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LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
FOR DOUBLY DISADVANTAGED WOMEN
LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES FOR RURAL WOMEN - SUSAN WISMER
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Susan Wismer has extensive experience in adult
education and a particular interest in community development. As a Rural
Community Development Worker with St. Lawrence College in Kingston, Ontario,
she worked on community-based educational programs, literacy development,
community economic development and community building. Susan is co-author, with
David Pell, of Community Profit, a book which describes various Canadian
efforts in community-based economic development. |
Rural women come from many different places in Canada and live
many diverse life-styles. What they share is a lack of access to urban
services, and isolation. Formal learning opportunities are few. For the rural
woman, her classroom is everything around her - home, family and community. She
has no teacher; she learns in dialogue with her friends and neighbors and in
interaction with her world.
This workshop considered community-based learning strategies for
women. Making use of Paulo Freire's work, and focusing on a woman's place in
the economy of her community, the nature and content of learning opportunities
for rural women was analyzed. Using a case study, personal experiences, and
some background material, participants worked together to apply the analysis to
their home situations in Quebec, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island and
Labrador.
Some participants in this eclectic group argued that women
should not be allowed to give up leadership in projects they initiate, others
argued that women should not start projects that will eventually conflict with
family responsibilities. Some felt that men usurp women's leadership roles;
still others felt that educators should limit their work to the activities more
commonly associated with education - that is, with formal education
opportunities.
WOMEN & AGING - LOUISE DULUDE
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Louise Dulude is a lawyer-researcher specializing in
women's issues. She is author of the Women and Poverty report for the
National Council of Welfare, Women and Aging for the Canadian Advisory
council on the Status of Women, and Pension Reform with Women in Mind also for
the C.A.C.S.W. Louise is now researching and writing a report on alimony and
family maintenance payments. |
This French workshop on women and aging went very well. About 30
women participated, a few of them very actively.
In the first part of the workshop, Louise Dulude gave a talk on
the main problems (excluding health problems) affecting the majority of
Canadian women past the age of 65: loneliness, poverty, difficulty in making
social or business contacts. According to Louise, these problems are not
inevitable but stem, for the most part, from the way women have been educated
in this society.
After the talk, the discussion was very animated between
participants. The main debate concerned whether or not to include homemakers in
the Canada Pension Plan/Quebec Pension Plan. Some argued that by acknowledging
the work of women in the home, we would be harming and, in the long run,
slowing down the integration process of women into the work force. A second
group stated that women should get their fair share right now and that we
should not wait until the next generation. |