               Fundraiser

Girls                     Health

Healthy Masculinity                   

Mentorship           Social Justice

Women in Trades and Technology

News & Events

Girls Circle Programming Begins Across PEI to Enhance Judgment and Critical Thinking Skills for Wise and Healthy Choices

27/03/2012 21:30
Participants in Girls Circle facilitator training hosted by Women's Network PEI in November 2011 Women’s Network PEI is running eight circles for girls aged 10‐13 in schools across PEI. Each week 8‐10 girls participate in the program with modules on “Friendship”, “Honouring our Diversity”,...
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More women entering trades thanks to program

09/03/2012 12:45
CBC News Rachel Ballem found out about the wood manufacturing and cabinet making program at Holland College throughTrade HERizons. (Julia Cook/CBC) More P.E.I. women are entering male-dominated trades in recent years because of a program that allows them test out these types of...
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Female machinist works in aerospace

29/02/2012 14:57
by Stella Shepard  of the Employment Journey Candace Tucker of Summerside is considered a trail blazer for women entering a non-traditional occupation. The 25-year-old is the only female trades person employed at Wiebel Aerospace Inc. She’s been a valued Precision Machinist with the...
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Women in non-traditional occupations are trail blazers

29/02/2012 14:41
by Stella Shepard of the Employment Journey "Women in trades, technology, fishing, farming, or who studying to enter non-traditional career paths are often one of very few females doing so," says Catherine Ronahan, with Women’s Network PEI. "Whether they are aware of it or not, they are trail...
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Women’s Network PEI releases findings on PEI attitudes of masculinity

17/02/2012 10:26
What are PEI boys and men saying about what it means to be a man? Women’s Network PEI released research findings at a conference on Thursday, February 16. What About the Boys? Understanding and Addressing the Challenges of Developing Healthy Masculinity is a project designed to understand...
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Feeding the need

17/12/2011 17:41
CBC PEI reporter Kerry Campbell reports that CBC's Turkey Drive wrapped up Friday, and again people on PEI have p roved how generous they can be, but some advocates say charity should not be the only response to those in need. Women's Network PEI, part of the PEI Working Group for a Livable...
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A female Engineer in Training

01/12/2011 11:26
by Heidi Riley of the Employment Journey Darrel Fisher, P.Eng., Branch Manager and Holly Barret, Engineer in Training, both of exp Services Inc. “Women hold eight to 10 percent of the trades and technology jobs in Canada,” says Darrell Fisher, P.Eng., Branch Manager, exp Services Inc. “It...
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Welding student finds a trade that will provide for her family while she practises her art

28/11/2011 09:50
By Sara Underwood - Holland College Blog Making a major change in your life can be a scary thing, even when you know it’s for the best. Sometimes it’s fear that keeps us stuck in a rut that we know we need to get out of, sometimes it’s not knowing how to find a way out. For many young...
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PEI Election - 2011: People Living in Poverty, Absent and Vulnerable

29/09/2011 12:17
This powerful statement on poverty issues in the PEI Provincial Election campaign comes from the PEI Working Group for a Livable Income. Women's Network PEI is a long-time active member of this coalition of organizations. The meaning of the expression, “forbidden history, hidden...
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Women are entering careers in trades & technology

27/09/2011 15:08
by Heidi Riley of the Employment Journey Grant Smith, Manager of Mr. Plumber in Charlottetown, supervised Carrie MacDonald as she began the process of Apprenticeship in the  plumbing trade this summer. Trade HERizons, a program coordinated by Women’s Network PEI, helps women explore...
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