Working with adults who honestly want to learn is fantastic! I couldn't work anywhere else.

I enjoy working with adults and the challenge it brings me as a facilitator interacting with people. Learning about people and myself through them.

Love working with people, especially women!

For some of us, the rewards of this work relate to our beliefs:

I have always been interested in politics and education -literacy was the perfect match.

I like the educational philosophy of the program I work with. I see it as part of work for social change.

I knew people involved in literacy, knew that adults had little advocacy for basic education - thought I could do some good.

Many of us talked about how personally rewarding this work can be:

I enjoy the work and feel it is valuable.

I love the work. I care about the students. I think basic education is important.

I learn things and find support and community. Pay.

I'm good at it.

• Working conditions

Eleven of the twenty-five women who answered this questionnaire work part-time in literacy. Two of these women work as volunteers and three are paid on an hourly basis. The number of hours we work ranges from three or four for the volunteers to thirty-two hours a week. Most part-time workers do not work all year. Fourteen work full-time, but only nine of these women work year-round.

The average annual salary among those of us who work in community-based programs is $29,129. More than half of these work full-time. The average annual salary among women who work in community colleges is $44,000 and the majority are part-time sessional workers. Only seven of us are union members. Two have full-time unionized jobs and do part-time work as volunteers. Four work in unionized positions in literacy.

Only one of the unionized women works full-time in literacy. None of the unionized programs are east of Saskatchewan.

There are some regional differences in salaries. While the average salary is $28,000 for women who work in both central and western programs, most who work in programs in Ontario work full-time, while most in the west work part- time. The average annual salary for women working in eastern programs is $25,000 and in northern programs is $47,000.