Child-care is as much considered a woman's job in the north as it is in the south. In 1988 I was teaching an Adult Basic Education class in a settlement north of La Ronge. To accommodate local needs, another teacher and I kept the classroom open as a learning centre in the evenings. An ever-so-common occurrence was a woman arriving with her child/ children in tow, explaining that - (fill in the name of husband and father) would not baby-sit. Hiring a babysitter is expensive.

The only alternative was having a mother or a sister available who would look after the child/children. (This socially-sanctioned arrangement also ensures that child-minding remains an exclusively female task in the division of labour). Women attending classes, learning to think for themselves and questioning male privilege threaten the social, political and economic structure of both the north and the south. Tradition is being violated. The mothers of the ABE students often walk three paces behind their men; but their daughters do not; and their granddaughters threaten to walk ahead.

What, exactly, is the difference between the West African practice of not paying girls' school fees, and the Canadian message to female students to limit their educational horizons? Isn't the Canadian man who refuses to parent in the evening while his wife attends classes helping to deny her access to education?

The differences among the Nigerian, Canadian and Chinese practices are negligible. The struggle to have women included as rightful actors in education will not be easy. But that does not mean we should throw up our arms in defeat. Rather, we have to be prepared for a long battle. Rowbothan offers a pragmatic summation-and a note of encouragement-for doing what has to be done: "We must not be discouraged by [men]. We must go our own way, but remember we are going to have to take them with us. They learn slowly. They are like creatures who have just crawled out of their shells after millennia of protection. They are sore and tender and afraid.

Jody Hanson currently lives and works in northern Saskatchewan. This particularly long, cold winter has renewed her desire to go overseas : in search of a warm climate and yet another cross-cultural learning experience.

This is an edited version of a paper presented at the SCENES conference in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, October, 1989.

1. Ayisi R. "Women in Southern Africa: between law and tradition." Briarpatch 18 3(1989), 24-27.

2. O'Brien Mary

3. Meulenbelt A, Outshoorn, J., Sevenhuijsen S., & Varies, P., eds. A creative tension: explorations in socialist feminism. London: Pluto Press, 1989.

4. Rowbothan, S. Woman's consciousness, man's world. Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1973.