Young Women in Vocational, Education and Training – VET

This is the sixth article in the series of articles initiated by the Working Group on Vocational Education and Training (VET).

Education is, in my opinion, one of the most important areas that define the value of a society. This value is of course measured in different terms – one of them being the economic growth. It is then understandable that the quality of Vocational Education and Training sector is a significant indicator of country’s development. It allows young students to become independent, be ready for the labour market and generate their incomes directly. 

However, knowing the importance of VET schools, there is still a lack of young women attendance and involvement, especially in techniques and technology fields. Actually, it is the lack of interest that we should worry about.

Firstly, let’s take a look at the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted by 189 UN Member States in 1995, as it says: “We are determined to(…) ensure women’s equal access to economic resources, including land, credit, science and technology, vocational training, information, communication and markets, as a means to further the advancement and empowerment of women and girls, including through the enhancement of their capacities to enjoy the benefits of equal access to these resources, interalia, by means of international cooperation”*;

Inclusion of young women in VET differs from country to country. There is limited data about the participation of women in VET schools, however we have tried to comprehend the differences among the countries represented by members of the VET Working Group of OBESSU as an example. We collected information and opinions on the level of women participation in VET across Kosovo, Slovenia and Finland.

Starting from my country, Kosovo, I could say that during the 2015/2016 academic year only 39% of VET student are young women. The interest of young women students in Kosovo is more focused in the fields of medicine and economy. There is a lower percentage of women attending VET in more technical fields. In Finland the situation looks much better. A research done in 2014 shows, that there were 53% women VET students. Among them, more than the half studied in the fields of technology and transport, or in health, welfare and sports. In Slovenia the difference between women and men attainders is still very significant. Focusing for example only on the general VET as a category, there is nearly three times more young men in education, comparing to the number of young women.

This lower level of interest is in my opinion caused by many factors. Based on Kosovar perspective I can say that one of the main reasons is the social construct indicating that VET schools, especially technical subjects, are only for men. It is also due to the lack of carrier orientation during primary school. Another barrier for young women to attend VET schools in Kosovo is the underdevelopment of the VET curriculum, lacking a specific program about the qualification profiles.

There are however some initiatives taken to raise the awareness and bring an actual change in the VET gender panorama. I would like to showcase the initiative “Girls days” which happens in 7 different Europe countries by now, as MEST (Ministry of Education) in Kosovo informs. This event aims to give young female students from the last year of primary schools the opportunity to gain information about some specific professions which are not often selected by women.

In conclusion, to meet the goal of involving a higher percentage of young women in VET schools, the governments should be more focused on offering alternatives when it comes to choice of professions, as well as ensure promotion of those, that are not typically selected by girls, by making them attractive and interesting for young women. In this way, we will remove the stereotypes and achieve the gender equality within VET schools.

Written by Agnesa Qerimi, WG VET member

The Working Group would be happy to get suggestions for future articles. If you have any ideas, do not hesitate to contact vet@obessu.org.