FORWARD

In late December a group of C.C.L.O.W. members agreed to work together to learn about the process of developing policy. We worked from December through to early April, and our collective efforts produced this report.

We feel that the work we have done is of interest to all those concerned with learning opportunities for women. We chose to work on issues related to the disadvantages experienced by functionally illiterate or undereducated women; but in many cases, the policies we developed could just as easily be applied to all women desirous of furthering their education.

The report we are submitting for your consideration is long and tends to be overwhelming at first glance. It should be read one part at a time and not all at once. For your convenience we have also provided:

1. A summary listing of the ten issues we discussed, each relating to the main topic of the undereducated woman, and of the policy recommendations which arise from each issue. We believe that these policies are important for C.C.L.O.W. to consider as a basis for future activities. The recommendations are tentative and require further discussion and refinement. We invite you to actively enter into this process. Explicit background material on each issue is to be found in the main body of the report.
   
   
2. An outline of the process we used to guide our activities in developing the policies. This process could be used by any group seeking to develop its own policy in this or any other area of concern. We invite you to try it for yourself. We also invite you to check conditions relating to undereducated women in your own area and to compare them to the "national average".
   
   
3. Some of the background material we gathered and thought would be of interest to others. This material is presented in five appendices at the end of the report.

We hope you will find time to read the report in detail, and thereby come to the same understanding we came to about the difficulties involved in being an undereducated woman in today's society.