‘We need everyone we can get’: Kathy Abusow of SFI on #WomenInForestry

Kathy Abusow, president and CEO of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), says that over the past 30 years, she’s gone from being the “only woman in the room” to seeing women fill a variety of roles in the forest products industry.

The next step, she says in a clip from the Alberta Forest Products Association (AFPA)’s recent #WomenInForestry social media campaign, is for the industry to develop pathways for women to enter leadership positions. “You have to create the conditions for success so that they are getting those opportunities.”

Not only will those conditions boost diversity and inclusion in the workforce, she says, but also they will help to mitigate the skills shortage facing the industry.

“I think everyone gets that we need women in the workforce,” says Abusow in the campaign, which was created to highlight the array of roles in the industry that are available to women. “We need men in the workforce. We need everyone we can get.”

Watch her story:

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This post is part of CFI, Pulp & Paper Canada and Canadian Biomass’ Women in Forestry project celebrating International Women’s Day on March 8. Find more content here and follow on social media with the hashtags: #WomeninForestry as well as #IWD2020 and #EachforEqual.