October 19, 1999

Over The Edge Page 3

Canadian

By Lisa Whittington-Hill

PETERBOROUGH, ON
(CUP) - The majority of
university students in
Canada are women,
says a new report on
education by Statistics
Canada. According to
the study, in 1996-97
approximately 55 per
cent of the full-time
undergraduate students
enrolled at Canadian
universities were
females. During the
same timeframe, almost
60 percent of bachelor
and first professional
degrees granted, and
51 percent of all mas-
ters degrees awarded,
went to women. The
number of doctorates
earned by women
increased from 1,000 in
1992 to 1,335 in 1996.
“Women are no longer
being told ‘you can’t go
into that field’? said
Megan Gariepy,
women’s commissioner
for the Canadian
Federation of Students
Ontario divison.

The Cola

universities attracting more women than

According to the

Association of
Universities and
Colleges of Canada
{(AUCC), women

account for more than
75 per cent of enrol-
ment growth over the
past 15 years. Between
1975 and 1992 the par-
ticipation rate for
women aged 18-21 at
Canadian universities
nearly doubled.

At the local level this
translates to some sur-
prising figures. At the
University of Regina
there is a disproportion-
ately large number of
female graduates.
During its spring 1999
convocation, there were
886 female graduates in
contrast to 479 male
graduates. This follows
last year’s spring convo-
cation at U of R that
saw 925 female gradu-
ates and 547 male
graduates.

Betty Donaldson, a
University of Calgary

War

» » » Continued from Page 1

In B.C., where tuition
has been frozen for the
past few years non-gov-
ernmental contracts,
donations and _ sales
provide a combined
27.5 per cent of univer-
sity revenue. This is
especially relevant at
UNBC where a student
can not walk into a lec-
ture theatre without
being reminded who
donated the money to
build it. Rob Fleming,
the Canadian
Federation of Students
(CFS) national execu-
tive in B.C., feels that
corporate sponserships
place limits on the
Universities’ freedoms.
“The danger with cor-
porate sponsorship is
that eventually the
strings attached get
stronger and stronger,”
he said.

“Should we have this

or shouldn’t we have
this. Do we want to
have corportate spon-
serships for our sports
teams and that sort of
thing, is that what we
want?” asked Ms.
Hibbitts.

Is choice worth it to
you? How do you feel
about corporate spon-
serships? UNBC wants
to hear from you. Ms.
Hibbitts and the com-
mittee in charge of the
pouring contract have
set up an email account
for the express purpose
of discovering the feel-
ings on campus about
exclusive contracts and
corporate sponsership.
If you would like a pub-
lic debate on this issue
they want to hear that,
too. Email about this
Subject can be sent to
cokepeps@unbc.ca.

professor in the Faculty
of Education, attributes
the female enrolment
rise to an increased
interest among young
women to pursue a
career. Donaldson, who

a
@

is also a Board member
for the Canadian
Congress for Learning
Opportunities for

Women, says guidance

\ Wi ae se

counsellors and high
school teachers may be
encouraging more
women to enter tradi-
tionally male-dominated
fields, such as engi-
neering vb medicine.

a. while women may
be encouraged to enter
engineering and sci-
ence, getting in is not
always the hard part.

“My friends who are in
the sciences feel like
they’re a huge minority
and that they constantly
have to prove them-
selves to be as good as
the boys in the class,”
said Trent University
student Krista Everett.
Female studenis
entering _ traditionally
male-dominated fields,
adds Donaldson, may
not receive the same
warm welcome and
encouragement as
male students. “We
know the problem is the
cold, chilly climate once
they come to university,”
said Donaldson.
Gariepy says this lack
of encouragement
doesn’t just stop at the
classroom level. She
says women are also
under-represented in
such areas as student

men

government. “There
may be more of us in
numbers, but what
we're encouraged to get
involved in is another
story,’ said Gariepy of
the lack of female repre-
sentation on student
councils.

And councils are not
the only areas that lack
female participation.
While there may be
more female students in
the classroom, there
are less female profes-
sors, and even less
women senior adminis-
trators, within universi-
ties.

Continued
page 11.

on

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qFOUTHOPTIONS C5)

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BRITISH
COLUMBIA

Honourable Andrew Petter,
Minister Responsible for Youth