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Demanding skill: women and technical education in Australia

This book looks at the current situation of women in TAFE. It explores women's disadvantages in terms of quality, c ... Show more
This book looks at the current situation of women in TAFE. It explores women's disadvantages in terms of quality, concentration of narrow range of jobs, small share of resources and difficulty in breaking into male-dominated fields. Re-entry into education as adults is investigated. The contents are: Second-rate citizens; Constructing skill in Australia; Australia's technical education system; Vocational education: women's share, women's place; What's wrong with TAFE colleges?; Women's courses: keyboards, clothes, kids and community care; Resources: margin versus mainstream; Breaking in: women in non-traditional study; Coming back: women returning to work and study; Some lessons from overseas; Changing the system. Show less

Authors: Pocock, Barbara

Date: 1988

Geographic subjects: Oceania; Australia

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Subjects: Disadvantaged; Skills and knowledge; Students ... [+] Show more
Changing systems: women, work and TAFE

This report results from a study undertaken to: review experience to date in Australia and some overseas countries ... Show more
This report results from a study undertaken to: review experience to date in Australia and some overseas countries in programs to improve women's participation in technical and further education (TAFE); analyse current participation of women students in TAFE colleges and, through visits and consultations, identify issues which affect that participation; and make recommendations to improve women's participation in vocational education. The study used both qualitative and quantitative methods. This overview report describes the conclusions and recommendations of the research and provides a brief background to the recommendations. The contents are: Background to the report; Women, work and training; A summary of women's participation in vocational education in TAFE; The TAFE system: its implications for women; Australian initiatives to improve women's participation in vocational training. Show less

Authors: Pocock, Barbara

Date: 1987

Geographic subjects: Oceania; Australia

Resource type: Government report or paper

Subjects: Vocational education and training; Outcomes; Participation ... [+] Show more
Multilevel work-family interventions: creating good-quality employment over the life course

Poor-quality jobs have significant costs for individual workers, their families, and the wider community. Drawing m ... Show more
Poor-quality jobs have significant costs for individual workers, their families, and the wider community. Drawing mainly on the Australian case, the authors' focus is on the structural challenges to work-life reconciliation and the multiple-level interventions necessary to create quality employment that supports workers to reconcile work and family over the life course. The authors argue that interventions are necessary in three domains: at the macrosocial and economic level, in the regulatory domain, and in the workplace domain. The nature and success of these interventions is also critical to gender equality and to responding to the changing gender and care composition of the workforce across OECD countries.
Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

Authors: Pocock, Barbara; Charlesworth, Sara

Date: 2017

Geographic subjects: Australia; Oceania

Resource type: Article

Journal title: Work and occupations

Subjects: Employment; Quality; Governance ... [+] Show more
WorkChoices and women workers

This article argues that the Howard Government's WorkChoices package provides no prospects of ameliorating the impa ... Show more
This article argues that the Howard Government's WorkChoices package provides no prospects of ameliorating the impacts of low pay and the work/life collision on women workers. In the Government's neo-liberal view, this is simply the desirable playing out of market forces in the free exchange of human labour. People are, however, more than the sum of their labour. The dignity and living wage that generations of working people have struggled for, and are entitled to in a democratic society, are under serious threat from the current industrial relations proposals. These 'reforms' may well unravel decades of struggle for workers' rights and gender equality.
Excerpt from publication. Show less

Authors: Pocock, Barbara; Masterman-Smith, Helen

Date: 2005

Geographic subjects: Australia; Oceania

Resource type: Article

Journal title: Journal of Australian political economy

Subjects: Gender; Equity; Employment ... [+] Show more
The big squeeze: work, life and care in 2012

This report presents findings from the fifth Australian Work and Life Index (AWALI) survey of work-life interaction ... Show more
This report presents findings from the fifth Australian Work and Life Index (AWALI) survey of work-life interaction in Australia. The survey measures how work intersects with other life activities, as seen by a randomly selected representative group of 2,887 working Australians. The 2012 AWALI survey offers new insights on six particular themes: (1) how women who work full-time are experiencing worsening work-life outcomes; (2) how employees are experiencing high levels of work intensification; (3) how employee requests for flexibility have changed since the Fair Work Act 2009 created new rights to request flexibility for some workers; (4) how men request flexibility much less frequently than women, and are much more likely to have their requests refused; (5) how the length of parental leave relates to work-life outcomes; and (6) how working from home affects work-life outcomes. AWALI 2012 also included questions on ethnicity/language background, education and training and the meaning of work. AWALI data has now been collected five times since 2007, and there has been little positive change in Australians' work-life outcomes on average over this time. Indeed there is firm evidence that pressures are mounting on women who work full-time. Many workers would like more flexibility to vary their hours and to avoid working long hours. A quarter experience frequent negative spillover from work into life beyond their jobs, and many of these are not parents. Many experience job overload and high levels of work intensification. This report is in 10 sections. Section two describes the AWALI sample and its representativeness and general characteristics. Section three analyses the work-life interference of men and women in 2012, considering the component parts of the AWALI index and its summary measure in comparison with previous years' findings. Given the significance of working hours to work-life interference, section four focuses on work hours and their fit with respondents' preferences. Section five analyses the personal and household characteristics of respondents and their work-life interference. Section six considers employment characteristics and work-life interference. Section seven looks at work intensification and its impact by gender, household type and employment characteristics and draws an international comparison of the Australia data with that of similar industrialised counties in the European Union. Section eight compares flexibility requests in 2012 with those reported in the 2009 survey, before the recent Right to Request legislation. Section nine explores the use of working at home (both paid and unpaid) and its impact on work-life interference. The final section looks at paid parental leave.
Excerpts from publication. Show less

Authors: Skinner, Natalie; Hutchinson, Claire; Pocock, Barbara

Date: 2012

Geographic subjects: Australia; Oceania

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Subjects: Employment; Governance; Research ... [+] Show more
Man-made skill: women challenging the tradition in England, Sweden and Germany: ideas for Australia

Topics covered in this international study are: women and training; patterns of participation in vocational educati ... Show more
Topics covered in this international study are: women and training; patterns of participation in vocational education; changing women’s training (money, stamina, assertive government); fair training routes for feminised fields; more technical skills for women; passive equal opportunity vs positive action; women’s training in the firm; unions and women’s training; skills, pay, and productivity; adult training; privatising technical education - implications for women; working locally; industry policies; and essential change - parental leave and childcare. Includes references.
The summary is indexed at TD/TNC 16.17. Show less

Authors: Pocock, Barbara

Corporate authors: TAFE National Centre for Research and Development (Australia)

Date: 1987

Geographic subjects: Oceania; Europe; Sweden ... [+] Show more

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Subjects: Vocational education and training; Participation; Industry ... [+] Show more
Man-made skill: women challenging the tradition in England, Sweden and Germany: summary report

Topics covered in this international study are: women and training; patterns of participation in vocational educati ... Show more
Topics covered in this international study are: women and training; patterns of participation in vocational education; changing women’s training (money, stamina, assertive government); fair training routes for feminised fields; more technical skills for women; passive equal opportunity vs positive action; women’s training in the firm; unions and women’s training; skills, pay, and productivity; adult training; privatising technical education - implications for women; working locally; industry policies; and essential change - parental leave and childare. Includes references.
The full report is indexed at TD/TNC 16.2. Show less

Authors: Pocock, Barbara

Corporate authors: TAFE National Centre for Research and Development (Australia)

Date: 1988

Geographic subjects: Oceania; Europe; Germany ... [+] Show more

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Subjects: Vocational education and training; Participation; Industry ... [+] Show more
Women and WorkChoices: impacts on the low pay sector

The WorkChoices amendments to the Workplace Relations Act 1996 represent a significant shift in national employment ... Show more
The WorkChoices amendments to the Workplace Relations Act 1996 represent a significant shift in national employment regulation in Australia. The legislative amendments are extremely complex and comprise, together with the accompanying regulations, some 1400 pages of regulation (Legislative Council of NSW Standing Committee on Social Issues 2006: 11). While some of the legislative changes are clear, such as the restriction of unfair dismissal protection to those working for employers with more than 100 employees and the restriction of unions’ right of entry to workplaces, other changes are less so. Indeed the extent to which the application of specific changes within certain workplaces is legal or illegal under WorkChoices has been a matter of on-going political debate and some considerable confusion. Even where changes are unambiguous, the individual and organisational ramifications of the removal of long-standing protections, particularly in relation to job security, have not yet been explored and understood. The authors were commissioned to conduct a deep qualitative study of a set of experiences amongst workers in low pay sectors, particularly childcare, aged care, cleaning, retail, clerical and hospitality, across five states and the Australian Capital Territory. This report includes full details of the methods and approach of the study, along with recruitment materials and interview schedules (see appendices). This report outlines findings arising from 121 women low paid interviewees. Amongst other recommendations, we strongly recommend a larger national analysis by means of a comprehensive longitudinal survey of Australian workers and workplaces. This report thus provides the first comprehensive, qualitative study of the effects of recent industrial relations reforms on low paid women workers and should be of interest to all those working in this field.
Excerpt from executive summary. Show less

Authors: Elton, Jude; Bailey, Janis; Baird, Marian; Whitehouse, Gillian ... [+] Show more

Date: 2007

Geographic subjects: Australia; Oceania

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Subjects: Employment; Governance; Industry ... [+] Show more