Melanie Buddle, Academic Advisor, Adjunct Faculty, Trent University

Reflections on the Business of Women:  Engendering Canadian Business History, Past and Present

My presentation examines gender in Canadian business history: I argue that business historians have been slow to interrogate business as a gendered construct.  How we understand and define businesslike behaviours or practices is related to how we study gender. I examine how size of business, type of business, and gender of business owners have affected how businesswomen were viewed during the past 150 years and how historians have chosen to study and research these women in more recent years.   Melanie earned her PhD from the University of Victoria in Canadian history (focus on gender and self-employment) and MA from UNBC.

Tabitha Fritz, Rotman School of Managment

Viola MacMillan: Pushing the Boundaries in Canadian Mining.

A strong personality who rose from humble beginnings, Viola MacMillan’s mining career started in the 1930s and spanned more than six decades.   Despite her tiny stature she fought her way to the top of the Canadian mining world.  Her comfort with wielding power in a male-dominated industry fascinated the press and public.  She became the first woman – and longest serving – president of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, helping to pave the way for women in mining.

Jennifer Reynolds, President – Women in Capital Markets

Perspectives on the Economic Gender Leadership Gap in Canada.

This presentation will provide an overview of Canada’s progress on closing the economic gender leadership gap in corporate Canada. It will review Canada’s progress relative to other countries and key initiatives taken to date to close that gap. It will provide recommendations on what the private and public sector can do. in Canada to drive greater progress on women’s representation in leadership roles in the Canadian economy.  Director on the Board of the Canada Development Investment Corporation (“CDEV”), and of Women’s College Hospital Foundation. Named a Women’s Executive Network (WXN) Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winner.