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The call went out around the cafeteria. "All women in literacy work who consider themselves feminists and who want to form a network of support, come to this table and eat lunch together." This happened at the Literacy 2000 Conference held in New Westminster in October, 1990. These women discovered a common vision, to be able to identify themselves as feminists and to be recognized as contributing to the women's movement through their work in literacy programs. They uncovered a common need: to have the opportunity to speak with each other as women, and to share and compare their concerns and experiences. So began the exciting discussions and plans to bring together a diverse group of women from every region of Canada who work in the literacy field. Over lunch, these women formed a committee that asked the Canadian Congress for Learning Opportunities for Women (CCLOW) to support the development of the network and to help organize a conference. CCLOW agreed to assist with the network and help raise funds to hold the conference. CCLOW's support and connections with women and literacy gave the group a strong base for starting an organization. The Ad Hoc Steering Committee, formed to work on this project, agreed that the network would be called "Feminist Literacy Workers Network" (FLWN) and that all women working in the field of literacy as students, workers, researchers or volunteers could join the network. Their main goals were:
In the meantime, a "Wandering Book" began to circulate among a loose network of women. The idea of the book was to provide a forum for women in literacy to tell their stories and to share their feelings, thoughts and experiences of literacy work with other women. The list of women interested in the "Wandering Book" and in the network grew. Soon there were several Books circulating and the momentum for a national conference and a founding meeting was high. |
A LITTLE BACKGROUND
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