Woman, training and work

Gender! A Partnership of Equals
Geneve: International Labour Office, 2000. 115 p.

Vocational training for women
An imperfect world

In a perfect world, the issue of vocational training for women would not need to be raised. Everyone, no matter what their gender, would not only have access to training but to a labour market which would value exclusively the excellence of work. Discrimination in employment and occupation would not exist. 

However, we know that this is not a perfect world, but rather a world which has very real labour-market barriers for women. Even with the best of technical qualifications, they face enormous challenges, which range from balancing home and work responsibilities, having access to vocational training, and the segregation of occupations by gender. Therefore, vocational training for women is not the unique answer, but rather a very important part of a process which must be linked to social and economic reforms in order to promote gender equality in the world of work. 

The situation

Three situations exist in the world which are important starting points for exploring the issues affecting vocational training programmes for women, and how such training can be reformed to make it more accessible to women.

• Situation 1: Male-dominated occupations are seven times more common than female-dominated occupations

Gender segregation in job skills is promulgated by social and cultural considerations, and plays a key role in both the vocational training choices available to women and in the selection of courses offered by training institutions. Breaking the cycle of gender-segregated employment requires a range of facilitating policies such as equal-opportunity programmes and anti-discrimination laws, as well as stronger career information systems at all levels of society. For example, national public awareness campaigns which promote women who have had significant success in non-traditional occupations would help to publicize role models which other women can emulate.

• Situation 2: Women are seen as a high risk for skills investment, and employers are often unwilling to invest in training programmes for them

Vocational training institutions may be the only source women have for developing technical skills. It is important to have such institutions which are geared toward flexible skills-training programmes and information services which women can use. Women are then likely to be better equipped to enter and re-enter the labour force which they may have to leave many times during their working lives because of family responsibilities, work situations, the need for skills upgrading, etc. Equally important as training programmes is having information systems and advisory services which women can call on when needed. Providing women with advisory support at pre- and post-training levels is a critical need and should be balanced with training programs which are both technically sound, flexible in timing, and labour-market oriented. The more information potential students have access to the more it increases their decision-making potential regarding occupations.

• Situation 3: In many countries training systems are ill-equipped to meet the skills needs of different sectors adequately; broad-based skills such as computer literacy, interpersonal skills and analytical skills are often missing from vocational training curricula

Too often vocational training institutions focus on long-term "traditional" occupational courses. Balancing this design with short-term specialized skills training will require change in their organizational design. In particular, it will require reform in the training of instructors and curricula, which fuses analytical and technical skills. Specialized instructor-training programmes which recognize the social constraints and family responsibilities which women experience when entering a training programme, need to be part of an instructor's training. In addition, training in "andragogic" (adult learning) theory as well as in teaching methodology which goes beyond traditional instructor-led activities and are different from the training needs of youth, should be part of every instructor's curriculum. 

Channels for change

Developing vocational training programmes for women will not alone eliminate discrimination in employment. However, in addition to developing job skills, such specially designed programmes can provide a medium to enhance dialogue on policy, and promote social and economic development. When linked to social reforms, vocational training programmes for women go beyond just skills training, by offering tremendous potential for integrating gender issues into not only vocational training, but into the labour market as well. Vocational training programmes, through tripartite advisory panels, offer channels for change. Furthermore, strengthening the capacity of vocational training institutions for the training and education of women benefits all of their users, by initiating institutional reform.

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