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%. Coneerned Farm Women amid self-evaluation m By ('arnl Stewart-Kirkby \bout .1 tettr ago. tlte Grey-Bruce i.ttm women :tetntst group. Concerned l‘.lrlll Women (CFWL began to flounâ€" tler. Non alter .1 lengthy selll C\.tltldllUll, the group is on the \erge at planning ll\ l‘uture course â€" a tottrse which is llle‘l)‘ to be why tlttl'erent limit the path taken in the only 1980's when the group was lutiiidtStl "In the early years we had several successes, including the book The former Till-tea A “ife. Then we began to realize we weren‘t doing what we originally intended to do. Women \tt't’c :till losing their {arms and a \cttse of frustration \et in.“ explained t l-\\' President Joy \Nztrd. Soon the group realized it needed to take a look at what it was doing and where it was going, At the same time. CFW’S contact person with Secretary ol‘State suggested tt sell'eevalualion might be helpl UI and lunding may be available to Iactlttate the assessment. »\nd so, the process began. Originally .1 weekendâ€"long eotilcrence was plan- ned for the tail of WW. to discuss the Pilsl. present and future of Concer» ned Farm Women. But it quickly became clettr to organizers that mcm- llcrs couldn't _L'l\'C a whole weekend. Instead the three sections were divided and a reunion, to discuss the past of the organization, was planned lior tutti) .lanutny, Man) ol'the founding THE FARMEH TAKES A WIFE A ITUIIV IY CONDEMID mun VIDIIEN GISELE IRELAND members returned to reminisce about the early days of the organization. “The women were very willing to give an evening. People talked quite openly about what had happened and some gave advice,“ added Joy. “It was almost part of closing a chaptemr an era, in the life of the organization?’ The next step was to discuss the present and future of CFW at the annual meeting at the end of January. Under the present situation, members looked at who they are and what skills they have. “Under who we are, we got bogged down on the amount of time we have to offer to the organization. And from that, came the motion to dissolve CFW,“ Joy explained. “I think we would have almost dissolved then and there, but we referred to our constitution and found we had to give written notice of a motion to dissolve? added Joy. The written notice to dissolve went to about 75 members and supporters. It was the media who first called Joy to talk about the dissolution. “At that point, we were asking ourselves “where are the farm women?’,” Joy said. Eventually five letters of support and some phone calls trickled in. “We received quite a few calls from other farm women’s groups encouraging and supporting us,” Joy said. The meeting to discuss the motion to dissolve drew l1 members and eight media representatives. The members voted not to dissolve. but to carry on. “When I thought about it afterwards, it seemed ridiculous to continue, but i think we were reacting to our feelings? Joy said. Another meeting, to plan the future of CFW, was set for April (after this interview). “We‘ve looked at the past and the present, now it’s time to look at the future 1 think the group is looâ€" king for a new direction, which is where we were a year ago, but now we do have a clearer understanding of who we are and what our limitations are," Joy said. It is important for members to realize they do not have to write a best-seller to be a successâ€" ful organization, Joy added. Now is a time for the members of CFW to lie low for a while and recharge their batteries. Joy Ward “CFW members like to get together and that may be what we zero in on now, support for one another. it‘s not that we don’t want to or don = {are about tackling outside project-_. It’s just that this evaluation has belied us realize we don’t physically ha c the same time and energy that wew into those other projects," Joy €Xpl{,lllt’d. The assessment has also lwlped members to realize that they l.» cn't failed, but rather they have suctsedcd in raising the people’s conscioux‘ness about the family farm. Joy said many of the wont-"i had never planned a self-evaluatu-i like this before, although some ho.) teen similar methods used at conl‘ ces. A book they used as a guide i~ .alled An Evaluation Guide for “union’s Groups. (It is available front the Women’s Research Centre 16th West Broadway, Vancouver, V61 l"-;fi for $7, including postage and handling.) "The book covers self-evaluauon as well as external evaluation. W: used parts of it which fit into the purpose of our evaluation;’ Joy commented. When Joy took on the pl'e'vltlEIle of CFW, the wheels of selfâ€"evaluation were already in motion. In fact, C FW always did an evaluation at every am'Iual meeting. “Pflhaps we just didn‘t look far enough into the future. At the beginning, we were carried by the momentum, but now as peoples new are changing, the organization rriust change its demands too,” Joy saldr X H & C April, May 1988