
MISSION
Women in Leadership is committed to supporting and advancing persons who identify as women to achieve and succeed in leadership.
Upcoming meetings (mark your calendars!)
WIL meetings are currently being held virtually. See event details for login information.
Speaker: Cindy Biancaniello, Director of the Hadiyaˀdagénhahs First Nations, Métis and Inuit Student Centre (formerly Aboriginal Student Services)
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Speaker: Shawna Chen, Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship with Brock University’s Goodman School of Business
Imagine that you are interviewing job candidates. What qualities would you look for among these candidates? Many would look for qualities such as confidence, leadership, and self-reliance. Sounds familiar? If so, you too may be falling prey to a cultural bias called masculine defaults. Masculine defaults is a bias of how we typically consider certain characteristics and behaviours, often associated with men, as standard or best practice that should be rewarded.
In this talk, Shawna will discuss how masculine defaults may have contributed to women’s underrepresentation in the workplace, particularly in the entrepreneurship ecosystems. She will also give practical examples to mitigate masculine defaults bias in different contexts.
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Recorded WIL Sessions
Some Women in Leadership sessions have been recorded. Members of the Brock community are invited to view recorded videos here. (Sign in required.)
VOLUNTEERING & LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

On May 21, Sandy Howe, Associate Director of Experiential Education and United Way committee co-chair, led a discussion on the links between volunteerism and leadership.
Sandy was joined by Jocelyn Titone, Marketing & Communications Coordinator with the Goodman School of Business and Kristen Smith, Manager of Community Outreach Programs with Student Life & Community Experience.
The three women encouraged everyone to consider ways to get involved and mentioned some specific organizations where they have volunteered.
To get started, Kristen recommends InCommunities, the Niagara Volunteer Connections Database, where you can explore opportunities tailored to your interests, location, and available time commitment.
Several participants also shared their own suggestions for volunteer opportunities in the meeting chat.
If you have additional suggestions, please let us know and we will add to the list below. Email mpetkovic2@brocku.ca
Canadian Federation of University Women
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
Helping our Northern Neighbours (Facebook group)
Niagara SPCA and Humane Society
United Way Interested in becoming part of Brock’s United Way Committee? Contact Sandy Howe @showe@brocku.ca for more information.