EDITORIAL


Weaving a Durable Vision


BY SUSAN WISMER GUEST EDITOR

I can't remember if I ever really expected that the feminist project - the building of a truly peaceful - and equitable world - would be completed in my lifetime. I think that once, perhaps, I did. But I don't now. I'm sure that I will pass it on, with all its hope and sadness, to my daughters and their granddaughters and their children after that. Meanwhile, however, life goes on. In my own work, it's a constant struggle to weave the warp of my ideas about what should be, with the woof of my knowledge of what is, into a cloth durable enough and beautiful enough to be worn and used every day.

In 1987, during the course of the research which was eventually published as Women's Education and Training in Canada: A Policy Analysis (CCLOW, 1987), I was privileged to talk with other adult educators from across the country who are engaged in the same kind of effort as I am. They too contend with broken threads, unavailable colors and designs that don't look on the loom as they did sketched out on paper. Small wonder that they were quite reticent when I asked them to share with me their thoughts about an ideal future. In the end, though, they did a masterful job of describing for me a shared vision of a world based on choice, non-violence, nurturance, mutual respect and empowerment. They talked about seeing women represented in positions of all types at all levels throughout society; of equal valuing of work done in the formal and informal sectors; of freedom from the threat of violence; of greater control over the amount and type of paid and unpaid work that women do; and greater control generally over the conditions that determine the quality of women's lives. When they talked they sounded hopeful, determined and, sometimes, delighted.

It was less easy to be hopeful and delighted when we turned to examining women's situation in today's Canadian society. The wage gap yawns in front of us. We are surrounded on all sides by the barriers of a job market in which most women are still confined to a small range of occupations and to the lowest paid, most insecure jobs within that range. Women trying to hold together a life that includes both paid work in the formal economy and the unpaid 'informal' work of family life find that the pieces tend to fly apart despite their best efforts. Most disturbing of all, we found that formal education and training programs for women have, so far, been able to make hardly a dent in all of this. We decided that, while education and training is certainly necessary for further progress toward greater equality for women, it is not sufficient. Moving ahead - at this moment in history at least - will require an integrated effort involving not only education and training, but also equal pay for work of equal value, employment equity, and a redefinition of the relationship between the traditionally isolated spheres of work and family life.

Which brings us to the theme of this issue - feminist approaches to economic development, or more specifically, community economic development. Community economic development is an integrated approach. It brings together paid and unpaid work and economic, social and environmental goals. It starts from the ground up, with the needs and interests of those who want to make changes in their lives, and proceeds along pathways toward greater self-determination for individuals and groups and greater self-reliance for communities. It emphasizes education: both formal (specifically directed toward the acquisition of technical skills and knowledge) and informal, (based on experience and on the transfer of 'learning to learn' skills across a wide spectrum of knowledge).

Increasingly, it seems, women across the country in hundreds of locations are becoming involved in community economic development with the idea that it might be one way to move closer to a more equitable, choiceful and peaceful world. Community economic development is exciting. It integrates education, new work opportunities and a valuing of family and community in a way which few more institutionalized forms of endeavor can. But, like any tool, it lies in the hands of its user. It can be employed skillfully or poorly and for a variety of purposes. It is no guaranteed 'vision catcher.'

In this issue we have brought together, for you, a sampling of women's experiences, a kind of 'report card' for your examination on how feminist approaches to economic development are currently being used in locations across the country. I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions on just how useful a shuttle it will be for your own efforts to weave a pattern that brings together the shared vision of what could be, with a knowledge of what is, in this sad and hopeful world of ours.

Susan Wismer is a partner in Development Initiatives Inc., a consulting firm to groups and organizations on social, economic and employment related issues. She has her masters in Adult Education and lives in Cuelp, Ontario with her partner David Fell and their two daughters Sarah (7) and Rachel (3).



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