Feminist Context

    It is helpful to provide a suitable context for the off-site experience, examining segregation: why is it that in the work place women are given limited choices, lower pay, fewer opportunities? Women may be "accepting society's failures as their own," said Sylvia Hale who spoke to the participants during the break between off-site and on-site training. Her talk helped to provide a frame of reference for the participants, eight of whom were victims of wife battering. It was helpful for them to be aware of the social context.

Co-ordinator' s Job

    Under the C.J.S., C.E.I.C. is contracting out services once performed by full-time staff. Wages are low necessitating volunteer input. Expenses are limited. Employee benefits are not provided - vacation pay, overtime, travel allowance.

CCLOW may want to examine the terms of employment if the project is to operate on a regular basis.

Comments

• Many similar programs are competing for work opportunities and the market may become saturated.
  
  
• Wage rates and types of jobs available need upgrading. Other ways to generate jobs need to be examined.
  
  
• The special needs of visible minority women require consideration.
  
  
• Women need better access to retraining in non-traditional occupations.
  
  
• Follow up should be made with those applicants not accepted by CCLOW to assist in redirecting their interests.
  
  
• Follow up on the participants would be informative for CCLOW.

Lori Violette

LORI VIOLETTE: LIFE-SKILLS COACH

    Lori says that her life-skills instructors' course changed her life. That's why it means so much to her to have the opportunity to help other women.

    She grew up in Fredericton in an English-speaking family, but completed her BA and B ED in French at the Edmundston campus of the University of Moncton. She married an Acadian and lived in St. Leonard, an Acadian community, teaching English as a second language at the secondary school. As a mother of two sons, she became active in a widely publicized dispute over closing the local school and bussing children to a bigger centre. This involvement almost cost her her job.

    When her marriage ended in 1983, she moved to Fredericton and started teaching English as a foreign language to new Canadians at the community college. Since taking the life-skill instructors course, she has been involved in three entry and one re-entry C.E.I.C.-sponsored programs as a life-skills coach. Lori finds the re-entry women enthusiastic and very receptive to training. Their experiences and their receptiveness makes the coach's role rewarding.

    Lori feels that the success of a program is based on suitable recruitment, a maximum of fifteen participants, the coordinators skills, and the appropriateness and length of the training. She recommends that the training modules be molded to the participants' needs, include six weeks of classroom training in life and work skills, followed by on-site training and that they conclude with one week of reinforcement in problem-solving and assertiveness. Lori was enthusiastic, finding the participants a closely knit group. She describe them as "courageous, strong women focused on change".

    Personally, she has found casual employment unsettling. Being hired on a contract provides no security, no union benefits, and no seniority. Lori is now considering overseas employment which would be enriching and attractive to her as a seasoned traveler.