I wanted to write a chapter about women and literacy, mostly to acknowledge the reality and reasons why more women than men are drawn to literacy work but after talking to a number of people about this subject, I found myself on some uncertain but interesting new ground.
The first difficult question that was raised when I started to talk about the involvement of women in the literacy field was whether or not literacy is a "feminist issue". KATHY CHANG had this to say:
"In my mind I can relate literacy to absolutely every social issue, feminism just being one of them. More and more I lean to the idea of literacy being a feminist issue but I fight it because I am a proudly professed humanist and I think men have just as many problems as women do. I really dislike confrontation; I think collaboration is the answer. If we say that this is just a women's issue then we set ourselves up against all the men and anti-feminists. So the issue of feminism is there but let's not make a big deal out of it."
BONNIE ANNICCHARICIO said, "I think literacy has made me more of a feminist" (Chapter 6), because she has been frustrated and angered by the difficulties women face (lack of child care, low self-esteem and unsupportive spouses) as they make efforts to further their education or make changes in their lives. Many of the people with whom I spoke share Bonnie's frustrations and are beginning to talk more now about "woman-positive" learning environments.
I have become increasingly aware of my own frustrations as I continually hear about or witness situations where the generosity, dedication and professionalism of women working in the field of adult literacy is blatantly undervalued. However saddened and indignant I feel about the fact that too often the work of literacy workers is taken for granted, there are other issues regarding women and literacy that require honest consideration. For the moment I would like to put the idea of feminism aside and talk about what draws more women than men to the field of literacy. At this time I would also like to respectfully acknowledge the men who have contributed their expertise to the field over the years, knowing that they will understand the need for this discussion.
COLLEEN HANLEY who administrates the LEARN Program through Lakeland College in Cold Lake describes why she thinks literacy work is more suited to women than men:
"When you look at literacy and the skills and the abilities and the 'head spaces' that are needed to work in the literacy field and when you look at who's filling those positions and at where women are comfortable, it's just a natural. You wouldn't expect to find a lot of men in this field."
"Women think holistically - literacy is holistic. Women aren't comfortable with numbers and linear work - literacy is not specific, it's fairly vague. Women have strong communication skills - this is clearly a communications environment. Women have a community base, getting things done for nothing - if literacy is anything it's getting things done for nothing! So without wanting to sound too stereotypical it makes total sense for women to be more involved in literacy than men."