Education and Training Divides is the second paper of a three-part series produced by Jobs and Skill’s Australia, titled Gender Economic Equality. It shows that only one-in-five fields of education (14 of the 71) see similar numbers of men and women completing education and training programs.
This echoes recent JSA analysis that only one-in-five workers are in relatively gender-balanced occupations.
“Our analysis shows that the gendered segregation in education and training pathways is persistent, and we will continue to see occupational gender segregation,” deputy commissioner of Jobs and Skills Australia, Megan Lilly, said.
The report highlighted that social and cultural norms still strongly influence girls and boys early in life and that these are reflected in their education and training choices and pathways, and subsequent occupation and career pathways.
Men generally achieve better economic outcomes than women across most qualifications, even in female dominated fields, in line with recent JSA analysis of gender pay gaps favouring men in 98 per cent of occupations.
Economic inequality persists post-training, with women consistently earning less and being more likely to exit the workforce despite being similarly or more qualified.
“Women are more likely to be ‘skills mismatched’ than men – working in occupations below their level of qualification – indicating underutilisation of female talent and skills at a time when employers are finding it difficult to fill skilled jobs,” Lilly said.
Women and men tend to stay longer in occupations dominated by their own gender, reflecting gendered career decisions, which further contributes to occupational segregation over time.
The report suggested the potential role for system-wide occupational awareness or career education to influence early gendered study choices, which contribute to persistent gendered occupational segregation.
There is a “need for specific scholarships, funding and wrap-around supports for trainers (and potentially students in combination with existing Government efforts) in highly gendered training pathways”, it said.
“The aim is to increase the number of women in male dominated teaching fields (and vice versa) and to build the capability and capacity of all trainers to better support underrepresented cohorts in learning environments.”
The paper advocated the developing of resources and supports for education and training institutions and providers in highly gendered pathways.
It said there needs to be a focus on collaboration with, and capacity building for, the workers, employers, organisations and actors involved in system-level changes in recommendations and the addressing of gender bias in ongoing labour market frames and concepts such as skill recognition and occupation and industry classifications.
As with the previous report, JSA also highlighted examples of where groups are seeing improved outcomes over time.
“Importantly, our analysis highlights encouraging examples of relatively strong education and training and occupation outcomes for a range of groups, such as culturally and linguistically diverse women seeing strong early-career outcomes in IT fields, and First Nations men in trades,” Lilly said.
The first report New Perspectives on Old Problems is available on the JSA website here.
The second report Education and Training Divides is available on the JSA website, here.
A third and final report from this JSA study is expected to be released in October.
