Gender Advancement

We are in a 'she-cession'

Canada is facing a 33 year low in the participation of women in the workforce, where the impacts of COVID-19 have disproportionately affected them.

Nearly 80% of all workers over 20 years old who have left the labour force during this time are women.

Our Solution

We believe providing women with alternative work arrangements can remove the barriers they face and provide them with more leadership opportunities.

We propose to have a specific focus on removing barriers for two key population segments:

those women who have, even before COVID-19's impacts, lost their 'place' in the workplace leadership queue by having to step away from the labour force to address caregiving responsibilities.
the generational shift of boomers out of the workforce.

Introducing: SkillShare, a job sharing platform.

I: Defining The Importance

For the Canadian economy to rebound, and for the expectations of fairness by citizens to be achieved, this mass exodus of women must be addressed boldly and creatively.

COVID-19 has pushed many women, primarily ones aged 30-34 who were already responsible for a double or triple shift (childcare/family-care, housework and traditional “work”) into a quadruple shift (now including homeschooling and mental health support).

This additional 'shift' is weighing disproportionately on women, and in some estimates, this set back could be up to twenty years if not addressed swiftly and decisively – with a diversity of targeted solutions.

II: Identify the Problem

Our app will target key demographics of women in order to keep them in the workforce longer while appropriately valuing the multiplicity of social and economic contributions.

Job-sharing initiatives exist within many corporate environments however are not well leveraged or are most commonly leveraged for entry-level positions.

We want to break away the stigma around job-sharing and provide access to non-traditional work arrangements.

III: Understanding the Benefits

Improves recruiting by attracting qualified employees who don’t want to work full-time.

Reduce absenteeism and tardiness because of the flexibility offered, job sharing gives workers time to deal with family and other personal responsibilities.

Give the employer a pool of workers who can be asked to return to full-time work temporarily during high demand periods or to fill in for other employees who must be away from their jobs unexpectedly.

Enhance output because of collaboration and exchange of ideas between partners.