GENDER ISSUE IN TECHNICAL AND
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
Nurihah Bte Mohamad Saleh
MP 111227
MPK 2053: Current Issue in TVE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
In
definition, gender refers to the social differences between males and females. In
technical and vocational education and training (TVET) it refers to what has
been passed down by society to males and females from different social groups
about their role and responsibility. Some researchers use gender to elaborate
the characteristics and behaviours which are assumed by the culture as suitable
for men and women. Gender is a construct that is shaped socially. For example,
males and females are expected to behave in certain ways. According to Raqu
(1999), the concept of gender also refers to the position of men and women in the
society. While Bushrah et al. (2006) described that gender is supposed to be
understood not only as social differences between males and females but also as
an interaction that connects to a social role determined by sexual or
biological differences.
Nowadays,
TVET is become essential in developing the most countries in the region as it
is linked to training, job creation and employment. TVET is obligated to deal
with concern that it is built to produce the ‘finish product’ or graduate which
may perform and competent when they are entered into the world of work. It must
lead learners to the theoretical knowledge, practical skills to be acquired,
and attitude towards work. Unlike other academics, the technical and vocational
curriculum is based on sequence occupational competencies needed in the
employment world where the curriculum should clearly applies to situations
where maybe the learners are self employed or will work for someone else.
However,
in certain countries especially underdeveloped countries, there is still discrimination
among the gender in implementing the TVET. Different roles synonym to women and
men in all development process is part of the factors why the gender is still
become the issues in TVET.
2.0 FACTORS HINDER FEMALE TO PARTICIPATE IN TVET
Several
factors of why female are still hinder to participate in TVET were identified
from the conference of the 49th session of the UN Commission on the
Status of Women (CSW) in March 2005.
a.
Socio
cultural
In
some countries, this is the important preference that influences the parent’s
decision for the education of their children. They believed that the family
name is preserved in the linage of the male child. Thus, the male child should
be better equipped than the female in order to get a good job and provide for
the family.
While
for the female child, the parents think that educate the female child is a
waste of resources which the women is purposely for reproduction and domestic
activities. They believed that another person will eventually marry the women
and they will be another person’s family.
b.
Religion
Some
of the peoples agreed that the religion could be easily being misinterpreted.
Therefore, female participation in education is hinder as they are supposed not
to be seen in public places or to mix up with their opposite sex.
c.
Girls
drop out
This
factor is normally happened to the girls in the rural areas. Most of the girls
drop out for social and family reasons than for education related reasons. Maybe,
it is because of the lack of awareness on the important of education in life
and also the economy of the family themselves.
d.
Availability
of water, hygiene and sanitation services
This
factor is happened only at the certain countries which may a problem to female
participation in schools. The schools need to provide adequate water,
sanitation facilities and hygiene behavior for a variety of reasons related to
health issue. For an example is in Greece where the issue of lack of fresh
water is a serious problem. Thus, it caused of infections and illness which
some of the cases have caused death among school children. Further to this,
children are refused to attend school.
e.
Lack
of fund
Household
poverty and poor financing education is another important factor that hinders
the female participation in education. The parents may withdraw them once the
demands for fees become impossible to meet. In addition, the inability of the
government to provide adequate funding for running the schools is also affected
the quality of education.
f.
Pregnancy
Pregnancy
was also an issue raised that prevented schoolgirls from completing their
education. Therefore, most of the schools are not welcoming those pregnant
women to participate in education as they may interrupt the education process
and the teachers may need to do extra class for them.
g.
Education
relevance
This
factor might be practical in most of the countries. Gender streaming in
curriculum is limiting the female to participate in education. Course offered
for the girls are based on the “feminine course” while boys are based on the
“masculine course”. This will definitely create a gap between men and women in
the real workforce as the women may receive a very limited type of job
description.
3.0 FACTORS INFLUENCING FEMALE TO PARTICIPATE IN WORKFORCE
Nowadays, gender participation
pattern in workforce is changed. It may due to the evolving of the economy and
the needs of both genders to cooperate in the world of works. Population of the
countries also activates the participation of female participation in the
workforce. As an example, FLASCO (1995) described, in Latin American (1960 to
1990) the number of economically active women increased by 211 percent compared
to men increased by 84 percent. While in Malaysia, it reported that the active
registrants registered with the Labour Department by gender (2006-2010) showed
that men registered is less than 50% compare to women which more than 50%. This
greater amount of the percentage of female participation showed that women are
also competitive enough to participate in the labor workforce. The following
are the factors that increasing participation of women in the workforce:
a.
Level
and Quality of Education
Through
history, in education, female group was only enrolled in primary school. Female
are only exposed to a basic education like domestic chores as one day they will
become mothers or wives. However, with the introduction of TVET, it
particularly change that exposed female to at least improve their economy of
life. Women are generally enrolled in areas of traditional female employment
like sewing and cosmetology.
b.
Falling
incomes
According
to ECLAC (1992), the deterioration of real incomes during the 1980s has
contributed to the participation of women in labor force. They are pushed to involve
in the workforce as the decrease in the household budget resulting from the
unemployment, falling wages and absence of males in the household.
c.
Increase
in female headship
The
increased number of single mother and unmarried women is also a factor of
female participation in labor force. They are forced to participate as they
need to survive as the economic is also change from time to time.
4.0 GENDER
DIFFERENCES IN THE LABOR MARKET
Gender
differences are frequently argued in the labor market. As describe by
Psacharopoulos and Tzannatos (1992), found that two factors of why the role of
women in the workforce differs significantly from men which are pay inequity,
occupational segregation and gender discrimination.
a.
Pay
inequity
Although
more women than men are now enrolled in secondary school in the most of the
countries, the discriminatory recruitment and promotion practices of firms,
self-selection of women out of higher-paying occupations, and the interrupted
career pattern of women due to child bearing and rearing contribute to pay
inequity.
b.
Occupational
segregation
Most
of the companies believed that female especially are not competitive enough to
works in the highly skills. They are more suitable in the word-processing jobs
or management. According to Tzannatos (1992), labor supply theory would suggest
that women maximize their income or well-being under constraints by choosing
employment within a limited range of traditional, generally lower paying
occupations. However, the women’s access to the full range of occupation is
discriminated by social, cultural and demographic factors which limit their
participation to the traditional occupation.
5.0 STARTEGIES
TO PROMOTE WOMEN’S EFFECTIVE PARTICIPATION
Large number of women participation
in the labor market, the need to expand employment opportunities for low-income
and young women and to adapt the skill levels and areas of expertise of the
current technical demands of the market. Curriculum also must address the
limited range of occupations in which women currently receive training and the
quality of the training. Parallel activities which address the barriers to
effective participation in training programs faced by women is also need to
introduce to promote women’s effective participation in labor market.
According
to Caroline and Sarah (1998), the need in some circumstances to design special
programs or components to address the training needs of a particular population
of women. While at the same time, support activities should be designed to
promote women’s effective participation and to meet the specific training needs
of the female audience. The strategy includes (adopted from Caroline and Sarah,
1998):
a. Information
and promotion campaigns to encourage women to apply.
b. Pre-training
programs for women in order to familiarize them with the basic concepts,
terminology and tools of specialized training.
c. Curricula
and materials revision from a gender perspective.
d. Private
sector linkages and outplacement activities targeted to women.
e. Training
of trainers and staff in gender issues.
f. Job
readiness classes and outplacement activities geared to women’s workplace needs
including issues on occupational stereotyping, assertiveness, managing stress
and discrimination, self-confidence building, interpersonal skills, and child
care issues.
Furthermore,
as described in the discussion of “Education and Training of Women and the
Girl-child” by Kate (2005), promoting success stories of the women is also one
of the strategy that may help to increased the effective participation in labor
market. There is a need to identify, documenting and evaluate the women’s
success stories and examples of excellence so that it can be well publicized to
the public. In addition, partnership between civil society, governments and
donors is also need to promote and increase awareness in education and
participation while at the same time to take into consideration the weight of
culture, the wealth of culture and available local support.
Girls
dropped out and pregnant girls are also need to take into consideration. School
projects like mothers can breast feed their babies during the day, and assist
the girls and their children to get to school. These programmes are at least to
encourage them to complete their secondary school and prepare them for tertiary
education.
In
the matter of funding issue, by having a free schooling for girls like giving
the scholarships or the elimination of fees, it may solve the problem of
funding and increase the female participation in education. According to
President de I’ONGD Kongo-Development, Masamo Christophe, it will become a
burden and a source of underdevelopment if the women do not contribute to
development. While to cater the issue of the education in rural areas, distance
learning, radio, etc might a possible solution. Considered the family, time and
lack of information are major constraints to their effective use, distance
learning gives them a flexibility to attend informal education in the evenings
and night.
In
addition, the quality of education is also give a big impact on outcome to the
gender differences in labor market. As discussed in the UNESCO conference (2005),
quality of education should link to the choice of subjects and ability to find
jobs in area of expertise. The differences of life context of men and women should
be recognize to see which differences should be met and how if women are to
live securely in a just society. As we see, in education, girl’s life contexts
is normally join those one which not competitive in the labor market.
Furthermore, evidence to the of the positive impact in the lives of women and
girls is also may helps the parents especially to educated the daughter while
at the same time helps the women to build their personality and enables them to
organize their lives and have all their basic rights.
6.0 DISCUSSION
Different roles apply to women and
men in all development processes. Despite an almost universal equality before
the law, factors like ethnic affiliation, social class and gender still
determine access to resources, potentials for participation, and prospects for
the future. Addressing these imbalances has led to a growing awareness that the
participation of women and the strengthening of their position in society are
central requirements for sustainable development.
Particularly
developments in education have contributed to the improvement of the social
status of women around the world. In recent decades, the general education
sector has strengthened the promotion of equal opportunities for girls and
boys. As described by Zuraidah Ismail (2003), government should encourage more
women to further their study in non-traditional areas such as science,
engineering as well as vocational and technical fields. Therefore, career counseling
programmes should be conducted to provide information about non-traditional
careers that offer higher salary so that women will fill not discriminate from
the labor market.
When
discussed about the imbalances between women and men in vocational training and
in the workplace, it seems like a big gap to fill in. Rather than reducing
differences in the status of men and women, vocational training has even
contributed to gender-specific stereotypes and the economic discrimination of
women. For example, vocational training still gives priority to technical professions
and thus addresses mainly for men as the man have more ability compare to women.
Courses for professional fields in which women predominate like the service
sector as well as for large parts of the informal sector, are frequently not
offered by the usually government-run training institutions. Programmes and
curricula of existing training courses for women frequently fail to meet the
demands of the labour market.
Further
to this, as found by Norhazizi (2008), the factors that hinder female students
from taking certain technical fields can be summarized as follows:
a. Technical
field is a field that requires its workers to have high physical and mental
endurance and durability,
b. There
is a lack of encouragement from family, peers, and teachers,
c. Female
students seldom be given a chance to prove that their capability is equal to
men,
d. Female
students are lacking confidence in certain fields, and
e. The
gentleness in them causes them to be timid to try.
This
does not mean that women should be supported as “hardship-cases“, but rather
that the realities of the market economy are to be taken into account. It is a blatant
neglect of these realities if vocational training disregards essential sectors of
the economy such as the booming modern service professions or if training is
offered in fields for which there is no demand in the labour market.
7.0 CONCLUSION
In
the past few decades, gender related to women is one of the important issues
concerned in the labor market especially in TVET area. Social cultural, religion,
girls drop out, availability of water, hygiene and sanitation, lack of fund,
pregnancy, and education relevance are the factors that contribute to this
issue. However, the changes of the economic are at least force the women to
participate in the labor market. This is also due to the falling incomes and
the increasing of female headship. Gender differences like pay inequity and
occupational segregation in the labor market should be avoided to boost the
economic as both genders have their own expertise and skills that the labor
market should notice. This is also actually as a motivation to the women
especially to participate in the labor market. Therefore, few strategies are
required to help the women to effectively participate in the labor market. The need
for promotion in the informal sector, and the dissolution of rigid education
and training structures are required. Besides the consideration of the informal
sector and an increased flexibility of project tendering procedures, greater
attention to the interest of women was called for. The promotion of women can
profit from this shift in emphasis, as long as gender specific differences and
their conceptual consequences are recognized. In addition, the issues on girls
drop out and pregnancy girls are also to take into consideration so that the
number of this negative issue will decrease. Furthermore, in some countries
especially underdeveloped countries, education funding issue must be solve to
reduce the burden of the family while at the same motivate and giving thrust to
the children on the role of education in the economy. Therefore, quality of
education also needs to revise so that the choice of subjects and courses will
meet the needs in the labor market. Evidence
of positive impact in the lives of women and girls is also may helps the
parents especially to educate the daughter while at the same time helps the
women to build their personality and enables them to organize their lives and
have all their basic rights.
REFERENCES
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Muhammad, Selmah Ahmad, Sulaiman Shakib Mohd. Nor (2006). Persepsi Mahasiswa
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Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. http://eprints.utm.my.
2. Caroline, S.F. and Sarah, H. (1998). Gender Issue in Technical and
Vocational Education Programs.
3. ECLAC (United
Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.) (1992). Major
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N.L. (2005). Education and Training of
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DC: World Bank.
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Z. (1992). The Industrial and
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Nowadays, TVET is become essential in developing the most countries in the region as it is linked to training, job creation and employment. vocational schools
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