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Gender-bias in employment has long been a site of concern for social policy. Enduring gender patterns have seen an overrepresentation of men in high status, highly paid and executive roles, while women dominate less (monetarily) valued care work sectors internationally. While existing research has highlighted the negative impacts of this gender bias for women, as well as demonstrating the positive experiences of care work roles for men, it is unclear whether any significant change in male representation is occurring. This article contributes to contemporary understandings of gender-bias in employment by mapping gender patterns in the Australian healthcare and social assistance industry from 2006 to 2020.

Drawing on Australian census and workforce statistical data we highlight the significant patterns over time and explore how these might inform developments in social policy to address gender bias in health and care occupations. We conclude by arguing that a broad collaboration of government, professional bodies, educational and industry organisations is needed to mount a sustained challenge to pervasive gender bias in health and care industries.

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The marked and persistent gender segregation in apprenticeship has been well documented. The social construction of 'male' and 'female' jobs is a key factor in the gendered patterns evident in career choice. Research on young women who have chosen careers in male-dominated occupations risks constructing them as 'Other', typically concluding that rather than challenging the gender binary, the women would reinforce it, echoing 'tomboy' identities according to which girls are aligning themselves with boys whilst devaluing femininity. Based on biographical interviews, this paper explores the role of gender in the career decision-making of one German and one English woman motor mechanic apprentice. It illustrates the strongly normative but highly contextual nature of gender as the two women negotiate identities in their quests to live 'liveable lives'. It will be argued that the rich and multi-faceted experiences of these two young women belie stereotypical accounts of gender, suggesting acceptable ways of being in male workspaces.

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This article describes a typological framework with axes relating to career and (non-work) relationship commitment to show how a specific cohort of women enact femininity(ies) in the context of the institutionalised practices that define science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) as a masculine domain. Based on the accounts of 25 women in such disciplines in an Irish university, four types are identified: careerist femininity; individualised femininity; vocational femininity; and family-oriented femininity. All of these are constituted in relation to the meanings attached to the masculinist STEM career which performatively render women outsiders. The typology moves beyond the career/paid work and work/life dichotomies to encompass both the re-envisioning of career as vocation (Type 3) and the development of a highly individualised lifestyle orientation based on a high commitment to both (Type 2). It points to the variation, complexity and contradictions in how women do femininities in the academic STEM environment.

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There are many myths around women working in non-traditional trade areas which are treated as fact and provide reasons for people to continue maintaining the status quo which prevents women entering these trades. Women represent half of the population yet account for less than 0.1% of some areas of non-traditional trade training. Occupations which have been male gender dominated but which have shown shifts in parity have been considered as examples of how change can be effected. Sixteen women who were engaged in training on trade courses at the Illawarra Institute were interviewed for this report. The trades included building and construction, fitting and machining, welding, auto spray and butchery. Most of the women came from strong trade families although not generally with family members in the same trade. Almost all the women commented on their love of their trade and their need to be passionate about it to survive. Family influence and particularly the attitudes of the women’s fathers were found to be important. Most of the women were apprenticed and were high achievers in their training and an excellent influence on the trade classes, according to their Head Teachers. The women who were training without apprenticeships were equally committed and had gained work on a self employed basis. It is currently difficult for women to gain access to training in the trades and the report highlights the way this has been overcome in one trade department at the Illawarra Institute, which now has a participation rate of 12% women in its trade courses. Other avenues which could facilitate women’s participation in the trades are also considered. Without an engagement by all parties (employers, Registered Training Organisations, schools and society) in the spirit of true Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO), where any person capable of the job is trained and employed to do the job, nothing will change.

Published abstract.

The report on which this paper is based is indexed at TD/TNC 93.385.

A list of the presentations from this conference may be found at TD/TNC 93.551; available papers are indexed from TD/TNC 93.552 to TD/TNC 93.571. Show less

In China, entrepreneurship remains a non-traditional career for women, but little is known about how young single women may opt for entrepreneurship against the social penalty. This study focuses on single female entrepreneurs and finds them being stigmatised as doing inappropriate jobs and (consequently) staying single. The interviewees responded differently, by (1) coordinating their career and family formation plans to make them compatible, (2) justifying their being single based on their entrepreneurial achievements and (3) compensating for their deviance and using their economic capability to fulfil other family roles. In contrast to the 'androcentric' business model based on carefree agents, female entrepreneurs illustrate different forms of agency to accommodate career aspirations and family duties. Given China's market-oriented reforms, persisting gender beliefs and the socialist legacy, this study illustrates women's fluid and interactive agency in response to the gendered penalty in non-traditional careers.

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The National Careers Institute's Partnership Grants Program was a competitive, merit-based grants program. It provided funding for organisations, such as employers, training providers, schools, and community organisations, to work collaboratively to create education and training pathways to improve career outcomes. The program aimed to support people at all stages of their careers, career advisors, career influencers and employers.

The program funded 79 projects for a total of $22.5 million across four rounds over the period between December 2020 and June 2023. Each of the four rounds focussed on a different cohort and their career development needs. The purpose of this summary report is to share a high-level overview of the evaluation, showcase success stories of the program and share learnings to inform best practice related to future career development initiatives.

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This is a report on a project commissioned by the Tasmanian Transport and Logistics Workforce Advisory Group (TTLWAG) to identify the barriers to and strategies for increased participation by women in non-traditional roles in the transport and logistics industry in Tasmania. The project had a specific focus on truck driving roles as non-traditional occupations for women in transport and logistics. The transport and logistics industry locally, nationally and internationally is facing a significant workforce challenge to fill driving roles; a situation projected to increase to crisis proportions with the potential to disrupt supply chains. Men occupy to 96 per cent of driving roles, in an industry classified as 'Male Dominated'. There is a strong argument and motivation to develop and implement strategies to support the attraction, recruitment, development and retention of women to the industry, particularly in non-traditional roles such as driving; to provide a greater workforce pool and other benefits in workforce diversity and the critical aspect of improved industry image. Through this project, the Tasmanian Transport Association conducted an extensive literature review, communicated and engaged with industry stakeholders and has supported concurrent project activities in the industry.

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This research project tracked a cohort of nine female trainees as they completed their apprenticeships as line mechanics or cable jointers in the electricity supply industry in New Zealand. The key findings relate to how the women negotiated their way as trainees in a traditionally male trade, and also to the human resource practices that were used by their employers through this process. The findings draw attention to the skills that women bring to these non-traditional trades that differ from those usually offered by male trainees. They also identify a need for work and family networks to support women working in non-traditional trades, and for work practices to address health and safety concerns that may be specific to (or more likely to be experienced by) women. The attitude of women trainees to health and safety practices were described as an asset. Some teams were unsure how to work with the women and a protective attitude did at times hinder the women's progress. Rough patches were able to be navigated in large part through good support from whanau and family, other trainees and workplace mentors. However, levels of resistance to having women in these roles did not wane considerably among operational staff. Good human resource practices helped to integrate the women but some challenges remain, for example, in how women can reconcile long and unpredictable hours with family responsibilities.

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The purpose of this project is to draw attention to case studies on improving the participation of female students in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) programs formerly dominated by males in selected colleges and training institutions in the Visayas (Region VI) and other regions of the Philippines. The results of the study will throw light on the promotion of equal access for women to TVET programs in selected institutions. The study will elucidate various practices and approaches to gender mainstreaming, especially support systems, such as the legal framework of TVET in the Philippines, information taken from the database of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority’s (TESDA’s) certification in Region VI, laws and legislation concerning women, and the outcomes of related research and other surveys conducted in the past. Specifically, the project desired to identify the lessons learned, which could be employed for: (a) future development and enhancement of TVET curricular programs; (b) improving infrastructure programs; (c) initiating educational reforms in TVET teacher-training and guidance programs; (d) enhancing the role of the family and the community in support of career choices; (e) revisiting the legal framework and policies affecting women’s equal access to education and labour; and (f) examining the intricacies of social and human capital build-up.

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By directly accessing women's accounts of their active and ex-volunteer fire-fighting at the Australian Country Fire Authority (CFA), this paper seeks to understand women's experiences in fire-fighting. The study documents the voices of women in work where they are mostly conspicuous by their absence, thus contributing to the small body of empirical studies of women in fire-fighting. Findings confirm the underrepresentation of women and provide evidence of horizontal and vertical gender segregation. Women fire-fighters are significantly challenged and discriminated against by individual and organisational behaviours. Other findings of this study are the co-existence of hostile and positive job factors for women fire-fighters; and women's tolerance for complexity and paradox. These are scarcely documented in the literature on non-traditional occupations for women, and the paper suggests explanations based on concepts such as agency and coping strategies. Although women fire-fighters at the CFA had only a partial understanding of factors contributing to gender segregation, they voiced a desire and directions for organisational improvement to address gender issues.

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