Some of us discovered that our programs seemed "worker-centred" rather 'learner-centred." Staff in these programs resisted practices that made the program more accessible to women students because these changes resulted in inconvenience or a shift in focus from working conditions to learning conditions.

Staff and students in other programs seemed to resist activities that challenged them in terms of their sexism, classism, racism, ablism. In a few programs with mixed classes of men and women, the power of the men's sexism rode the power of the woman teacher. We often found it very difficult to fight sexism directly.

Simply stated, men's violence - both the threat and the reality of men's violence - made it difficult for some of us to initiate or continue doing woman- positive work.

Programs and women may not have had the money, space, or childcare needed to go forward with their work. The lack of suitable, affordable childcare is a major limit on what we are able to do. It seems essential that we recognize that one or two women in a program cannot fight the whole societal issue of childcare - or woman-negative circumstances.

• Why were the good days good?

The good days were good because we were persistent determined, and worked hard. Whatever was happening in the lives of women staff and women students, in the lives of women in our communities, influenced what happened in our activities. Mostly, the good days were good because we were in the right place at the right time with the necessary resources and energy to make the best of being ten together. We have a long list of what women said about our experience of good days -

• Good days happened when women could be there because no one had been raped, no one had been the victim of other kinds of violence in their lives. When women had enough food and a place to sleep we had good days.

• Good days happened when women momentarily forgot fear and were open to new ideas.

• Good days happened when there was good weather and women came to class feeling good about themselves. That means we have better reading, better discussions.

• Good days happened because we were able to truthfully talk about our lives in our own way. We crafted our own community with our stories.

• Good days happened when we were talking around a kitchen table - telling our own stories in our own voices about our own lives. We were talking about "issues." We talked about condoms, chocolate cake, someone changing her life. We helped each other.