What is Women-Centred Programming?
It respects women’s experiences and knowledge
Women bring a lifetime of skills and experiences, many of which are devalued both in society and in educational settings. In their daily life, women use many skills — nursing, money management, conflict resolution, child psychology, violence prevention, food service, early childhood education, technology, working with seniors, household repairs and community organizing. Yet women without formal credentials are frequently seen as unskilled and their daily life work is often invisible and undervalued. Women-centred programming respects what women bring to learning and values women’s life experiences.
It uses women’s experiences as starting points for learning
Many women have learned to devalue their own life experiences, particularly if they are low-income women, or women with few formal educational credentials. To use women’s life experiences as a starting point for learning enables women not only to identify and value what they already know, but also to actively use this prior knowledge in the current learning situation. Women-centred programming constructs learning experiences to draw on what women already know and to help them see how their skills are transferable to the new situation. It supports a process of articulating already existing skills, knowledge and attitudes, and encourages participants to see themselves as a source of information and knowledge about the world. Through examining this knowledge collectively, women can develop analyses and strategies for action.
It takes into account women’s life conditions
Many women who participate in an educational program are faced with juggling child and after-school care, attending to children’s homework as well as their own, dealing with elder care and other domestic responsibilities. Many women are also engaged in unpaid work outside the home … as active community volunteers in churches, food banks, local heritage groups, parent/teacher associations and environmental advocacy. Women, more frequently than men, are involved in low-pay, low-benefit work, which means they are less likely to have savings to support their learning and have less access to medical and health benefits for themselves and their children. Women are also more likely, across all segments of society, to experience domestic violence and carry the weight of a history of childhood sexual abuse. For low-income women, transportation barriers, accessing banking, medical care and childcare and getting enough good quality food to eat are aspects of life which shape the educational experience. A woman-centred program provides support for women as they juggle family and study expectations and shapes programming to take gendered life situations into account.
It is inclusive, recognizing and incorporating women’s diversity
Women from diverse backgrounds face many forms of social and economic exclusion—in housing, health care, access to education and to well-paying jobs. Women of African descent and from Aboriginal communities face racism, discrimination and cultural extinction. Women with disabilities encounter a range of accessibility issues. New Canadian women may experience cultural exclusion and language barriers. These are life conditions that add layers of complexity to gender-based barriers. A women-centred program provides opportunities to share, analyze and strategize around these experiences. A women-centred program uses materials reflecting differing cultural backgrounds and constructs a flexible program structure that responds to diverse women’s community and family responsibilities.
It provides experiences to enhance women’s self esteem
Societal attitudes often have a negative and constraining effect on women’s sense of what is possible in their own lives. Women’s sense of self-esteem and efficacy can be eroded when their daily work is not valued, when they have been in educational settings where their science, math and technical abilities are undermined, when their aspirations are shaped by societal expectations of women and when their educational path is disrupted by child-rearing responsibilities. For these reasons, women-centred programs strive to provide activities and experiences that foster a sense of confidence and competence among the participants.
It provides opportunities to communicate, collaborate and apply learnings
Studies of women’s learning suggest many women learn more effectively when they are able to work with others, share what they have learned, and see ways to apply what they have learned outside the program setting. A women-centred program provides opportunities for learning in pairs and small groups and allows time for discussion of the significance and usefulness of what has been learned.