ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the political, geographical and social contexts out of which the Rural Girls Self-Esteem Project originated, and in which it operated during its first year. Most of the schools involved in the project are concentrated in two major centres in North Queensland, one with a strong rural industry base and the other with strong mining base. The difficulties encountered in this project are closely interrelated and overlapping, separated into three areas namely: theoretical, methodological and access. The second phase of the Rural Girls Self-Esteem Project was funded under the Education of Girls element of the Projects of National Significance. There have been serious criticisms of self-esteem programmes as vehicles for the empowerment of girls. Self-esteem can be sat squarely within the bounds of liberal feminism, that is, belief that the equality of opportunity in education and occupation should exist and that when constraints that prevent access to all are removed, oppression will no longer be an issue.
