Marilyn finished our program in June and put her name on the waiting list for the auto mechanics course at Red River College; she was 19th on the list. At the end of September she was informed by CEIC that they would not be purchasing seats at either Red River or South Winnipeg Technical Centre in auto mechanics. Her alternative is to go back on welfare for at least six months, and to try to get welfare to purchase the training later. In addition, CEIC has cancelled the procedure by which, in keeping with their operational guidelines to promote women in non-traditional work, women on the waiting list were bumped to the top. Some women's names never even make it from their application to the waiting list in the first place. For the many women who seek financial independence and security through non-traditional training, the bitter irony of this bureaucratic procedure is the unavoidability of welfare while they wait, often for more than a year, for a seat in their chosen area of training.
     Even if a woman is successful in obtaining a college seat, CEIC has a 52 week limit per person for time spent in training. All technologist programs are two years long so women (again) are limited to training for the less lucrative technician certificate or other ten month programs.
    For the past two years I have been co-chairperson of the Local Advisory Council set up by CEIC for community liaison around CJS. A resolution presented to CEIC National Headquarters and which was accepted called for continuity in training. Yet women who meet the entrance requirements essentially do not have access to training if they do not currently have the means to pay for their own schooling. In the past, Manitoba Jobs Fund has been helpful in subsidizing positions for entry level women who have found jobs after completing our program and the federal Job Development program has been used in the same way. The provincial program was recently cancelled by the conservative government.
     CEIC has also reduced direct purchase training to Red River Community College for academic upgrading. Several fields require Grade 12 math and physics; while math upgrading is included in Women Working's re-entry program, it is impossible for us to upgrade an individual woman more than one level during the 30 week program. South Winnipeg Technical Centre has a program where upgrading is concurrent with the technical training, but the reduction in funding means women who do not already meet the academic requirements have no chance of getting into Red River College, where more programs are offered.
    Even if it suddenly became easy for a woman to obtain a training seat in the area of her choice and to tread water financially until she completed her program, her problems would be far from over. Kendra was accepted into the diesel mechanics course at Red River College. She struggled with sexism on the part of her instructor and the students but completed the program and was able to use her training to get a position. Her employer suffered so much harassment from media for having hired a women that Kendra was forced find another job. Her present employer wants no publicity.
    So the message is loud and clear. As a woman who wants a job with greater economic potential, variety and mobility, you can only go so far. As the federal government reduces the number of seat purchases while continuing to hold targets, women will be blamed for lacking the interest or commitment when targets are not met. The result? Support will be cut even further. It is imperative that if CEIC wishes to demonstrate its commitment to non-traditional training for women, it must provide the support: in seat purchases, adequate training allowances, funding to colleges for academic upgrading and in educating employers against discrimination. CEIC policy-makers state that CJS can answer all these training needs. But the onus to fight through the process, to gain access to the education guaranteed in our human rights legislation, rests with the individual. As one struggling tradeswoman said, "It's too hard. It shouldn't be this hard."

Joyce Rankin is a feminist and co-founder of Women Working Inc. She is one of two computer literacy instructors and the financial manager for the business.