At WISH, we also recognize that violence is a tool that women use. Many women have developed aggressive street persona as a way to survive the street. Rarely does the literacy literature mention violence as something that women participate in. These coping strategies bring violence and aggression into the WISH Drop-In and Learning Centre. It is both a challenge to work with the individual and create safe learning settings for other women. Understanding aggression as self-expression and finding ways and environments to transform aggression in street women is critical to developing literacy programs for this group.

Sex-trade workers share many of the experiences that are described in the literature but they are further stigmatized by their drug addictions and work in the sex-trade. There are many public places where the women do not feel safe or welcome. Even in women’s centres many feel judged by other “non-working” women. For years, police and judicial systems did not address the systematic disappearances of women in the Downtown Eastside. Many people do not believe that women are ready to learn until they have dealt with their addictions and chosen a new way of life. We believe that literacy, learning and self-expression have a strong role to play in the lives of women at WISH. We hope this research will begin to map this territory and be helpful to other programs across the country.