If I Had a Hammer
Retraining That Really Works
- Publisher
- UBC Press
- Initial publish date
- Nov 2011
- Category
- Labor, Women's Studies, General, Social Policy
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9780774841269
- Publish Date
- Nov 2011
- List Price
- $30.95
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9780774811194
- Publish Date
- Jul 2005
- List Price
- $34.95
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9780774811187
- Publish Date
- Mar 2005
- List Price
- $95.00
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Description
This book is about poor women, many of them single mothers, Aboriginal, or both, who have defied the odds to become apprenticing carpenters. To do so they have juggled child-care schedules, left abusive partners, and kicked drug habits to participate in a unique intensive retraining program. Through the voices of the women participants and their instructors, Margaret Little analyzes the program to reveal the struggles and triumphs of low-income women. She demonstrates that there is a desperate need for retraining programs that provide real opportunities for economic independence. She also argues that, in an era of workfare and time-limited welfare, such programs are an effective strategy for welfare reform.
About the author
Contributor Notes
Margaret Hillyard Little is an anti-poverty activist who teaches in Political Studies and Women’s Studies at Queen’s University.