Improving the Participation of Women in TVET

New Case Study

The marginalization of women leads to many countries losing out on the possibility of utilizing the potential of this human capital. This human loss for the local community, but also for national development and growth, puts increasing pressure on governments to improve gender equality, especially with regard to women’s enrolment in male-dominated technical and vocational education and training (TVET) courses. In addition, the emancipation of girls and women through TVET, with a view to allowing them to enter the labour market and thus to contribute significantly to their family’s income, is a key contribution to poverty alleviation.

This case study, the 3rd volume in the Series of Case Studies of Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Selected Countries, analyses and describes policies and practices that obtain in selected institutions in the Visayas Region of the Philippines to improve the participation of females in male-dominated TVET courses and to enhance the role of women in national development. Often, efforts to put in place appropriate policies and suitable support measures come to grief, or take inordinate long time to effect, for lack of the availability of easy-to-use examples, case studies, and other tools. The present case study contributes to the pool of resources of what works in TVET with reference to increasing the enrolment of female students in formerly male-dominated fields. It shows a mixture of changes that were implemented, ranging from policies, to physical infrastructure, to funding, to support services such as guidance and counselling and to learning environments.

The Series of Case Studies of Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Selected Countries provide in-depth information on issues of specific importance in the TVET systems of selected countries and regions. Through the case studies, it is intended to build a pool of resources and tools of what works as part of the UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre’s clearinghouse.

Author: Nehema K. Misola

Language: English
Published by: UNESCO-UNEVOC
Year of publication: 2010
Number of pages: 36
ISBN 978-92-95071-12-4

Improving the Participation of Female Students in TVET Programmes Formerly Dominated by males: The Experience of Selected Colleges and Technical Schools in the Philippines (http://www.unevoc.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/docs/CS3_Philippines_Women_Final.pdf) (PDF, 330KB)