To celebrate International Women’s Day 2021, we’ve released a special episode of The CFI Podcast, as part of our Women in Forestry series. In this episode, CFI editor Ellen Cools spoke with Carol Walker, a registered professional forester and manager of forestry policy and planning for the City of Toronto. Carol recently wrote a blog post for Women in Wood sharing her experience as one of few women of colour in the industry, in an effort to raise awareness about forestry as a potential career for women of colour.
We spoke with her about her experience in the industry, the barriers to getting more women of colour into forestry, the importance of fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce, and more.
According to Carol, for the industry to become more diverse and attract more women of colour, women of colour need to see themselves represented in the career. They need to be exposed to forestry as a career option and see images of diverse people in those careers.
“People of colour have to see themselves. We have to see ourselves and have that acknowledgement that we’re not invisible, but rather that we, too, belong, and our contributions are welcome in the various roles,” she explained.
Listen to the full episode to hear more from Carol.
Tune in now and look for future episodes at www.woodbusiness.ca/podcasts.
Thank you to the Forest Products Association of Canada for sponsoring this episode.
Music: www.purple-planet.com