In those programs where women experienced resistance from men, they interpreted that resistance as a fearful response. Men felt afraid of what might happen, afraid of losing some control over what happened it the program or at home.

Many women talked about the lack of funding for their work as a major source of resistance. For some, it was an active resistance that threatened to close down the activity or the program. For others, it reflected the generally passive resistance to anything that involves women and literacy. Once this project ended, some women felt priorities might change within their programs. They experienced that as a kind of resistance.

The staff is so busy with all the other things going on that we talked about putting the women's group on hold for a while. That really worries me because it means all this exciting stuff that we've been doing, this vision that we have, is going to go on hold because of the fact that we wouldn't have the staff to do it. That's heartbreaking. (Amele Zewge, Toronto ALFA Centre)

Another kind of passive resistance - perhaps the most pervasive - was the simple lack of time most women had to plan and facilitate the activities, and to carry out the research.

Many women acknowledged that they had not set out to challenge the existing philosophies of their programs. They wanted to work within that framework to explore what might fit without a large degree of disruption. Other women talked about the ways in which their position in the hierarchy or in the collective structure of their programs gave them credibility. A few mentioned that they could not be resisted directly because they had an excellent history of teaching or administration within their programs.

• Do you identify yourself as a feminist? Do you think of feminism any differently than when we started this work?

Many women stated a simple "yes," they do identify as feminist. They had called themselves feminists coming into the project and nothing had changed. Some women said "yes, but..." Others said "no, but... " Still others said "no." Many women talked about having a clearer sense of their own definitions of feminism. Others said they hadn't found one that fit quite comfortably.

I'm still searching. I don't think that I would identify myself as a feminist just yet. (Mary Snow, Saint John Learning Exchange)

A few remained reluctant to apply any label to their commitment to working with women.