Seventeenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

Participatory Action Research (PAR) projects have an important role to play in facilitating the expression of women working in the service industry, a group whose experiences often go unspoken due to the systemic devaluation of women’s labour. In this paper, I examine The Work Issue, a one year long initiative inspired by Studs Terkel’s Working and mounted by Sister Writes, an award-winning creative writing program for women in Toronto. I trace the development and execution of the program, from its germane creative writing workshops to the publication and public launch of a volume of stories by writer-participants, who ranged from their 20s to their 60s, and included hotel housekeepers and restaurant cooks, housecleaners and file clerks, waitresses, and baristas. By turns bold and poignant, the stories often centred on the experience of feeling undervalued and exploited at work, of facing sexual harassment and stagnating wages, and even societal contempt, but also of finding solidarity with other women and speaking back to power. Drawing on my experience as facilitator of The Work Issue and the writings of the participants I argue that PAR storytelling projects can be catalysts for the expression and distribution of untold stories, provide a space for underserved women to form community as they develop writing skills, and draw attention to the issues that shape the lives of women in the service industry. Through The Work Issue, I contribute to emerging knowledge about PAR, particularly collaborations between artist-researchers and community members mobilizing for change through creative writing practices.