3.2 Access

Access issues have historically been an area of vital concern for CCLOW. Access issues are best described by all those factors which work as barriers to women's efforts to realize personal benefit or occupational improvement from an educational experience.

Access issues can best be identified and analyzed within the context of the typical life cycle of work for girls and women. Although learning is a continuous process throughout one's working life, there are certain 'critical' moments when access to learning is of particular importance. For example, given the increasing importance of secondary and post-secondary schooling in the current and emerging job market, it is important to analyze the role of access issues in the decision-making processes of those who leave school before completing secondary education and/or who decide not to seek post-secondary education. A second period of critical importance comes, typically, 10-20 years after the first when women who have not been full-time in the labour market for some years seek to reenter it. There are, as well an increasing number of moments of career change either through in-service training within one organization or through movement to another type of work entirely during the four decades of involvement that most women have with the paid labour market. Finally, there is retirement the time at which women move permanently out of the world of paid labour.

Typically entry to the labour force takes place between the ages of 15 and 24. Access issues of particular importance during the period of education for entry include: financial support, geographical proximity, information about what opportunities for learning are available and what impact this learning can be expected to have on the range of occupational choices which women will have throughout their 40-50 years of involvement with work within the formal economy, peer support, and the availability of high quality child care for infants and young children. High quality training programs in generic skills, designed to assist young women to move into occupations which offer good potential-for high quality employment are critical, as are remedial programs in literacy, numeracy, and English/French as a second language for those who have not been well- served by primary schooling, or who have moved to Canada from other countries. With respect to these programs, an important but frequently overlooked access issue concerns the content and structure of education which should, but seldom does, reflect young women's preferred learning styles.

Women contemplating re-entry or career change typically have a different set of learning needs, and often their informal economic responsibilities have changed somewhat since the time of entry. Access to child care for instance often not only includes requirements for care for infants and pre-schoolers, but also after-school and summer programs for school-age children. Frequently, care for elderly or disabled relatives is also a concern. Financial support, peer support, geographical proximity and adequate and appropriate information continue to be of concern for most women. It is important to recognize however, that the type of learning program most appropriate for these women is frequently somewhat different. Credit for life experience and mechanisms for translating management skills developed in the home to a paid work context, for example, become increasingly important. Bridging programs, to assist women to move through career choices based on prior experience in declining or poorly paid areas such as clerical work, and/or lack of training in currently emerging fields; and then on to decisions based on a positive matching of aptitude with available or emerging high quality jobs are also of greatest importance for women at this stage. Although access to part-time and/or flexibly scheduled learning is important for all women because of their informal work responsibilities, for women at this stage, it is often absolutely essential.