Helping women break into the STEM boys’ club
When Tabatha Bull was applying to university, there was no question in her mind that she would pursue engineering. “I (had) always enjoyed and excelled in math,” she said.
But not many women around her felt the same way, it seemed. She was just one of 19 women enrolled in her 120-person engineering program.
“You do definitely look around the room and think, ‘Holy, there are not a lot of girls in this class,’ ” she said.
The lack of women did not frighten Bull — it emboldened her.
“It made me proud that I was there … it felt like I had something to prove.” She began to wonder, “What is it going to mean for me to be an engineer? And what is that going to mean for engineers that come after me? … What could this story be?”
Bull’s story would turn out to be an impactful one. After working for many years as an engineer, she would land in her current role: president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB), a national non-profit geared toward supporting Indigenous businesses and entrepreneurs.
But that’s not all; she would also be named one of Canada’s 100 most powerful women by the Women’s Executive Network as well as one of the Top 100 lobbyists in Canada by the Hill Times. She would also serve as a judge on APTN’s “Bears’ Lair,” a show similar to “Dragon’s Den” where contestants pitch business ideas, vying for a $100,000 prize.
Bull is herself Indigenous. She is Anishinaabe, a member of Nipissing First Nation and descendant of the MacMillan Clan. The youngest of four children, she grew up in Kincardine, Ont., a community of just 11,000. It was a quintessential small-town upbringing, she said.
Growing up, she “was always very aware … (that) there weren’t very many women in STEM, in
Her engineering degree makes Tabatha Bull a ‘virtual unicorn,’ said her friend Victoria LaBillois
engineering, and definitely not Indigenous women,” she said. According to Engineers Canada, just under one per cent of Indigenous workers are engineers, and only 16 per cent of those are female.
Her engineering degree makes Bull a “virtual unicorn,” said Victoria LaBillois, president for Wejuseg Construction and a close friend of Bull.
LaBillois and Bull met when they worked on an Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development report that outlined an economic strategy for reconciliation for Canada.
“It was really a historic piece,” said LaBillois. “It was the first time that Indigenous people were holding the pen. We know full well what our challenges are. Let us design what we need to see in order to change that narrative.”
Bull has always been drawn to community work. At the CCAB, she oversees a team of 60.
“Not-for-profit really attracts a lot of high-intelligence people and people that are really dedicated and willing to go the extra mile,” Bull said. “So as a leader I need to be really careful and cognizant about the mental health of my team … and avoiding burnout.”
Bull tries to give her staff the care and consideration that she herself was deprived of when she was a young engineer in the workplace.
“There is still a boys’ club in STEM,” Bull said of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines. She remembers how the female engineers were often the last to be invited to construction sites. They rarely got invited to hockey games, golf tournaments or sales trips.
“Business is still done in those settings,” she said. “It definitely put me at a disadvantage that I wasn’t getting those invitations.”
Women in STEM should ally with other women, forming a circle of mentors, Bull suggested. “I’ve found a lot of strength and support in the women (who) have supported me.”
Representation is key. Young women need to see other women doing the things they want to do, Bull said. Otherwise, they might be less compelled to pursue a career in STEM.
Bull has become exactly the mentor she needed when she was younger. She’s knowledgeable, professional and exceptionally qualified, said Marie Delorme, who first met Bull at a CCAB event.
But Bull is not one to self-promote.
“It’s the rest of us who blow the horn for her,” said Delorme.
“She is out there,” LaBillois echoed. “She’s beating the bushes and she works hard for our people.”