Jennifer McPhee
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (July 08/02) - Bill Riddell is Nunavut's rental and fair practices officer.

He sits on the board of Canadian Association for Statutory Human Rights Agencies. Riddell recently attended the association's annual conference in Prince Edward Island and the subject this year was human rights in the workplace.

Bill Riddell enjoying the warmer weather outside his home in Apex. -- Jennifer McPhee/NNSL photo

News/North: What are the barriers women face in the workplace that came up at the conference?

Bill Riddell: As it turns out, in most places in Canada and the (United) States, more women are getting into the workplace. The percentage of women is much higher than it has been. The problem is women moving up into the executive and management positions and being able to stay there.

What are the kinds of things that would help that process? One of the things everyone needs is a mentor and if you don't have a mentor, you don't learn the job.

One of the speakers at the conference said women need to network with each other to help each other understand the problems they are going through.

Then we got into some other issues. Generally, the workplace needs to become more family-friendly. Up until this point in our culture, men have been the ones to go to work. And the workplace doesn't seem to be flexible enough to allow anyone -- whether they are a man or a woman -- to look after their kids when they are sick, to deal with crisis in child care.

And it's mostly the women who are stuck with that role and expected to play that role.

A lot of thinking has to be done in terms of how one accommodates that. At the executive and management level, how does one accommodate a person who has to go home at 4 p.m.? Is it possible for that person to come back later, work on a Saturday?

There are also home issues that impinge on both men and women, but particularly on women. What are the things in the home environment that inhibit a person from functioning effectively at work?

In the North, most definitely in my experience, is the issue around jealousy. It's a social problem that is really relevant -- where spouses are calling each other to check on each other while they are at work.

N/N: Why is that a problem here?

BR: There is jealousy all around the world. But we've got some pretty serious problems with jealously, with possessiveness. Jealousy is based on a fear of loss. When one partner or both are feeling a fear of loss of the other person, they become abnormally jealous.

I'm speaking as a person who has lived here for 20 years. I've forgotten what it's like down south. My guess is it's a problem down south, too. But I know working from here, jealousy is a grievous problem. I could guess that with all kinds of cultural change, changing roles, women are now earning a living, and making good money. All of these elements create tensions in the family that are expressed through jealousy.

On a more positive note, there are a number of men that are at home looking after their children. These men are supporting their wives in a remarkable way. They aren't being recognized for that. They feel when you ask them a question about what they do -- they say they don't do anything. Many of them don't recognize what they are doing is extremely valuable. And we need to help men feel proud about staying home and taking care of their children.

N/N: How many women are in executive positions in Nunavut?

BR: In Nunavut, I really don't know the numbers. But my guess is it's pretty high. One of the blocks is education. But if you go to Nunavut Arctic College, in the law school, for instance, there are only two men. In the teacher education program, they're mostly women. In the social work programs, they are mostly women. Women are getting educated and women are getting into professional work places. And so I would suspect that in Nunavut the capacity for us to have women in the workplace -- and in management positions -- is high. It's just how do you keep them there and allow them to flourish.

N/N: Were there any other barriers?

BR: Yes. The attitudes of men are a barrier. This is just generally speaking. In a very subtle way, there are men who do not believe that women should be in the workplace because they get pregnant and have babies. That's wrong. Life is changing and culture is changing. If you have the attitude that you're not going to hire a woman because she's going to get pregnant and be off for long periods of time, you've got an attitude that is having a negative impact. Number one are the skills and the value of that woman as an employee to be able to do the work that she wants to do. Number two, that's not the way life is any more.

And part of that goes back to my first comment, which is our work places have to become more family-friendly. That's really what it's about. You don't have daycare in the workplace except at Nunavut Arctic College or at the high school.

More and more work places in the south are providing daycare. In fact, I think there are some places in the United States where you can't set up a business unless you have a daycare. And I think we have to take a look at that. Daycare is important.

N/N: Does the government here have daycare for children?

BR: No. And yet they are trying to encourage women to stay in the workplace, especially in Iqaluit where we have head offices.

Now in Nunavut, we have an Inuit hiring policy, whereby the objective is to put as many Inuit into positions as possible by a certain target date. What we don't have is an affirmative action policy. And therefore, if you are an Inuk woman competing with an Inuk man for a job, and if the government wants to make sure more women are in the workplace, then they have no obligation to do that.

They also have no obligation to ensure that Inuit women would be encouraged and accommodated in the workplace.

N/N: So you think we should have affirmative action policies?

BR: Well, I'm also a critic of affirmative action because I think affirmative action policies can be abused just like anything else.