Economic Security for Immigrant Women: Collectively addressing biases in hiring practices

Overview of the project:

Alberta Network of Immigrant Women (ANIW), in partnership with the University of Calgary and the Alberta Men’s Network (AMN), received funding from Women and Gender Equity Canada (WAGE) to carry out a pilot project to examine the anecdotal information received by ANIW on biases, racism, and discrimination in employment and hiring practices in Alberta. The partnership, along with the guidance of the project advisory committee members, approached this problem through a community change model, which engaged two action groups: (1) immigrant women who have experienced employment discrimination, and allies working in human resources. The key objective of this project was to create equitable opportunities for immigrant women to participate fully in Canadian society.

The project documented immigrant women’s experiences of discrimination in hiring practices in Alberta. These experiences were shared with HR Allies, who also reflected on their own experiences and, importantly, HR allies described strategies that were working and had found to be effective ways to challenge the institutional barriers. The findings from the two action groups were shared and validated at a one-day Community Conversation symposium, attended by 62 HR allies, immigrant women, members of non-profit organizations, businesses, academics, and government representatives in June 2023.

Activities

Focus Group Discussions
Community Conversation: Collective Strategies to Address Biased Hiring

Reports

1) Snapshot brochure overview of project result

2) Community Conversation:

Booklet Report: Please Email info@aniw.org if you wish to have a copy.

Testimonials

This conversation gave me so much hope. As an immigrant woman, I often felt invisible in the job market, but hearing employers and community members openly discuss biases in hiring made me feel that change is possible. It was empowering to share my story and know others face similar challenges.

What stood out to me was how collaborative the discussion was. It wasn’t just about pointing out the problems; it was about creating solutions together. I left with new strategies to support immigrant women in my own workplace.

This event helped me better understand the hidden barriers immigrant women face in hiring. As someone in HR, I took away practical steps I can implement to reduce bias in recruitment.