First, privatized training is not necessarily bad for women. The Canadian Association for Adult Education's analysis of Statistics Canada's Adult Education Survey has confirmed that most work-related training has historically been employment-related (Chart 4) (34). Yet programs and grants available to business and industry have traditionally been underused. A 1984 study by the Ontario Manpower Commission found that a provincial program of support, Training in Business and Industry (TIBI) was unknown to 88% of the businesses surveyed, while a federal program, Critical Trade Skills Training, was unknown to 93% (35).

The study found also that 73% of Ontario's businesses have no formal training programs whatsoever. Eighty-three percent offer no formal training in general skills, such as writing or management. Eighty percent offer no formal qualifying or upgrading training needed for a specific job. Research conducted for the recent Economic Council of Canada report indicated that this general situation applies across Canada. Where employer-based training does exist, it is disturbingly short in length and serves only a small proportion of employees (36) (Table 7). Of particular concern with respect to this study, are the relatively low numbers of women whose training and education is employer- sponsored. The Canadian Association of Adult Education's analysis found, for example, that less than 14% of women's adult education is employer- sponsored (Chart 5). Overall, the Canadian work force is not as well- trained as it should be. If a new public policy focus on training for the already-employed results in a more productive public-private training partnership and in more and better training for workers, then the new situation may well be an improvement over the old one. Generally speaking employer-sponsored training tends to be focused, job-relevant and results-oriented, in that it is specifically designed to improve the individual's performance on-the-job. The results can be relatively efficient use of resources and useful learning for the trainee. In this connection, some employers have sponsored programs in critically important areas such as literacy, English as a second language and working with high technologies (37). The 'If' in the above proposition is a big one and will need to be monitored carefully. For example, the so-called 'invisible ceiling' which keeps most women at or below middle management positions is very much a reality in Canadian business and industry (38). Whether new opportunities for on-the-job training can assist women to break through this 'ceiling' in any significant way remains to be seen.

There is a new and important role for organizations like CCLOW to play in working directly with employer groups and industrial organizations to help facilitate improved workplace-training for women. In particular, these groups should be able to use skills developed in lobbying within the public sector to advocate on behalf of women's rights to 'generic' skills training and to upward and lateral mobility within organizations and among firms.