Being woman-positive for some of us means confronting our anger. We may not be ready to do that. Also, being woman-positive can mean confronting patriarchy. All of this is intimidating!

Taking the kind of risk inherent in woman-positive activities can mean risking our status in the community. For those of us who are already isolated, stepping even further outside our community may be completely unrealistic. In particular, those of us who are immigrant women receive very little support and friendship from women outside of our communities.

Summary

In summary, then, some women and programs got involved in this research to reduce isolation, to explore new literacy practices, to be part of research, or simply because it was time for change. Others may have chosen not to get involved because they didn't have the resources or support or because they resisted change or the term "woman-positive" itself. We chose our particular activities to try something new or to reflect on something we were already doing.

Support, power, personal credibility, and persistence - along with a strong vision of what we wanted to do - made it possible to go forward with our activities. At the same time, for some of us the risks were too great, the support was too little, or the resistance was too strong for us to continue with what we had planned. The good days in our programs happened because of material circumstances, because we had time to plan and share, because we felt connected. The research brought about change because we had time to reflect and it felt safe to grow with each other.

We believe that if others would also do woman-positive activities they might help change minds and attitudes. They might learn to listen to women and hear the small things they can do to reduce barriers and make education more accessible for women. However, some women will not want to do woman-positive activities, fearing the possibility of stigma, loss of status or credibility, violence. Some women cannot take these risks, especially without support. Others will not want to take these risks, fearing change, isolation, or ostracization. Or, they may simply not relate to the term" woman-positive," they may reject its seeming association with feminism.

5-4  The recommendations

The recommendations included here grew out of our experience during this project but they are rooted in the years of experience that we brought to it. The ongoing reflection during the research nurtured this growth and the recommendations took form following the development of our collaborative analysis at the third and final workshop.