Across the country as many STEM programs kick off, new teams are forming to deliver STEM programming to youth across Canada. For the majority of programs, each year brings new co-workers, parents and guardians, students and new dynamics. Recognizing that we all have different knowledge, experiences, values, and beliefs, we want to ensure that when we come together we are creating equitable opportunities for all of our participants to learn and succeed. 

Our goal in this module is to support you as instructors to identify personal and systemic gender biases that may impede the full participation of individuals in your programming. Beyond this our goal is to introduce Actua's National Girls Program, and Gender Equity frameworks, and several practices you can adopt into your programs. 

This module aims to help you build knowledge, tools and strategies to ensure gender equity in your programming in order to facilitate the participation of all, regardless of gender. 

To begin this training module it is important to address this question - why do STEM instructors need to think about and work toward Gender Equity and Gender Parity? Actua's mission is to provide life-changing science and technology experiences, inspiring ALL youth to achieve their potential and fulfill their critical role in the world.

We want:

• Equal respect, support, representation 
• Programs that support STEM learning for ALL youth
• Greater access, more success stories
• Trained and confident instructors
• Gender equitable, inclusive programs across the network

It is important for all of our programming to be respectful, inclusive and representative of diverse campers, and to support and empower underrepresented and underserved groups. We know women, girls, trans, queer, non-binary and other gender diverse folks, and other marginalized groups continue to be among those who are underrepresented. By creating Gender Equity training, we hope to provide introductory learning and support for working towards these goals together.

The outline for this course is as follows. We hope that this Gender Equity training can introduce or refresh your understanding of several equity and gender concepts as well as important practices for your role as an instructor. 

1. Introduction - 10 minutes
2. Girls and Women in STEM - 15 minutes
3. Unconscious Bias - 20 minutes
4. Defining Gender - 15 minutes
5. Equity and Equality - 20 minutes 
6. Creating Gender Equity Across Programming - 15 minutes
7. Optional Case Study - 30 minutes
8. Actua's NGP and Gender Parity Practices - 15 minutes
9. Summary - 10 minutes

• Explore the persisting gender equity issues in STEM
• Identify your own biases when it comes to gender and STEM
• Develop tools and strategies for program design and implementation that work to provide for gender equity in camps/clubs

By participating in this course you will also work on developing the following Future Skills

• Initiative
  
  • This module will teach you some of the important information about gender, equity and inclusion. This module will additionally support you in learning practices and frameworks for taking initiative to enact positive gender equity and gender parity practices in your programs
• Communication
  • Working towards a gender balance and equality in STEM will require strong communication and teamwork skills. This module provides support and suggestions for communicating concepts to others.
• Social Intelligence
  • By learning about equity, diversity and inclusion this module supports a healthy development of social intelligence, understanding, and empathy for others.
• Self-Awareness
  • In this module instructors will learn about gender identities and through reflection and discussion activities instructors are well positioned to also consider their own biases, roles, and power in making meaningful change

Reflect

Begin this training course by completing the following reflection activity. It is important to take time to ponder these questions and to be honest in your responses. 

1. Can you name one or more prominent women or trans individuals in your field of STEM? [Short answer]
2. What do you feel are the most urgent issues to address when it comes to gender equity in STEM? 
3. What do you think are some of the main barriers that may prevent women, and trans individuals from fully participating and advancing in STEM fields? [Short answer]
4. Do you think that gender equity in STEM is solely a women's issue, or do you believe it requires the involvement and support of all individuals, regardless of their gender identity? Please explain. [Short answer]