The issue emerged about whether women should be concerned about educating men. Some felt that we should not try to re-educate older men but should concentrate on teaching the new generations.

It was agreed that the ultimate goal for women in each of the countries represented at the Seminar and in the tours, was equality. However, an important point recognized was that the process by which each country arrives at equality may well be different depending on the culture and present socio-economic status of the society. The issues and priorities vary from country to country. For example, access to training and re-training is an issue for Canadian women because of technology and the skill gap that exists and is growing. But, for Japanese women, this gap in training appears at the present time to be an impossible chasm. Adult education for women continues to be limited to home and family skills. When women do achieve a high level of education the employment opportunities do not correspond. Japanese women were amazed to hear and consider that middle-aged, Canadian women continue their education and seek jobs at higher levels.

Participant believed that the Decade of the Woman introduced 1975, International Women's Year, had awakened the consciousness of women and many men but that all our dreams and concrete goals would and could not be realized by 1985. It was agreed that the universal, collective push for equal rights for women in all societies was just beginning and that the struggle would have to be perpetuated long after the decade was over.

This article has been reduced from a more detailed and lengthy report of the seminar, plus three days of meetings with educators and government ministers in Japan. The report is available form the CCLOW national office.

Lenore Rogers, president of CCLOW, works and lives in Regina where she is Program Coordinator of Regina Plains Community College.

Announcement

The National Women's Education Centre in Japan, established in 1977, has as its objectives the promotion of women's education through the practical training of those involved in women's education, and through conducting specialized research on women's education. There are programs for leaders in women's education and for the general public, as well as research seminars; the Centre also held an international seminar on women's education, training and employment in 1980.

There is also a library of 30,000 volumes and 600 periodical titles, in many languages. Publications on women's issues from other countries are welcomed. Address: National Women's Centre, 728, Sugaya, Ranzan-machi, Hikigun, Saitama-ken , 355-02, Japan; telephone: 049362-6711.