TechGirls is a not-for-profit lab conducting social and scientific research about women’s labor market participation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. To extend their reach and help more people, TechGirls collaborates with artists and communities to present their study findings in a beautiful, accessible, and compelling way.
Saadia Muzaffar, President and co-founder, along with their sibling (and co-founder) Saira Muzaffar, saw and heard the everyday career struggles of women, particularly Indigenous, 2SLGBTQI, immigrants, and refugees in Canada. Despite having the skills and relevant experience in STEM, these women were often relegated to survival jobs to make ends meet.
This is when Saadia and Saira saw a need—change was on the horizon.
“The future belongs to all of us, and therefore, we should all get the opportunity to dream it, inform it, and build it. We hope that our work fuels the necessary re-imagining of how Canada can better support the prosperity of diverse STEM-trained women, and by extension, of all its workers,” shares Saadia.
TechGirls.ca is also the hub for Canada’s women in STEM. Despite the wins women in STEM have realized in recent decades, there are still social, systemic and policy barriers that must be overcome. As long as these barriers persist, women and girls do not have equal opportunities to build meaningful STEM careers. According to Saadia, the challenges women face in STEM are further compounded by factors like caregiving responsibilities, race, gender orientation, immigration status, and disability.
In line with Fluke’s deep commitment to improving access to STEM education and ensuring equal opportunity for all, they recently contributed to TechGirls of Canada. By following their vision to help make a positive change for all women from different races, places, and more, TechGirls has launched several projects.
We Were Here All Along: Canada’s Failed Promise to Immigrant Women in STEM: A short film about Maia, a STEM-trained immigrant woman, and her challenges that came along with moving to Canada.
Catalyst: A collaborative program with Canada’s Department of Women & Gender Equality (WAGE), Catalyst is designed to guide STEM-trained immigrant women in Canada to develop new strategies to advance their careers. Catalyst was inspired by learnings shared in their research report—Workfinding and Immigrant Women’s Prosperity in STEM.
Change Together: A diversity guidebook for startups and scale-ups. As mentioned by Fortune Magazine editor Ellen McGirt, Change Together is “an extraordinary resource for anyone who wants to help a company (or a division, frankly) to be more inclusive and productive.”
Five Journeys: STEM-Educated Immigrant Women in Canada: A collaborative online exhibition between TechGirls Canada, the University of Toronto Faculty of Information, and the five STEM-educated immigrant women which the story is about. The exhibition is somewhat like a human library where the five ladies share their STEM training, experience as immigrant women in Canada, the struggles that come along with that, and more.
Canada Beyond 150: Policy for a Diverse and Inclusive Future: TechGirls Canada was invited to collaborate on a 10-month training program designed to help early-career public servants learn new ways of developing and experimenting with approaches to support open policy making.
Women and the Workplace: A two-day symposium in 2019 at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and led by the government of Canada with attendees of more than 200 Canadian leaders coming together for workplace gender equality and diversity. TechGirls Canada was a key participant and contributor that shared best practices on women’s participation in the workplace.
Saadia Muzaffar summarized TechGirls’ purpose with this—“While diversity is important in workplaces; justice is important everywhere.”
Partnering with Fluke, TechGirls has been able to continue to build a solid foundation with good governance and compelling projects that help them make a difference for women in STEM.
Saadia Muzaffar, President and co-founder, along with their sibling (and co-founder) Saira Muzaffar, saw and heard the everyday career struggles of women, particularly Indigenous, 2SLGBTQI, immigrants, and refugees in Canada. Despite having the skills and relevant experience in STEM, these women were often relegated to survival jobs to make ends meet.
This is when Saadia and Saira saw a need—change was on the horizon.
“The future belongs to all of us, and therefore, we should all get the opportunity to dream it, inform it, and build it. We hope that our work fuels the necessary re-imagining of how Canada can better support the prosperity of diverse STEM-trained women, and by extension, of all its workers,” shares Saadia.
TechGirls.ca is also the hub for Canada’s women in STEM. Despite the wins women in STEM have realized in recent decades, there are still social, systemic and policy barriers that must be overcome. As long as these barriers persist, women and girls do not have equal opportunities to build meaningful STEM careers. According to Saadia, the challenges women face in STEM are further compounded by factors like caregiving responsibilities, race, gender orientation, immigration status, and disability.
In line with Fluke’s deep commitment to improving access to STEM education and ensuring equal opportunity for all, they recently contributed to TechGirls of Canada. By following their vision to help make a positive change for all women from different races, places, and more, TechGirls has launched several projects.
We Were Here All Along: Canada’s Failed Promise to Immigrant Women in STEM: A short film about Maia, a STEM-trained immigrant woman, and her challenges that came along with moving to Canada.
Catalyst: A collaborative program with Canada’s Department of Women & Gender Equality (WAGE), Catalyst is designed to guide STEM-trained immigrant women in Canada to develop new strategies to advance their careers. Catalyst was inspired by learnings shared in their research report—Workfinding and Immigrant Women’s Prosperity in STEM.
Change Together: A diversity guidebook for startups and scale-ups. As mentioned by Fortune Magazine editor Ellen McGirt, Change Together is “an extraordinary resource for anyone who wants to help a company (or a division, frankly) to be more inclusive and productive.”
Five Journeys: STEM-Educated Immigrant Women in Canada: A collaborative online exhibition between TechGirls Canada, the University of Toronto Faculty of Information, and the five STEM-educated immigrant women which the story is about. The exhibition is somewhat like a human library where the five ladies share their STEM training, experience as immigrant women in Canada, the struggles that come along with that, and more.
Canada Beyond 150: Policy for a Diverse and Inclusive Future: TechGirls Canada was invited to collaborate on a 10-month training program designed to help early-career public servants learn new ways of developing and experimenting with approaches to support open policy making.
Women and the Workplace: A two-day symposium in 2019 at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and led by the government of Canada with attendees of more than 200 Canadian leaders coming together for workplace gender equality and diversity. TechGirls Canada was a key participant and contributor that shared best practices on women’s participation in the workplace.
Saadia Muzaffar summarized TechGirls’ purpose with this—“While diversity is important in workplaces; justice is important everywhere.”
Partnering with Fluke, TechGirls has been able to continue to build a solid foundation with good governance and compelling projects that help them make a difference for women in STEM.