2018/19 BC Action Plan & Event Summary
WE FOR SHE is proud to present our new priorities for 2019. We encourage you to find your own role in this collective movement by sharing the 2019 WE FOR SHE Action Plan Priorities with your network.
Want to learn more about the 2018 WE FOR SHE event?
Sources for stats included in the Action Plan:
- Women comprise 55.7% of post-secondary graduates (Statistics Canada, 2015), yet they get paid 22.6% less than men (The Conference Board of Canada, 2017).
- Women represent 47% of the workforce (WEB Alliance, 2015), yet they only make up make up 3% of trades (WorkBC, 2017), 20% of tech (WorkBC, 2017) and 5.3% of CEOs (WEB Alliance, 2015).
- Women own 37% of small businesses in the province, yet they receive less than 4% of venture capital (WEB Alliance, 2015).
- Women hold 22% of available Top 50 company board seats in BC (Minerva BC, 2018).
- There are more Fortune 500 CEOs named James than all female CEOs (The New York Times, 2018).

2017/18 Call to Action & Event Summary
WE FOR SHE is pleased to present “Stepping it up for Gender Equality: 2018 Call to Action,” which reports on our collective progress toward gender equality so far, summarizes the input from the table discussions and polls at WE FOR SHE 2017, and outlines what you can do next.
It includes the 2018 WE FOR SHE BC Action Plan, which prioritizes five key strategies that can create the strongest impact in our province.
This document is a collaboration of BC youth, business owners, professionals, senior leaders and government that focuses on the strategies that will create change in BC.
- Download Call to Action to print as an 8.5 x 11 document
- Download Call to Action to print as an 11 x 17 booklet/poster
- View Call to Action as an infographic
Want to learn more about the 2017 WE FOR SHE Forum?

Reports from Previous Years
Resources TO HELP YOU TAKE ACTION
Below you can browse helpful resources, research and tools for you to:
- Take action in your life. We each have the power to create change. As individuals, women can educate themselves, improve their mindset and step up as leaders. As a culture, we need to challenge the status quo and normalize equality in leadership roles, in pay and at home.
- Take action in your organization. Businesses of any size can lead the way for inclusion. Your corporate culture, HR practices, procurement policies and even your marketing can be used to show your commitment to gender diversity and pave the way for change.
Share the Business Case
- The Link Between Collective Intelligence and Diversity, Catalyst
- The Power of Parity: Advancing Women’s Equality in Canada, McKinsey Global Institute
- The Global Gender Gap Report 2018, World Economic Forum
- The Face of Leadership™ BC Scorecard 2018, Minerva BC
- The Face of Leadership™ BC Tech Scorecard 2018, Minerva BC
- Business Case for Indigenous Workplace Inclusion, Indigenous Works
- Emma Watson’s Speech to the UN
Address Gender Roles and Stereotypes
- It’s Time to End the False Divide Between Work and Home, World Economic Forum
- Disrupting the Status Quo of Gender Roles, World Economic Forum
- ‘Radical change’ needed on unpaid care work, report finds
- Sheryl Sandberg on Gender Equality’s Power in Advertising and Business
Create a Positive Mindset
- Book: The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women, Dr. Valerie Young
- Breaking Free of Systemic Fixed Mindsets About Women
Increase Women in Trades, STEM
- Enhancing the Retention and Advancement of Women in Trades in BC, WorkBC
- Diversity and Inclusion in the BC Tech Sector, WorkBC
- NPR Podcast: When Women Stopped Coding
- How Stereotypes Can Cause Women to Leave Science, NPR
Increase Women on Boards
- Canadian Board Diversity Council 2017 Report Card
- How to Accelerate Gender Diversity on Boards, McKinsey Quarterly
Build a Safe and Inclusive Workplace
- 10 Actions to Build Workplaces that Work for Women, Catalyst
- Winning the Fight for Female Talent: How to Gain the Diversity Edge Through Inclusive Recruitment, PwC
- The Company Toolkit, Paradigm for Parity
- Flexible Work Arrangements Toolkit, HR Council Canada
- Why We Need to Calculate the Economic Costs of Sexual Harassment, World Economic Forum
Tackle Unconscious Bias
- Take the Implicit Association Test
- Don’t give up on unconscious bias training – Make it better, Harvard Business Review
- What works: Gender equality by design, Harvard Women and Public Policy Program
- Gender bias text analysis tool
- How to speak up if you see bias at work, Harvard Business Review
- eLesson: Unconscious Bias, Microsoft
Communicate Respectfully
- Top Negotiation Tips for Women, Kellogg School of Management
- Book: Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High
Engage Men
- How Men Can Become Better Allies to Women, Harvard Business Review
- Don’t Burn Hapless Men, Turn Them, Forbes
Strategies and Toolkits for Organizations
- Gender Strategy Toolkit, Workplace Gender Equality Agency, Australian Government
- A seven-step plan to improve gender diversity at any company, Canadian Business
- Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+), Department for Women and Gender Equality
- The Five Pillars: Turning Opportunity into Advancement, Canada-US Council for the Advancement of Women Entrepreneurs & Business Leaders