All of the women who participated in the research study wrote journals reflecting on what was happening in their programmes, and in themselves, as they tried to explore new territory in their programmes. Extracts from these journals (Lloyd 1994b) show over and over again the value of time set aside to reflect and to discuss with someone who supports the process of questioning, in this case the researcher and others involved in the research project:

What is so magical about talking with someone who understands, with whom there's no need to explain so much?... This research asks me to document what happens because of the project. It's like the research is a stone thrown into a pond and I'm supposed to describe the ripples caused by the throwing in of the stone. But I'm partly thrower, partly stone, partly pond, partly ripple, as well as observer! Sometimes I question if the ripples I see are ones created by me looking around for the ripples which matter. These ripples are inside me. (Bergman-Illnik 1994:112-113)

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For you to do:

Think about what activity you would carry out in a literacy programme (or other adult education programme you are familiar with) if you had the opportunity to initiate a 'woman-positive' activity. Reflect on why you think that your activity would be valuable and what effects you think it might have.

Comments

I think given the opportunity I might do as Marion Wells did (1994) and begin a group open to any women in the programme. With no set agenda for the meetings, I would want to explore what women might find valuable in the programme, not only what workers could do 'for' learners, but what would be valuable for any women involved. I would want to find ways of working together so that those of us who are literate, or paid staff, could challenge and engage with the views of learners and volunteers without obliterating their views or being silenced ourselves in the attempt not to overpower others.

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How should experiences of violence affect literacy work?

The CCLOW study also identified violence as one barrier to women's literacy learning. Women involved in the research talked 'about the pervasiveness and magnitude of violence against women' (1994a: p.107). Three women involved in the research taught literacy classes where every woman present had been sexually abused. One 'woman-positive' activity, carried out as part of the study, involved a house-to-house survey in Rabbittown, Newfoundland. The violence in the women's lives as adults was often made apparent as the men refused to let the women even answer the survey questions. In a reflection at the end of the study one interviewer summed up what they had learned:

On every page of every questionnaire we see violence, poverty, and loneliness. The despair in the young women especially is loud and clear. They are in situations that make life seem hopeless. They either don't know they have choices or they don't want to leave the situation, we don't really know. Or do they really have choices? (Ennis et al. 1994:81)