Action:

• The importance of in-house upgrading programs for retraining employees, particularly support staff, is stressed.

• Women's communication networks are becoming vital: women must become aware of available programs and new job opportunities, and be encouraged to seek management and decision-making positions.

• Alumni can be useful support groups to provide teachers and students with information about existing courses, new orientation in the field, and job opportunities. Their help can be extended to recent graduates entering the workforce, through evaluation, information sessions and influence networks.

• There is a particular need for a comprehensive directory of training programs available throughout Canada. It is urgent that resources be shared among provinces, and educational programs be standardized.

Directions and Strategies for Training:
Implications of the Dodge Report

Moderator:
Lee Farnworth, CFUW

Panelists:
Lynn Wilkinson, Coordinator,
Adult Education & Training,
Labour Market Development
Task Force, CEIC

Lenore Rogers, President, CCLOW

Women are poorly informed and poorly guided in the area: of training programs. The problem is compounded by rapid changes, which keep the workplace in constant flux. Innovations are so rapid that training needs are difficult to identify. Women's training is too often outdated and only serves to confirm their inferiority in the marketplace. To the degree that the National Training Act is concerned with specialized jobs, it ignores the needs of a majority of female workers.

Action:

• The urgent need for educational institutions and employers to improve the coordination of training programs.

• The elaboration of courses providing technical training geared to specific careers in the field of high technology.

• Training that will prepare women to participate in the decision-making process in the workforce