Reflections --- End of May 1992

We've completed our community visits. Out of a potential of approximately 270 women we were only able to have discussions with seventy-six of them. We feel good about talking with so many women but we feel badly about the women we did not reach. We did the best we could; each home was approached at least twice.

A high number of women in one particular area were not at home and the person answering the door said they were out working. We found that interesting because there are so few jobs available and many of the people in this area are on some form of government assistance. Wouldn't they be at home? Perhaps the person answering the door didn't want us to talk with the woman.

In many instances, people would just not answer the door. Clearly people were inside and on several occasions someone would be seen peeking out behind a curtain. In other instances, a man would answer the door and say the woman is not interested, but he would not even tell her we were there to see her.

Some women were just not interested in talking with us and indicated they had nothing to say. In a lot of cases we felt the woman didn't want to talk because men were home. In several instances a discussion would be underway with a woman and the man would butt in or answer a question. The woman would then say, in one form or another, "I'm really not interested in this."

For the most part, older women were not interested in completing the questionnaire. They did often welcome us in for a cup of tea and were quite happy with the company and an opportunity to show photos and talk about their family members. In general this was the group who appeared to be most contented with their lot in life.

We were quite interested in how women thought about the possibility of making changes in their lives. At one point in the questionnaire we asked them, "Do you know women who have decided to make changes in life?" Almost all of the women who said they did spoke about women getting more education. Some used themselves as an example: "Myself - got my GED." Another said, "Me, I'm trying to get my children in full-time daycare so I will .. be capable of going back to school and feel like I'm a person and not just a somebody."

Other women spoke admiringly about friends and relatives who went back to school or found jobs: "My daughter went back to school." "I know of somebody who went back to school and is now taking a trade." "My sister, she started work to support herself and her baby girl."