Experts: International Women's Day | March 8 

March 8 is International Women's Day, a global day of recognition celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women and girls, and raising awareness of the work left to be done. (Status of Women Canada)  

Here are some experts from McGill University who can provide comment on this topic:  

Alexandra Ketchum, Assistant Professor, Institute for Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies  

“Women and technology, as highlighted by the Feminist and Accessible Publishing, Communications, and Technologies Series, is an important topic in today's society. We must ask ourselves how our technologies—as wide ranging as artificial intelligence, machine-learning, voice assistants, robots, apps and social media—affect women's rights.”  

Alexandra Ketchum is an Assistant Professor at the Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies. She is the founder of the Feminist and Accessible Publishing, Communications, and Technologies Speaker and Workshop Series, an initiative seeking to bring together scholars, creators, and people in industry working at the intersections of digital humanities, computer science, feminist studies, disability studies, communications studies, LGBTQ+ studies, history, and critical race theory.  

alexandra.ketchum [at] mcgill.ca (English, French – written press only)  

Carola Weil, Dean, School of Continuing Studies   

“As a lifelong advocate for gender equity both in my professional life and scholarship, I work to include women and other equity-deserving individuals, as talented human beings who have something worthwhile to add to our community. Data show that the majority of learners in continuing education are women, often re-entering the workforce after a period of child and/or parental care. They come to McGill School of Continuing Studies to transform their lives, enhance their skills, and adapt to emerging technologies. I was proud to contribute to a dedicated new online course, ‘Empowering Women Through Career and Leadership Development,’ to help women navigate complex organizational settings and manage career advancement challenges.” 

Carola Weil is Dean and Associate Professor in the School of Continuing Studies. A political scientist and policy analyst by training with a focus on international relations, human security and migration, conflict transformation and public diplomacy, Weil’s career has straddled public policy, non-profit, and philanthropic sectors in addition to higher education.  

carola.weil [at] mcgill.ca (English, German, French)