The ideas that she expressed during the interview were really the result of having reflected on her experience as the facilitator of a women only, woman-positive writing group. During the time that Nancy was facilitating the workshop she found it difficult to reflect on what was happening. However, after she finished the program and had some time for reflection, she was better able to consider the impact of the activity on her practice as a literacy worker.

She has become more aware that a literacy program for women is strongest when supported by other community agencies. She believes that women in literacy programs need to have learning happen in a safe environment that provides support in other areas of their lives.

She also believes that women need to be assured that their learning belongs to them and is not decided for them by others or managed for them by others. A woman-positive literacy program can encourage women to assume ownership of their learning and contribute to overall personal growth.

Nancy struggled with what it means to manage a woman-positive group. At first, she assumed that by virtue of being learner-centred, it would be woman-positive. She is currently gaining a new understanding of what it means to work with a group in a way that is woman-positive. For example, she feels one indication that the group is woman-positive is that the women have discovered some freedom in the writing workshops. They feel free to write about such issues as their experience with child abuse, their negative experiences as Natives with the justice system, their admiration for other women in their lives. These writing workshops have provided them with a voice, and the publication of the anthology ensured " that their voices will be heard.

What happened for Nancy was not concrete and measurable. Rather, she gained a growing understanding that literacy programs need to explore and to focus on the unique learning needs and direction of women. To simply provide them with the same opportunities as men! does not achieve equality but instead circumvents women's potential and needs.

What was produced

An eight-page tabloid collection of writing by women in the program was published in early 1993. Excerpts from Native Women Write Now are included in Women in Literacy speak.

"we talked about how to make our literacy classes more feminist.