A national advisory group of the Canadian Congress for Learning Opportunities for Women (CCLOW) developed a proposal for an exploratory research project examining how gender and the power balance of male-female relationships affect women's access to/experience of literacy programs. A researcher was selected to conduct the following project activities: visit four communities across Canada and converse with women in literacy programs in each community; report the findings of the visits; develop research questions and a methodology for a long-term national action research project that would be conducted in partnership with a variety of programs; and develop a proposal for the subsequent phase of the project. The researcher synthesized the results of her conversations into 21 interconnected themes. After analyzing those themes, CCLOW agreed to sponsor a second phase of the study. The proposed study was to be a participatory study in which two women from each of several programs across Canada would participate in training workshops and examined the effects of literacy programs on their lives and vice versa. (Appended are the following: discussion of CCLOW's mission/activities; and profiles of the members of CCLOW's national advisory committee and project researcher. Contains 117 references. (MN)