Break the Bias – on International Women’s Day March 8 and beyond
March 8th, 2022 is International Women’s Day – a recognition of women and their achievements in social, economic, political, and cultural spheres. The day serves as a call to action for accelerating gender parity and working toward true equality in a just society. This year’s theme is “Break the Bias”. Bias, whether deliberate or unconscious, makes it difficult for women to move ahead. BCIT offers a free online course which aims to help us all understand ourselves and our world better through an examination of our own unconscious biases. Learn more about the Understanding Unconscious Bias course and how BCIT is contributing to SDG 5: Gender Equality: to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
The Centre for Ecocities exemplifies the outstanding contributions that women are making in the quest to build socially just cities in balance with nature. Leading the Centre’s efforts is Dr. Jennie Moore, Director of Institute Sustainability at BCIT. As Director, Dr. Moore is committed to tackling the challenges facing humanity’s outsized ecological footprint. She created BCIT’s High Performance Building Lab and launched the Factor Four initiative on that has reduced the energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of BCIT’s Burnaby campus by 50% since 2009. Whether in technological or policy change, Dr. Moore’s work helps empower individuals to take action in sustainability.
Cora Hallsworth, Manager of Municipal Programs at the Centre for Ecocities, has been a sustainability professional for over 20 years. She is currently working with 10 BC communities, helping them to understand and act on key science-based metrics – the ecological footprint and consumption-based emissions. She is also digging deeper in her own community, helping it move from knowledge to action through the One Planet Saanich initiative.
Also working to advance our work both within BCIT and beyond is our Centre Manager, Christina Olsen. She has worked at the intersection of people, environment, and technology for over 20 years – specifically for cities more recently – and now helps her colleagues leverage their successes throughout BCIT and in communities around the world.
These are just three of the many inspiring women working at BCIT and with the Centre for Ecocities for social justice and ecological balance. On this International Women’s Day, we celebrate their achievements as well as everyone around the world working to #breakthebias.