Sunday 6 January 2013

CONCEPT PAPER ARTICLE By Huda & Hidayah



Nurulhuda Mohd Sukri, Nur Hidayah Ismail, Amirmudin Udin
Department of Technic and Engineering, University Technology of Malaysia,
81310 Skudai, Johore
nhuda_80@yahoo.com; desertrose_8481@yahoo.com


ABSTRACT
      In this paper, the scope is focusing on women who have increasingly become more involved in the workforce especially in technical and vocational area. Paid employment of women has shifted from primarily traditional female-oriented jobs to more non-traditional, and previously male-oriented careers. Women’s participation in the workforce has led to the study of career aspirations of women. Career aspirations are influenced by factors such as gender, socio-economic status, race, parents’ occupation and education level, and parental expectations. This review of literature presents an overview of women’s participation in the workforce and the progress of women’s career development and career aspirations in technical and vocational area.

KEYWORDS: Gender, Women, Technical and Vocational Area, Career Aspiration


1.     INTRODUCTION
     Recent years, have seen notable progress on issues of gender in standard-setting and to some extent application of those standards through international and domestic legislation and jurisprudence, in institutional programming and development.
      The issue of gender impurity in Technical and Vocational Education (TVE) and labour force is complex. Several studies found that gender inequality exists in certain sectors of the economy. Women are still concentrated in certain types of job. The imbalance may be due to problems associated with the inability to make decision, the lack of information about self and career, and the pressure from parents and peers. In addition, gender ideology may play an important role in maintaining the inequality between women and men, particularly in the labour market.
       When talking about gender, most people assume that the researchers are only looking at women issues. This is a wrong assumption. It is also a gender issue if we discuss about the lack of male students in some of the Malaysian universities. However, in the field of technical and vocational education, the gender issue is mostly associated with the lack of women’s participation in the technical and vocational sector. Following the need to increase knowledge and skills as well as the movement towards a high intensity human capital, the demand towards highly-skilled and multi-skilled employees will increase. Therefore, women need to be given more training opportunities to acquire new and most advanced skills as well as ones that fit the industrial needs. Further, to face the rapid change in technology that requires new skills, women have to be given more opportunities for retraining. Women need to be provided with more education and training opportunities to fulfil the knowledge-based economic demand and also to assist their mobility to higher-paid jobs.

 2.       GENDER ISSUES IN EDUCATION SECTOR AND CAREER CHOICE
         The study of gender in TVET is seldom conducted in Malaysia since most of the studies focus on the discussion about gender in general. According to Noran Fauziah (1987) in Ramlee et al. (2010), at certain age, teenagers begin to think about their future career and it is at this stage that they will make an initial decision about career. They begin to think about their ability and interest to be suited to a certain working role and begin to make a realistic plan.
        Shamsulbahriah (1989) found that gender inequality exists in the process of economic development of Malaysia. Majority of the women are still concentrated in the same type of job. She argued that gender ideology has played an important role in maintaining the inequality between women and men, particularly in the labour market. Noor Rahmah (2005) stated that jobs that are suitable for women include teacher, doctor and clerk because of the characteristics in a woman such as patient, gentle, attentive and motherly.
        Law (1991) in Ramlee et al. (2010) found that male and female students in Form Four have a high aspiration towards careers which are traditionally classified according to their respective gender. Most females are found to portray themselves as adults, wives and mothers. The males on the other hand portray themselves in terms of their vocational interests. Females are interested in jobs that require direct relationship with the public such as nursing, taking care of children, teaching or doing social work. Males on the other hand, prefer mechanical area. According to Siti Hamisah (2005), most women who are involved in the area of engineering are more interested in civil, electrical and chemical engineering. This is because these fields of engineering do not require physical strength and a more conducive working environment for women. Rohany (1981) studied the association between gender and interest in career found that male students in Malaysian universities are more interested in scientific/engineering, business, and skill-related jobs. In contrast, female students are inclined towards social oriented jobs.
           Gender imbalance in the Public Higher Education Institution (PHEI) with the number of female students surpass the number of male students is not unusual. This phenomenon did not only occur in Malaysia but also in other countries like Canada, United States of America, Saudi Arabia, Australia and New Zealand. According to statistic by Ministry of Higher Education, the number of students for entrant into PHEI in year 2011 consist only 73,902 male students compared to 114,864 female students. However, if we look at the student entry in technical and vocational institutions, it is quite different where the number of male students exceeds the number of female students. In 2011, the number of male students in training institute under the Manpower Department exceeds the number of female students which is 7824 male students and 1746 female students. This situation also occurs in the technical fields in university or college. Female students’ entry into technical and vocational institutions such as Polytechnics and Community Colleges is still low and needs to be increased. In 2011, there are 20,924 male students compare to 18,654 female students for entrant into Polytechnics and 6568 male students compare to 4121 female students for entrant into Community Colleges in 2010. In Form Four, students begin to think about their future career that they are interested in. In general, female students are more inclined towards the academic areas while male students are more interested in vocational fields.
         However, few women are working in technical and vocational fields. The lack of women’s involvement in the field may be due to “sex bias” or “stereotype”. “Sex bias” and “stereotype” that could limit their career choice. Female students in vocational education are often directed to jobs such as secretary or beautician while male students are placed in various skilled or semi-skilled industries. According to Weiler (1997) in Ramlee et al.(2010), the traditional theory does not take into account the career choice, the preparation and the working world for women. Weiler (1997) also stated that there are five aspects that influence women’s career development, namely their knowledge in the working world, family factor, environment, socialisation effect and effect from the nation.

3.       FACTORS INFLUENCING women PARTICIPATION IN TECHNIC AND VOCATIONAL FIELD
        The lack of women’s participation in non-traditional career occurs because women often face gender discrimination, sexual disturbance at work and obstacle to get a high position. Based on the study by Norhazizi (2008) in Ramlee et al. (2010), the factors that hinder female students from taking certain technical fields can be summarised as: (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.
          Other than that, several factors are identified as problems faced by working women in all over the world including Malaysia :-

3.1       Increasing participation of women in the workforce
          Women are highly important contributors to the country’s economic and social development. Over the years women participation in the economy has increased rapidly and they constitute almost half of the total population. Since 1990, women’s participation in the labour force has increased enormously. Even though Malaysia is a newly industrializing country, its female labour force participation rate compares favorably with those of the industrialized countries of the Asia and Pacific region. Women’s labour force participation rate has increased over the years, but is still significantly lower than that of men. In 1999, women’s labour force participation rate was 44.2 percent compared to men, 83.4 percent. According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia, women’s rate of participation in the labour force was 46.1 percent in 2010. However in year 2011, according to the new registrants registered with the Labour Department by gender, women’s was 55.5 percent compared to men, 45.5 percent.

3.2      Level and quality of education
           Education is an important aspect of human resource development.  The rise in labour force participation by women has also resulted from the increased educational access and achievement of women in the region, particularly at the secondary level, during the past two decades. The girl’s rate at tertiary level has increased from 0.5 percent in 1979 to 4.9 percent in 1991. Number of female students has increased in areas such as medicine, engineering and architecture. Most of the space and opportunity in high school were more monopolized by the women. In fact, the success of many female students are able to acquire the outstanding achievements over the years is also a clear indication that the country's education system achieve its goals.
         Overall increase in women education’s level appears to be one of the main factors of women contribution in labour force. Education is essential to the improvement of women’s living standards and to allow them to take a more active part in the decision making process within the family, the community, the place of paid work and the political area. In 1995, women made up 49.5 percent of the enrollment of students at government-assisted universities. Half of women labour force possessed secondary education and 11 percent had tertiary education in 1995. Aminah Ahmad (2000), said that the involvement of women in education is very encouraging but there still segregation by gender in secondary education, vocational and technical schools and in higher education, particularly at the Polytechnic. In the process of education, girls and boys choose their subjects were 'femininity' and 'masculinity'. This selection makes further education inequality in our society.
         Another factor that might induce more female to get involve in labour force is seems to be related to the attitude of the family towards women. A study of selected successful career women in Malaysia, for example, revealed that changing attitudes of parents and husbands towards a more positive trend were perceived to be related to higher educational attainment of women which in turn could influence women’s participation in the labour force.

3.3       Lower fertility and postponement of age at marriage
         The increase in the labour force participation rate of women in Malaysia could to a certain extent be explained by the decline in fertility rate from 3.9 in 1982 to 3.3 children per woman in 2001. The decline in fertility rate could in turn be trace to the rise in the average age at marriage thus reducing the span of active reproductive life. In 1980, women are marrying at an average age of 23.5 years, and in 1991 their age marriage increased to 24.7. This mean age at first marriage continue to increase as in 2000, it was 25.1 and at the age of 25.3 in 2004. The postponement of age at marriage among women led to the postponement in giving birth to the first child. The most important determinant of fertility is women’s education.
           As primary education is becoming universal and more women are pursuing higher education, family size can be expected to drop further. Therefore, the highest female labour force participation in within the age group of 20 to 24, coinciding with the end of schooling age and before the age of marriage. Hence the age of marriage together with fertility bears a relationship with female labour force participation. The increase in the female labour force participation may be attributable to improving economic incentives in employment and policies favouring the employment of women. In addition, the combined effects of improved maternal and child health care, access to family planning services, increased years of schooling, leading to arise in the average age at marriage, have allowed women to take advantage of the increased employment opportunities. Postponement of marriage from age 22.3 in 1970 to age 24.7 in 1991, and longer intervals between children has enabled more women of all ages to enter and remain in the workforce.

3.4       Lack of technical and managerial skills or training for women.
          Although gender gap in lower education enrollment has been closed, there is gender stereotyping in the course selection in higher education, leading to the gender segregation in occupational sectors and the gender hierarchies in occupational distribution. This is largely linked to the cultural ideology, which associates women with their reproductive role,

3.5      Disadvantaged positions of women farmers in terms of access to resource and services.
           Despite their significant role in agriculture, they have been largely ignored in the government’s programs until recently, and the effects of the current programs focusing on income-generating activities such as food processing and handicrafts remain to be seen. In this case, women’s low earning can be attributed to lifetime choices between work and family formation and to employment discrimination.
          Since women usually have a greater role than men in caring for the family, they may invest less in their own education and may work for shorter periods and in occupations that require fewer hours or less effort than men. This combined with interruptions in labour-force participation limits women’s access to better jobs and promotions. Furthermore, employers, in turn, may invest less in nurturing women’s skills through training or education because women are expected to drop out of the labour force while they are raising young children or, in many circumstances, to stop all work outside the home once they are married.

4             CONCLUSION
        Much progress has been achieved in the past few decades in narrowing the gender gap in most countries. It can be shown in the developments in women’s roles, both in absolute and relative terms, in the major socio-economic aspects of the country’s development: increasing rates of female labour force participation, gains in productive activities of women and their strengthened economic standing and their increased participation in education. As in Malaysia, the impressive economic growth has been accompanied by the greater participation of women in the formal workforce and in a range of other activities. As a developing country, Malaysia has to prepare its labour force to suit the needs of a knowledge-based economy to meet the future challenges. A number of programs in human resource development were initiated with emphasis on the inculcation of new skills. Training serves as one of the means of developing human resources. In this regard, one of the major insights of human capital theory is the observation that individuals can increase their productivity not only through investment in formal education but also by learning important work skills outside the formal school system. Viewed from this perspective, women as active actors, in both the private and public spheres should be trained with their male counterparts focusing not only on their domestic role but also on their productive role. Even where education policies appear to address gender inequity, attention to gender at the level of governmental decision-making and resource-allocation is often still limited, if it exists at all. While it is a step forward to say that a certain measure has considered gender inequity, that this will actually happen is still not necessarily the case..

5.       RECOMMENDATION
Current vocational, career and technical education programs, as well as the public assistance programs that intersect with them, must invest in women as a vital necessity in the 21st century economy. Several suggestions can be used as a guide to minimize gender inequality in TVE and career choice.
i)          State and local education agencies must be held accountable for improving the successful outcomes of women and girls in career and technical education programs, especially in programs that are non-traditional for their gender and lead to high-skill, high-wage employment.
ii)          Funding must be provided to develop and support programs at the secondary and post-secondary levels that promote the exploration, enrolment, and retention in education and training for non-traditional fields that are specifically high-skill and high-wage. Female students must be given a full range of options. Specifically, at the secondary level, career and technical programs must introduce women and girls to a full range of post-secondary options.
iii)          Career guidance and counselling must be provided to all students and delivered in an extensive and fair manner that ensures students are receiving the most valuable information that will lead to high-skill, high-wage careers in fields that may be non-traditional.
iv)    Career guidance and counselling must utilize strategies to expose all students to full and complete information regarding career options that lead to economic self-sufficiency. To achieve this goal, career guidance counsellors should also provide programs that help break down gender stereotypes.
v)   National and state occupational and employment information systems must provide professional development, career information, and materials that support non-traditional career awareness, recruitment, and retention for use by students, parents, teachers, counsellors, and administrators.
vi)          Personnel charged with preparing students for their educational and career choices must receive ongoing training to ensure that female students exploring career and technical education are provided comprehensive and unbiased information about their full range of options. Counsellors must be trained not to track women into “female dominated occupations,” and to develop strategies for working with students pursuing non-traditional employment.

5.             ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
        The authors are thankful to Dr. Amirmudin Bin Udin, the lecturer, who has been guiding and preparing this conference article and his cooperation in providing the necessary information for the preparation of the study.


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Websites:
http://www.mohe.gov.my/web_statistik/perangkaan2011/BAB1-IPTA.pdf
http://www.mohe.gov.my/web_statistik/perangkaan2011/BAB3-POLITEKNIK.pdf
http://www.mohe.gov.my/web_statistik/perangkaan2011/BAB4-KOLEJ%20KOMUNITI.pdf

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