Educational Situation of Young Women in Trades and Technical Vocations

Women in trades and technical vocations are still not agiven in the system of vocational education – neither concerning vocational orientation nor with regards to the educational situation in vocational schools and enterprises. On the one hand the figures and facts speak for themselves, indicating a strong gender-segregated labour market in Austria. Especially concerning apprentice ships the vocational orientation process is extremely gender-specific. On the other hand studies emphasis the existence of complex proecesses prior to the vocational choice, encouraing gender-typical vocational decisions.

What does the actual situation in vocational schools, enterprises and intercompany vocational trainings look like for young women? Until now studies mainly focused on enterprises, therefore the current study puts the emphasis on the neglected subject of vocational schools and intercompany vocational trainings, but also involved enterprises. The main goal of the study was to identify central supporting measures to promote gender-equal vocational education.