2020 Year in Review

Like everyone else, we’ve been living much of 2020 in a virtual world. We’re making the most of it, and a positive has been the opportunity to reach further through digital means, and bring WIW together from opposite sides of the continent and world. The Women in Wood Facebook group has grown to more than 1,900 women - That’s 700 more than last year!

We’ve held 6 WIW Virtual Meet-ups via Zoom. 4 were informal, simply providing an opportunity to chat with WIW from all over, one provided interview tips and tricks from expert WIW Faye Johnson and Riet Verheggen, and one focused on the balancing act that mom WIW’s face.
Have you checked out #WomeninWood Chats on our Instagram? Quick and to-the-point, Jess has been chatting with Women in Wood in different roles about why they love their jobs, how they got where they are today, and what advice they have for other WIW. They are all archived in the #womeninwood IGTV channel.
We’ve mailed out over 300 WIW Hoodies and countless tees all over the world!
A WIW Webinar series, hosted by CIF, took place this fall with some knock-out presentations by sector leaders including Tanya Wick, Marie Cyr, Kevin Edgson and Jacquie LaRocque. Each presentation was followed by a lively discussion! You can view the recorded versions if you missed out!
We celebrated our 5th year anniversary, and provided an update to Canadian Forest Industries Magazine to mark the occasion. CFI launched womeninforestry.ca to house the magazine’s many great features promoting women in the forest sector, well done!

Various organizations and events have invited us to chat about WIW, including:

Forest in Women’s Hands 2020 Online Conference - this international conference presented the new Daube region Initiative Fem4Forest, that explores best practices of integrating women in the forest sector.
Wisconsin’s Society of American Foresters Statewide Meeting featured a Women in Natural Resources panel discussion and social to celebrate diversity in the forest sector.
The UK’s Institute of Chartered Foresters Continuous Professional Development (CPD) hosted WIW to speak about the successes and opportunities of the network.
The Bangor Forestry Student’s Association in Wales invited WIW to speak to students about the power of the network.

The international nature of these events in which WIW has been asked to participate has diversified the WIW Facebook group, bringing women from around the world to be a part of the community. Women participation in the forests sector is a global challenge, and greater interest in women entering and participating in the sector is leading to numerous groups and events being formed at a local level.

Lastly, Women in Wood received a mention in the 2019 State of Canada’s Forests Report, along with several others in a “Women Championing Women in Forestry” feature. The section describes the actions being taken by Katrina Van Osch-Saxon, Cindy Shaw and Dr. Nicole Heshka, Tanya Wick, and Women in Wood to encourage an increase in the 17% representation (2016) of women in the forest sector.