Participants in Discovery agree that it has fulfilled a need for women in today's society. "There is a big need, but people just never cared [before] because [women] have always been the underdogs," Couture says.
"The most striking thing to me about the management program was that as women we've been locked into low-paying fields," says Couture, adding that the program has widened her business skills and made her more confident in the workplace. Couture, who has a six-year-old son, is planning to apply for a job as family day care coordinator in her town. She says the job appeals to her because it would combine her varied interests of social service, psychology and management.
Participants emphasize the value of the peer support they have received from other members of the program. "It's broadened my eyes into seeing the support that a bunch of women can offer other women," says Discovery student Lori Barton-Wilkins.
Barton-Wilkins adds that although she had a job as marketing manager in Grimes Oil Company when she entered the program, she sees Discovery as way of bettering her credentials for future employment options.
"I knew with additional credentials I could do a lot more [for my family]," adds Barton-Wilkins, who has three children, two of whom are in college. "Too often you take positions that aren't commensurate with your skills and abilities. It's important to have a good perspective on yourself and what you want to do," she adds.
Mason agrees that the program has helped her further her long-term goal to establish of a women's peace institute where women would be able to study techniques of non-violence and work toward furthering world peace.
"We want to be able to turn the power structure around," says Mason, who is writing her masters thesis on the creation of the institute. "Not put the women on top, but put [shift the power structure] a little bit to the side," so that men and women will be more equal, she says.
"The present system we live in is a male-dominated system. It's hierarchical. When women are left in change of things, they have a horizontal structure, a circular structure. The power is shared," Mason adds.
Because the peace institute will be directed toward helping women be self-sufficient economically and emotionally, it shares many of Discovery's goals, Mason says. "Everything I do in the Discovery program is hand in glove with my studies."