The above discussion of the labour market and National Training Program contexts for functionally illiterate women show clearly that efforts must be made by government to increase the participation of women in educational and job-training programs. This increase refers not only to the number of women in these programs but also to the number of programs provided. Both must be increased. An indicator of the inadequacy of the current number of ABE programs available is the minute proportion of the educational budget that is allotted to adult education in general, an even smaller proportion of which goes to literacy (CAAE, 1982).

Another important ingredient in the process of increasing the participation of under-educated women in educational and job-training programs is a system of support services for them. The purposes of such a system are to attract women into the programs, to enable them to remain in the program until completion, and to provide them with information which they can use to identify and set goals and make plans for their future activities. Consequently, any support system for under-educated women attending programs outside their homes must address at least the questions discussed in the following sections.

1. How can under-educated women be informed about, and encouraged to participate in, educational programs developed for them?

This question requires extensive knowledge about the ways through which under-educated women acquire knowledge from their environment. For example, educators should be aware that the medium most often used by these women is their own knowledge networks: relatives, friends, social workers, offspring.

2. What do under-educated women - once informed about and willing to participate in educational programs -- need to physically enter the programs?

This question is one that requires practical, concrete answers and funding sources. Funds are needed for local transportation, fees (if the program is not offered free of charge), textbooks, and other learning materials. For women with children, attendance at educational programs demands that they secure childcare services for their children while they are away from home.

3. Once in the programs, what do under-educated women need to enable them to remain in the programs?

The third question is one of maintenance -- maintaining women's participation in the programs. To a large extent this maintenance is dependent upon the student-teacher relationship, the relevance of the curriculum to the student's life, the method of teaching, events in the student's personal or family life, among other things. Most important to maintaining women's participation in the programs is the women's perception of themselves as learners and of their opportunities in society upon completion of their studies. In other words, their motivation to learn will be affected by their confidence in their ability to learn what is being taught and their perceptions about how their lives will improve as a result of their studies.

4. Upon completion of the programs, what do under-educated women need in order to apply what they have learned for the improvement of their lives?

This question is best answered by women students who are attending particular programs. Some of them may wish to continue their learning in other programs and will need information about other learning opportunities. Others may wish to go immediately into the labour force. For these women, career counselling is an essential service. They may need information about their rights as workers, about unions, about the variety of occupations now available to women, about job training programs. More concretely, they may need direct assistance in finding jobs .

In the foregoing discussion of support services for under-educated women in educational programs, suggestions about the types of services to be provided, how, by whom, and so on were not put forward. Instead, an analysis of some of the issues involved in developing a system of support services for under-educated women was offered. CCLOW has taken this position because it is not a direct service organization and does not have the expertise to provide concrete, practical suggestions for the development of such systems. Indeed, such suggestions must come from those directly involved in the provision of educational programs for functionally illiterate women -- students, instructors, counsellors and administrators. The views of some of these persons are presented later in this report.

2.6. CONCLUSION

Three points have been raised in this chapter which relate to functional illiteracy within the adult female population in Canada. First, the issue of functional illiteracy is an extremely complex one, involving economic, political and ideological causes at both the national and international levels. Consequently, the approach to the elimination of illiteracy among women must be comprehensive in perspective and global in scope. Second, in Canada, measures must be taken by government to increase the participation of under-educated women in education programs, These programs should aim to give women a basic education that provides more than skills in the three "R's", This basic education must also prepare women to take the science and mathematics courses which are required for admission into training programs in those technical occupations for which there is growing economic demand in Canada. Third, to facilitate an increase in the participation of under-educated women in educational programs, a system of support services must be developed for the women through which they can be enabled to enter and remain in the programs, and to have a sense of direction upon completion.