Education and Training

Author(s): Carol Curry
Document Type: Book chapter
Year: 1993
Title of Publication: Women's Working Lives
Publisher: HMSO
Place of Publication: Belfast
ISBN: 0 337 09379 2
Subject Area(s): Education, Gender
Client Group(s) : Women


Background to the Research

  • Women's Working Lives Survey (WWLS) was commissioned by the Equal Opportunities Commission for Northern Ireland in 1990. The survey was designed to: (1) identify factors which determine whether or not women participate in paid work and how the unpaid work undertaken by women in the home influences their involvement in the labour market; (2) record the type of paid work women have done and do, as well as their attitudes and experiences of employment.

Research Approach

  • 1000 women were interviewed who lived in private households and were aged between 18 and 65. The sample was drawn from the 1990 Register of Electors using a 2 stage proportionate random sample. The interview took a semi-structured approach, including some prompt items. Training in this context refers to government and job-related training schemes specifically.

Main Findings

Access to Education

  • Women's experience of education has increased over the years, although nearly one fifth of women had not attended secondary level schools. 69% left school by age 16, and 21% left at aged 14 or younger (73% of those aged over 60).

  • 88% of respondents had received their secondary education exclusively in Northern Ireland, and 29% of those who went to secondary school attended a grammar school.

  • 74% of women left school to start work; only 28% said they left as they were needed at home. 60% of women who left school had no regrets on leaving when they did. Half of those who had regrets felt they had not achieved their potential at school.

  • 19% of those who had left school were planning further education e.g. GCSE, A levels, as well as courses related to employment (mostly in traditional female occupations such as childcare, nursing and clerical/secretarial). Most of these women were doing this for personal development reasons.

  • 79% of women who continued education after secondary level did so immediately. The majority of courses were not degrees. 27% of these full time courses and 41% of part-time courses were in secretarial or business studies.

Educational Processes

  • 56% of women attended a post-primary mixed sex school.

  • Most (64%) of those attending grammar schools attended single sex schools, with the reverse for those attending non-grammar schools. A higher percentage of Catholic women than Protestant women attended single-sex schools.

Educational Outcomes

  • Half the women of working age do not possess any educational qualifications (38% of women attending secondary school left without any qualifications).

  • 35% of women left school with qualifications up to GCSE standard and 9% had A levels.

  • The results show that older women are disadvantaged in the labour market as more older women left school unqualified and more younger women gained higher qualifications. For example, three quarters of those with A levels were aged 21-50. This means that a high percentage of the potential pool of women returning to the labour market (aged 31-50) had no qualifications.

  • 45% of part-time employees were unqualified compared to 27% of those working full-time. For those working full-time, the higher their qualifications, the higher their earnings. This isn't necessarily so for part-time workers.

Government Training Schemes

  • Less than 10% of respondents had participated in government training schemes, most of which were in 'traditional' female occupations. 79% rated their course as being very or quite useful for work opportunities.

Job Related Training

  • 49% of employees had not received any training associated with their work (40% of full-time workers, and 64% of those working part-time). 9% had received over 6 months training.

  • More than half those in clerical, selling and catering occupations received no training in their current employment. 63% of those receiving more than 6 months training were professionals.

  • 85% of women in mixed sex workplaces thought they received similar levels of training to men.

Conclusions

  • The chapter concludes with identifying barriers to women's participation in the labour market i.e. external structural barriers, social pressures and internal barriers. These must be overcome in order for women to progress with their careers, for example, by improving access to science and technological courses and training.

 

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