Readers can gather strength, however, once Thompson states her conclusions for Learning Liberation: the justifications of Women's Studies courses and evidence of how those courses help women resist "the social stronghold of patriarchy". Women's Studies are defined as "a commitment to not letting the process of deletion (from social records) continue but also to a study of the process itself ... the implication of Women's Studies is that we need a radical definition of subject matter, different lines of enquiry and new ways of learning".

These chapters, eight, nine and ten are required reading for any feminist adult educator. Many points made will be familiar to educators beyond Britain, but there is some consolation in solidarity and recognition of common experience. One significant point is that the nature of adult education makes it a more hospitable arena than formal education for learning one's liberation. But this is not to deny the professional risks for educators: "contempt for women, although lightly disguised, remains rampant".

Chapter ten "Work in Progress - a report from Southampton" is a first rate description and analysis of the "Second Chance" program - a series of women's studies courses organized by Thompson and her colleagues. (She is a lecturer in Community Education at the University of Southampton). The chapter could be used as a case study, or for the development of some criteria that could help inform and evaluate similar development in Canada.

Thompson's observations go beyond the women's graduation from "Second Chance" to some reflections on how they fared in more formal and patriarchal contexts. She includes some wickedly irreverent comments from women who had the wit and self confidence to survive - for example, "Rationalism' meant nothing to me and Weber was a neighbor I used to know. The language used by lecturers is still rather strange and a scrambler is a definite advantage, but once you realize that intellectualism is just an excuse for an ego trip you're alright."

The summary call for future action in terms of women's responses to men's education demands strength and autonomy - "Until we women can reconstitute this tradition and enjoy equal respect within it, simply increasing our accessibility to what it has to offer is largely irrelevant. The only real opportunity of equality for us is to develop our own education tradition alongside men's education, to create the conditions in which as women we can make our own knowledge, become our own teachers and be in control of our own resources. "