Meet Gina Cody: She’s a woman, an immigrant, an engineer, a business leader and philanthropist. Yes, she’s pretty impressive!
Gina Cody shared her inspiring story with graduates of the Sister2Sister program. (To watch her keynote, click on the image above.)
“Hard work and a little luck.” That’s how Gina Cody described her remarkable success story to graduates of the Sister2Sister Women Immigrant Leadership program at their virtual graduation ceremony on October 1. “My hope is that my story can help give you strength,” she said. “That you can gain confidence knowing that there is no magic recipe for success.”
Cody’s story is an inspiring one. When she came to Canada in 1979—during the Iranian revolution—her dream was to earn a master’s and a doctorate in engineering. The hitch? She only had $2,000 to her name, and that wasn’t going to cover her tuition costs.
Her brother, who had just graduated from Concordia University with a degree in engineering, suggested she meet one of his professors to seek guidance. Connecting with Cedric Marsh was the first auspicious bit of luck that changed the course of her life. Marsh was able to arrange financial support and scholarships to cover her costs. Years later, Cody became the first woman to graduate with a Ph.D. in building engineering from the University. Cody credits her love of learning to her mother.
"My mother was ahead of her time. She was a housewife, she married young, and she never finished high school, but she understood the importance and value of education – especially for her two daughters. She told us the only way to be independent as women is through education.”
Gina Cody
It’s a lesson that Cody passed on to her two daughters, one of whom also has a Ph.D. in engineering. Unlike Cody’s own experience—where she was often the only woman in the room—Cody wants to close the gender gap, and she wants a woman’s success to be about her accomplishments and not her gender.
While Cody said she never experienced blatant forms of discrimination, she said her knowledge and expertise were always questioned, and she had to prove herself constantly. She recalled the time she was inspecting construction cranes and one eldery worker suggested she didn’t need to be out in the cold and that she should learn to type. “He wasn’t being mean,” said Cody. “I think he was worried about me because he believed that this was a man’s job.”
Later when she became a company president she said me didn’t believe they were speaking to the boss when they called. Cody assured them she was the boss and that she had a Ph.D in engineering and could help then. That to their attention but not necessarily their respect. Gina said her competency was always questioned. Having taught at her father’s all-boys school, Cody said it taught her how to handle herself around boys and it instilled in her an understanding that she had to be better than her male counterparts to be accepted as an equal. She knew that men expected her to fail and that doing so would only confirm their bias.
"Luckily, I am a perfectionist and extremely competitive, so that didn’t work. I was always prepared for every meeting I attended. ...People were watching me, but rather than focus on being under the microscope because of my gender, I chose to see the positive. The advantage it gave me was that everyone knew who I was and all I had to do was deliver results, and I did. It’s a cliché, but it’s true. [You should] always turn a negative into a positive.”
Gina Cody
Cody went on to build a successful company, which she sold in 2016 when she decided to retire. She also donated $15 million to Concordia University’s Engineering and Computer Science department, and now the school bears her name. It’s the only engineering school in Canada named after a woman, and one of a handful worldwide to share that honour.
Since her retirement, Cody has focused on doing what she can to build a more inclusive, diverse and equal future, particularly in the engineering world. “I envision a world where fields of work and study segregated by gender are a thing of the past,” she said. “We are stronger together. I believe diversity sparks innovation, and creativity. When we open ourselves to different possibilities and opinions, great things can happen.”
She urged the graduates not to be complacent and to advocate and fight for equality. “When women come together to share ideas and experiences, there is an energy, enthusiasm, and cooperative spirit that is awe-inspiring. When women support each other, lift each other up and work toward common goals, there is nothing we can’t accomplish. Remember, the onus is on you. As the famous Persian poet, Rumi said, ‘You’re not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop. Don’t wait for others to lead the change. Each of you is capable of being a changemaker. After spending our entire lives in a world designed by men for men, we sometimes need to be reminded of the value women bring to the table.”
And sometimes, that reminder is just as crucial for women to receive as men. Cody cited a recent report by the United Nations Development Program in March 2020 that found that globally nearly 90 percent of men and women are biased against women. It’s around 51% in Canada, and Cody stressed that number isn’t all men, or even mostly, men. It’s equally divided between the sexes.
“Gender stereotypes and gender roles are deeply ingrained in all of us,” she said. “This is the product of decades of gender stereotyping and discrimination from a male-dominated society. If we are going to make progress in this area, we need to recognize our own biases. We often hear about the glass ceiling, but I think we need to recognize that there are just as many glass walls that keep us trapped. Some that we build ourselves.
Einstein once said, ‘I must be willing to give up who I am to become what I will be.’ Each of us must be willing to shed our biases and prejudices if we want to become the best version of ourselves. Find something or somewhere you can make a difference, then do it. You don’t have to change the world or tackle a global cause. As Martin Luther King said, ‘If you can’t do one great thing, then do many small things great.”
Graduates of the Sister2Sister Immigrant Women Leadership program attending their virtual graduation ceremony.