A Philosophical Basis for a Women's Outdoor Adventure Program by Denise Mitten Many women prefer to adventure with other women, and the trip styles that emerge are dif­ ferent from those of mixed groups and from allmen's groups. Women come to outdoor programs with a different acculturation than men. Margaret Mead (1976) and Nancy Chodorow (1974) relate this to a difference in gender role identification from early socialization. Women and men grow up learning different ways of being and coping in our society. An important factor contributing to this difference in socialization is that women have been almost exclusively responsible for ear­ ly childcare. Young girls relate to their mothers and even if they never choose to have children, they still tend to define themselves in connection to others. Women learn and accept from an ear­ ly age that others often have different needs and different timing, even for such routine activities as eating, sleeping, and playing. Another cultural difference is women's tendency to put persons higher than principles on a scale of values. This sense of responsibility for the well-being of others is evident in women's belief that you can solve conflicts so that no one is hurt and "everyone comes out bet­ ter off" (Gilligan, 1982). Women often chose to sacrifice their self-interest so that others may survive or prosper. Gilligan contrasts this to a masculine system which is more inclined to sacrifice people to " t r u t h " if necessary, like " A b r a h a m who prepared to sacrifice the life of his son in order to demonstrate the integrity and supremacy of his faith." In contrast, the woman (nameless) who came before Solomon "verifies Denise Mitten is co-director of Woodswomen, Incorporated, based in Minneapolis.

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her motherhood by relinquishing truth in order to save the life of her child." (Gilligan 1982) One setting where women can experience this feminine reality is in an all-women's group. We know from our experience at Woodswomen, and other research supports this, that women react differently and have significantly different experiences when in an all-women's group, out­ side traditional male society. Woodswomen, Incorporated is an adventure program for women of all ages that for the past nine years has been offering women's wilderness trips. Our philosophy developed from our per­ sonal beliefs, our knowledge of social dynamics, and from observing what consistently happened in individual and group behavior on trips. Woodswomen's philosophy encourages women to interact in ways that they feel comfortable do­ ing. Another way to say it is that we merely rein­ force commitments and beliefs that women already hold but which they do not always ex­ press in society. On these trips women feel freer to interact using these explicitly "feminine" behaviors. What we have done is to observe and document how women help one another, and we have made a conscious choice to use these discoveries to develop principles of leadership and program design. The ultimate source for these principles is the women who participate.

Principles Used On Woodswomen Trips The following ten principles of leadership and program design are derived from the Woodswomen Incorporated philosophy: • The guides' primary responsibility is to set the stage so that women feel and are safe, emotionally and physically. • The trip environment is supportive of differences in client needs.

• We travel the wilderness for its own sake, not using it as a means to an end, not to create situations to take risk, or prove competency. • We are flexible about goals and contend that there are many workable ways to learn skills and be outdoors. • We encourage women to accomplish their own goals, not preset program goals. • We believe individual needs are varied, valid and possible to meet. Individual accomplishments are dif­ ferent and special to each woman. • We strive for collectivity as much as possible, by shar­ ing decision making and using matrix leadership. • We see leadership as a role, not a personality type, and believe that constructive, safe leadership can take many forms. • Women do not need to be changed to fit into adven­ ture programs or "taught" in order to be good enough. • Women's strengths are an asset to programs.

tional support, though more than likely much of this support will come from other participants. Guides should encourage a participant to feel included in the group, which is very different from "belonging to a g r o u p . " If an individual feels like she belongs to a group, she will be less likely to recognize or attend to her own needs. She may feel pressure to comply with pervasive group norms, which can result in her feeling in­ hibited and not included at all. Feeling included, of course, is simply feeling that she has a right to be there, and is welcomed and accepted just as she is today.

A Feeling of Safety or Security

"The guide cannot pull sur­ prises, even in the name of building character or creating a learning situation."

It is important to start a trip with the par­ ticipants feeling as secure as possible given all of the inevitable fears people have about joining a group and about the other unavoidable trip unknowns. If they feel safe, women will often respond by: • Reaching out to others. • Taking initiative to try new activities and skills. • Cooperating as individuals to accomplish group tasks/goals. • Allowing themselves to recognize and fulfill individual needs and wants. • Feeling good and having fun. Exactly what the instructor/guide does to en­ courage this will depend on her particular per­ sonality and each of the participants'. However, one of the most important traits for a guide to project is a genuine feeling of comfort and ease in the outdoors and especially in the area chosen for the trip. Participants need to know that they can de­ pend on the guide in case of an emergency and for reliable information about safety and risk. If women know that they can "check i n " with the guide, they often enter into the decision making process early in the trip. This feeling of security actually makes it easier for women to learn new skills and enables them to handle routine ac­ tivities comfortably and safely. Women also need to know that the guide is available for emo­

This also means that the guide cannot pull surprises, even in the name of building character or creating a learning situation. Participants should have a good idea of the course content before arriving, including information about the route, packing suggestions, and what to expect in physical exertion, bugs and weather. Answers to the myriad of questions from group members at the beginning of a trip need to be given in a direct, patient and positive way. At the beginning of a trip the guide should explain safety considerations, stating whether a suggestion she makes is for safety (in which case do it) or if it is simply a suggested alternative way to accomplish a task. The guide can en­ courage women to say if they feel unsafe and to acknowledge and affirm when a woman makes a choice for her feeling of safety. A woman might say, " I don't think I want to run those rapids this afternoon - I just d o n ' t feel up to i t . " Leaders should acknowledge that her decision is not irrational and may well avert a potential disaster. Another gesture that builds individual security is giving each participant her own amount of high-energy snack food. Although it may seem like a small gesture, to some in­ dividuals it helps to provide a feeling of con­ fidence that they will be able to meet trip challenges. These efforts to create a comfortable atmosphere and encourage women to take care

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necessarily a choice to say on up for all activities carte b'lanchf u guide/ to say, 'This do it or not. " ' of their own needs decrease the stress that par­ ticipants feel. Our experiences at Woodswomen confirm the observations of various stress management courses that the less stress the par­ ticipants are feeling, the better able they are to cope with new activities, participate as a con­ structive group member and handle challenging physical situations.

Fostering Constructive Attitudes An attitude or social structure that needs to be avoided is "One-Up-One-Down" relation­ ships. Anne Wilson Schaef gives a good explana­ tion of the effects of these relationships in her book, Women's Reality (1981). If relationships are defined in terms of one person being superior and the other as inferior, then coopera­ tion is sabotaged from the beginning. This at­ titude can be in all relationships: among par­ ticipants, between the group and the guide, be­ tween an individual and the guide, or between the environment and the group. Again, the guide sets and reinforces the appropriate tone for the experience. Delighting in group diversity is important. Recognize differences. The melting pot theory that you learned in the fourth grade really isn't true. It assumes that everyone turns out white, middle class, heterosexual and male. We look for cues from the participants, and when they are extended, we accept them. On one trip an ex­ tremely novice participant decided that the guide might benefit from learning Yiddish. This made her feel more equal by being able to offer a skill and contribute to the group. Meanwhile, the guide had great fun practicing and using Yid­ dish. Reinforce that a "sunset watcher" can be as important as a "fire builder." Equal is not that we each carry 55 pounds, but rather that we all contribute appropriately. One woman may

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carry a limited amount due to a weak back, but she may cook a little more often, or sing wonderful songs as the group portages. Often, given the space and support, participants will equal out the tasks. In fact, with women, being sure everyone "does her p a r t " is usually no problem. It is more common to have to suggest to someone to slow down, relax, or give some­ one else a chance to cook. Vocabulary choice is important on trips. We are careful to avoid "survival m o d e " conversa­ tion, which can imply a win/lose or conflict situation, as well as words that connote domina­ tion such as "attack the trail," "conquer the s u m m i t , " "assault the m o u n t a i n " or "hit the water." Instead, we use adapting or coping language.

Individual Choice to Participate in Activities In order for a person to internalize an ex­ perience as her own, she has to choose it and acknowledge that she chose it. It is not necessari­ ly a choice to say, "I'll go on the p r o g r a m " and then be up for all activities carte blanche. Some people feel that they chose the program and want it all — the more the better. Others choose a program and need to choose each step thereafter, from eating granola to whether they will climb that day, or ever. Guides have a lot of power in defining choice. It is not a real choice to say, "This is what we are doing today and you can either do it or n o t . " Or " T o d a y we are climbing, tomorrow taking a day hike, the next day learning knots, and you can do it or n o t . " Choosing not to do something is not really choosing. And a person who says " n o " can too easily feel " o n e - d o w n " or a failure or left out. The choices need to be informed choices, not

"Delighting in group diver­ sity is important... The melt­ ing pot theory that you learned in fourth grade really isn't true. It assumes that everyone turns out white, middle class, heterosexual, and male." " I ' l l do it because you say we s h o u l d . " There are times when guides do have better judgment, because of experience, than the participant. A participant might say, " I want to do this but I'm not sure I have the skill". Guides can certainly give an opinion, but then they should let the par­ ticipant think over the options and make her own choice. One way to offer genuine choice in a pro­ gram is to have a flexible schedule. For example on a three week canoe trip, we may have four portages a day, need to build fires or use stoves, and paddle varied distances. It may be on day 12 that a woman decides to portage her first canoe, or day 1 when she jumps in to help with cooking or day 6 when she is really tired and decides to sleep through breakfast. The guide is working hard through all of this, encouraging par­ ticipants and being active herself. She is inviting women to go fishing with her. Perhaps in private, she asks Joan or Sally if she would like to carry a canoe or if one of them would like to paddle with her to learn stern. There isn't one day to carry or not, to learn knots or not. If there was only one day when we'd be able to climb because of location, we would certainly say that, but still have other activities available on that day. The guide must make this explicit to the group and be accepting of participant deci­ sions and choices. We use a co-guiding system, which gives us the option of subdividing groups. This en­ courages individual choices and immediately gives the group more flexibility. Part of the group can start moving early to catch the sunrise. Or one group may want to take the high road and the other the low road.

How does this relate to encouragement or support from the guide? There is a thin line be­ tween pushing and encouraging. A participant needs to feel that the guide and the group are plugging for her. The go-for-it attitude is com­ patible with women having a choice. So is the at­ titude, " I came on this course to learn a few skills, relax and get away from the hustle of my city life."

Avoiding a Success/Failure Approach to Challenges It is important not to preset program goals or agendas for participants' growth. If participants spend energy meeting course standards or see everyday activities in terms of succeeding or fail­ ing, or of being watched or tested, they respond by giving up too much power to the instructor. This can inhibit or limit their growth and enjoy­ ment and can lead to unsafe situations. Par­ ticipants in outdoor programs can more fully in­ ternalize their accomplishments if they do not feel analyzed, graded or critiqued. Unfortunate­ ly, people will come to programs conditioned to think in terms of success/failure. We take care not to have covert or subtle agendas that may imply that there was a way "it should be d o n e " or "it should have been d o n e . " We try to use language that gets out of a right/wrong way of describing actions. Words like " u s e f u l , " " w o r k a b l e , " " n o t useful in this situation," and "efficient" can help describe what's going on without being critical or judg­ ing. These words convey a different feeling than " t h a t ' s right," or " n o , that's not the way to do i t , " or even " y o u did it perfectly," which im­ plies you could do it wrong. If you can do it right then you can do it wrong. If you can suc­ ceed you can fail. Many women seek fun and adventure in out­ door experiential education. Women specifically enroll in women's programs because they feel they will have a better chance to learn and prac­ tice skills and share common interests. Yerkes and Miranda report that 90 percent of the women that they surveyed denied that allwomen groups were "easier" (1982). In our pro­ gram we cope with hardships or difficult situa­ tions that arise, from the weather, trail condi­ tions, choices that participants make and other predicaments that occur in the wilderness.

"We are careful to avoid 'survival mode' conver­ sation, which can imply a win/lose or conflict sit­ uation, as well as words that connote domination such as 'attack the trail,' 'conquer the summit,' 'assault the m o u n t a i n ' or 'hit the water.'"

However, we do not purposefully create stressful situations. Groups and individuals often choose hard climbing routes, long portages (sometimes lined with plump blueberries), paddling days that last long into the evening, and even playful canoe races across the lake. Individuals and groups set goals, work toward goals and achieve them without being obsessed with the end results.

Conclusion Because women grow up with different ac­ culturation than men, women often bring dif­ ferent strengths and have different expectations for outdoor programs. It is important for ex­ periential educators to examine their program's agenda carefully, as well as their own personal agendas that they may communicate to par­ ticipants. As much as possible, allow and en­ courage participants to set their own goals and agendas. Adding women to men's programs does not automatically mean that the strength of women will be felt. Mixed programs can be men's programs with women allowed to par­ ticipate. We have found that through the im­ plementation of the Woodswomen philosophy and program design, an experiential learning en­ vironment can be created which is supportive of the strengths and attitudes that women bring to a group. This kind of environment enables women to grow and change in ways they have not yet experienced.

REFERENCES • Chodorow, Nancy. "Family Structure and Feminine Personality," In M.Z. Rosaldo and L. Lamphere, Eds., Woman, Culture and Society, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Pr., 1974. • Gilligan, Carol. In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Pr., 1982. • Mead, Margaret. Presentation at Yale University, New Haven, CT., 1976. • Schaef, Anne Wilson. Women's Reality, Min­ neapolis, MN: Winston Press Inc., 1981. • Yerkes, Rita and Miranda, Wilma. "Outdoor Adventure Courses for Women: Implications for New Programming." Journal of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, April 1982.