From the Editor - Summer 2025
The summer issue of Voice is our women’s issue and is dedicated to highlighting the voices of women members and to celebrating women’s achievements. Reflecting on the continued need to advocate for women’s equality, President Karen Brown writes, “While we’ve made significant progress, the reality is that Ontario women still face systemic barriers to true equity – barriers that unions continue to challenge every day.”
In a related curriculum insert for Intermediate students this issue, we explore Canada’s gender pay gap, which saw women earning an average of $3.79 per hour less than their male counterparts as recently as 2021.
In The Power of a Program, Maranda Dumas reflects on 20 years of an important ETFO women’s program – Leaders for Tomorrow (L4T). “Past L4T graduates have taken on local presidencies, won provincial executive positions, become ETFO staff, moved into administrative positions with their boards, and found non-education spaces where they have been able to flourish as leaders, professionally and personally,” she writes. “Leaders offered our diverse group both intentional and spontaneous learning opportunities, and the connections we formed during and between the four sessions endure.”
In Breaking Barriers: The Girls Steam Team at Beaumonde Heights, Pawan Wander discusses the importance of creating dedicated STEAM spaces for girls, where they can see themselves as builders, coders and innovators. Reflecting on how she kept losing girls from the general STEAM clubs she had created in the past, she writes, “We need to be very intentional about discussing and actively challenging the systemic obstacles that girls will encounter in their journeys in science, technology, engineering and math.”
In Pages into Pathways: Exploring Women’s Voices in Activism, Karen Devonish- Mazzotta considers how stories written by and about women influence both our perspectives on the world and what is possible for girls and women. “In a world where systemic barriers persist,” she writes, “women’s voices in activism have proven to be transformative forces for social change. These voices bring critical and impactful perspectives that are all too often sidelined or silenced altogether. When women speak truth to power, they illuminate experiences that challenge prevailing narratives and expose critical gaps in our collective understanding of justice and equity.”
These features, along with book reviews, a special themed crossword and an article on starting a dance club at school, are sure to make great summer reading!
Wishing you a restful summer break.
– Izida Zorde
