I appreciated the opportunity to grapple with some issues on an intellectual level with women working in the literacy field.

I think most women felt they were among supportive women. This may have been the most woman-positive dimension of the whole three days: feeling respected and supported so consistently during casual and more formal discussions and conversations.

Artwork produced by women from the Women's Committee at Beat the Street

A few women continued to express concern that so much of the discussion centred on the negative issues facing women. Others felt like this was the only place they had to approach their work critically and to grapple honestly with the reality of many women's lives.

Talking with other women is the best support a project like this could give. It gives me more strength in my woman- positive work and makes me feel connected instead of isolated.

Listening to the struggles we all have when we try to put our beliefs into practice was discouraging and encouraging. Discouraging because I once again realize how hard that is to do and how much resistance there still is in our society to women existing as equals. Encouraging because we're still pushing.

A few women referred back to some of the awkwardness at the first workshop. One wrote about the way in which she felt comfortable with and accepted by those women she had been a bit anxious about meeting again.

The blocks dissipated and I felt like we moved towards friendship and understanding. I feel like there is much more that I want to say to all of them.

Another woman suggested that the second meeting provided an opportunity for women from very different programs and perspectives to get a better sense of each other.

We were very serious, yet there was some very deep laughter. I just love the different personalities and how these bring out both the sharing of serious [thoughts] yet the humour of our differences.

Most women mentioned that they learned a great deal about literacy and about group dynamics from each other: "I'd like to get back and start working on these ideas with our group!" Women seemed to have shifted from understanding their activity as simply part of a project. It was no longer an object of research, but a part of their work. Another woman observed that, compared to the first workshop, we seemed less concerned about presenting ourselves as confident or professional in terms of implementing woman-positive activities