EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION

The Canadian Congress on Learning Opportunities For Women (CCLOW) is a national, non-profit voluntary organization, concerned with the provision of learning opportunities for women in Canada. We define "learning opportunities" as any formal or informal means which contribute to the personal, social, economic and/or political development of women. These may include academic upgrading, skill training, post-secondary education, assertiveness training, self-help groups, re-entry programs and professional development.

CCLOW is intensely interested in the National Training Act. Since its conception through to its implementation, we have carefully monitored its development and assessed its impact on women.

After careful study and review of the legislation, including a one-day colloquium* in Toronto in June, 1983, CCLOW identified a number of serious shortcomings in the Act. These shortcomings clearly suggest that the National Training Act was, and continues to be, detrimental to women who are attempting to access training opportunities in Canada.

BACKGROUND

In June 1983, CCLOW developed the plan to carry out a research project regarding the impact of the NTA on women's access to training. Two broad objectives were identified:

1. To determine the number of women accessing training under the National Training Act in order to make recommendations and to define areas of further research; and,
   
   
2. to make contacts and establish a communications or information sharing network with senior representatives in federal and provincial government agencies responsible for education and training opportunities for women.

*See Appendix A.