Executive Summary

Introduction

From March 2 to 5, 2000, the Canadian Congress for Learning Opportunities for Women (CCLOW) hosted a conference on women's learning, education and training in Canada, in collaboration with the National Women's Reference Group on Labour Market Issues (NWRG). The conference brought together a diversity of women from across Ontario and the rest of Canada to discuss the status of women's learning, education and training in this country and to strategize for the future.

The aim of the conference was to examine the current status of women's learning, education and training in Canada, and the continued role of a national organization addressing these issues. Six overarching theme areas were identified by CCLOW's Board of Directors, with input from the membership, and from the summer of 1999 on, open on-line discussions refined the focus of these areas and elicited sub-themes and important issues. Conference workshops were designed based on the outcomes of these discussions.

An auxiliary aim of the conference was to investigate a potential merging between CCLOW and the National Women's Reference Group (NWRG) on Labour Market Issues. The advantages and disadvantages of such a merger were weighed by members of both CCLOW and NWRG and, after much discussion, it was decided that such a merger would not take place at this time.

Themes
Learning, Work and Gender Equity
This discussion concerned itself with past and pending changes to Employment Insurance policies and eligibility, and with the loss of the "equity principle" in devolution of training responsibility from the federal to provincial governments. Workshops under this theme were: Gender-Based Analysis, Practical Approaches to Increasing Women's Participation in Technical and Non-traditional Occupations and Increasing Women's Participation in Trades and Technology Occupations and Blue Collar Work.

Technology and Women's Learning
As new information technologies affect all aspects of life in our culture, it is important for women to have access to these technologies. There exists a "digital divide": the haves and have-nots of access to and use of new technology. Also important is how learning and education are affected by new technologies and how this impacts on women. Workshops under this theme were: Women's Access to New Information Technologies, New Information and Communication Technologies and Women-Centered Learning, and Access to Learning Through Technology (The Community Learning Networks).

Women's Literacy Education
It is important to counter the trend to link literacy exclusively to employment and instead promote its use as a tool towards independence and empowerment. It is also important to defend learner-centered, goal-oriented curriculum, rather than a standardized approach for every program and every learner. Workshops under this theme presented examples of good programming that incorporates learner - centered curriculum. They were: Women, Literacy and Health, Basic Education for Women at Work, and Worker-Centered Learning Programs for Women and Their Families.