Media Releases

University of Toronto Launches “Women in House” Program on Parliament Hill

March 4, 2013

TORONTO, ON – The Peace, Con­flict and Jus­tice Pro­gram at the Munk School of Glob­al Affairs and the Inter­na­tion­al Rela­tions Pro­gram at Trin­i­ty Col­lege, Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to, is launch­ing a new pro­gram called the U of T Women in House which will run from March 4^th to March 5^th, 2013.

The U of T Women in House is a new pro­gram aimed at pro­mot­ing a greater female rep­re­sen­ta­tion in the gov­ern­ment by invit­ing female under­grad­u­ate stu­dents to shad­ow the lives of female Cana­di­an politi­cians for a full day in Ottawa. It involves a ful­ly-sub­si­dized, two-day trip to Ottawa to direct­ly wit­ness the polit­i­cal pro­ce­dures, learn about gen­der equi­ty, and engage in men­tor­ship and net­work­ing with Cana­di­an polit­i­cal lead­ers.

The par­tic­i­pants will be greet­ed with a wel­com­ing recep­tion in Ottawa on the evening of March 4^th and meet with their par­lia­men­tary hosts.  This recep­tion is co-host­ed with the Women of Press Gallery to cel­e­brate the Inter­na­tion­al Women’s Week on the Hill.

A num­ber of female MPs and Sen­a­tors will be deliv­er­ing spe­cial remarks at the recep­tion on March 4^th at the Met­ro­pol­i­tan Restau­rant at 8pm, where stu­dents will have a chance to meet with their host par­lia­men­tar­i­an. On Tues­day, March 5^th, stu­dents will take a tour of the par­lia­ment, hear indi­vid­ual speak­ers, attend the Ques­tion Peri­od and shad­ow a day in the life of a female MP or a Sen­a­tor.

This year’s pro­gram is com­posed of 10 female stu­dents from the Peace, Con­flict and Jus­tice Pro­gram and 10 female stu­dents from the Inter­na­tion­al Rela­tions Pro­gram.  These par­tic­i­pants were cho­sen through a com­pet­i­tive process based on their aca­d­e­m­ic mer­its and future career aspi­ra­tions.

The par­tic­i­pat­ing stu­dents will be shar­ing their expe­ri­ence live on social media plat­forms such as Twit­ter and Face­book and will pro­duce a short report upon com­ple­tion of the trip.

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For more infor­ma­tion, con­tact:

Tina Park
Tel: 647–228-5705
tina.park@utoronto.ca
http://uoftwomeninhouse.wordpress.com/
Fol­low us on Twit­ter: #UTWom­enIn­House