Without giving too much away, I wanted to let you in on the exciting work going on behind the scenes in Helga's world.
I was surfing the Government of Canada's buyandsell website for archives on past tenders for coveralls, and I began to notice something was missing - no specifications were required in the issued tenders that took into account the female body proportion.
Well, that can't be right, right? So I expanded my search to include every one-piece garment I could imagine, from coveralls to nuclear hazard suits. Nothing.
After some deliberation, and reaching out to support from the SheEO community, a multi-pronged plan of action started to take form.
Helga Wear is proud to be joining arms with industry stakeholders (yet to be announced) to ask our Prime Minister and various MP's to have crucial language added to the Government of Canada’s tendering process - requiring bidders to consider the female body proportion when supplying one-piece industrial garments (eg: coveralls, flight suits, CBRN suits, search and rescue uniforms, extreme weather overalls, and more).
If this excites you, and you agree that women can't be truly included in any projects where they are expected to fit into one-piece garments designed to fit the standard male population (see the NASA space suits fiasco), keep an eye out for how you can help. We may soon be looking for signatures, or for in-person support as we take this request all the way to the top.
Because once the Government of Canada gets behind women's right to body-appropriate one-piece industrial garments, industries are sure to follow. It's already long overdue.