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Beyond issues related to the amount of available training and
access to it, lie questions related to quality -- the process and content of
programs. Relatively little research exists regarding women's preferences for
how to learn (16). That which does exist, however, shows that women prefer a
participative and collaborative approach to learning which emphasizes
self-determination and the blending of intuitive with received knowledge (17).
Most educational institutions and training programs take an approach which is
competitive and insensitive to individual differences. Those who seek to use
more women-centered methods find that inappropriate resources and institutional
structures make it very difficult.
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"It's built-in this idea that they the trainees are broke
and we (the trainers) are going to fix them. But of course there's nothing
wrong with those women really and it's impossible to expect a 9 or 12 month
program to catapult them into $30,000/year jobs... Unfortunately, they tend to
blame each other..." |
(interviewee)
3.0 THE POLICY ANALYSIS
3.1 Education and Economic Equality
The three focus areas for the study have been access,
privatization and outcomes. There are, however, a number of 'themes' that have
emerged during the course of the research which move across all three areas.
3.1.1 On Economic Equality
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"Education and training must take place but access to
jobs, fair remuneration, and restructuring of jobs must come first ... It
should be possible for women to do any job they aspire to do and have the
ability to do end have a full family life." |
(interviewee)
There is a general and apparently increasing recognition on the
part of politicians and bureaucrats of the legitimacy and importance of
equality issues for women (18). Unfortunately, this recognition has not been
fully translated in specific supporting policies. There is considerable
consensus currently about the three most critical areas for policy development
with regard to equality: equal pay for work of equal value, as a means of
addressing the wage gap; equal employment opportunity, as a means of
desegregating occupations; and the restructuring of work and family life in
order to allow for a more equitable sharing of the responsibilities for
domestic labour and the care of dependents among women, men and the state. In
each case there is some progress. Equal pay for work of equal value legislation
now exists in Ontario, Manitoba, Quebec and at the federal level, and is being
considered in Prince Edward Island. Employment equity legislation exists at the
federal level and is providing the basis for some encouraging initiatives, most
notably compliance provisions within contracts for major federal contractors
and some emerging recognition within the Skills Shortages Program of Canadian
Jobs Strategy that it is necessary to train not only for existing but also for
emerging job vacancies. In Ontario as well, the Women's Directorate is placing
a high priority on working with employers on employment equity. With respect to
the creation of new supports for the family, the federal government is expected
to announce a new national child care policy this fall (1987). In Ontario and
Prince Edward Island extended programs of support for day care have already
been announced.
Important as these initiatives are however, they are barely a
beginning. In each case provisions of the legislation and/or programs leave out
at least as much as they include. For the vast majority of women in Canada, the
conditions of their lives remain unchanged. |