Youth Employment
Greening TVET
Access, Equity & Quality
TVET in a Digital World
Other Themes
i-hubs: Skills for Innovation Hubs
YEM: Youth Employment in the Mediterranean
BILT: Bridging Innovation and Learning in TVET
UNEVOC TVET Leadership Programme
WYSD: World Youth Skills Day
Publications
TVET Forum
Virtual Conferences
TVET Country Profiles
TVETipedia Glossary
Promising & Innovative Practices
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Thematic Areas: Youth Employment | Greening TVET | Access, Equity & Quality | TVET in a Digital World | Other Themes
Our Key Programmes & Projects: i-hubs: Skills for Innovation Hubs | YEM: Youth Employment in the Mediterranean | BILT: Bridging Innovation and Learning in TVET | UNEVOC TVET Leadership Programme | WYSD: World Youth Skills Day
Past Activities: TVET Global Forums
Our Services & Resources: Publications | TVET Forum | Virtual Conferences | TVET Country Profiles | TVETipedia Glossary | Promising & Innovative Practices
Events: Major TVET Events | UNEVOC Network News
While the fundamental right to education and training has been well established and recognized within numerous political frameworks across the world, young people and adults still face difficulties accessing or completing TVET programmes. Systemic discrimination, inequalities related to course materials and school infrastructure, and discriminatory career guidance practices are examples of barriers affecting access and participation in TVET programmes. Systems and institutions must ensure equal access to technical and vocational education and training opportunities regardless of gender, age, religion or ethnic background, and with special consideration for vulnerable members of society, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children.
UNESCO has identified gender equality as a global priority and the international community’s commitment to gender equality in education and training is well embedded in Sustainable Development Goal 4, which aims to ensure the right to inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all. Extending this commitment, UNESCO-UNEVOC works to promote equal access to quality TVET for all.
Gender equality unleashes the full power of education to tackle the problem of imbalanced power relations, social norms, discriminatory practices and belief systems underpinning gender-based disparities and contributing to societal exclusion. This includes the essential first step of ensuring gender parity - equal numbers and proportions of girls and boys enrolled in and completing different levels of education. Gender equality is, however, much more than that; it speaks to the birth of a new era of education that considers the needs, interests and lived experiences of all learners, and which tackles the intersecting and simultaneous disadvantages that may inhibit a child, youth or adult from fully exercising their right to participate in, complete and benefit from education.
Overall, female representation in TVET is lower in comparison to general education programmes; the UNESCO Institute for Statistics estimated that 43% of students enrolled in vocational programmes at the upper secondary (ISCED 3) in 2017 were female, compared to 49% in general education programmes (UIS Data
).
These gender disparities are more prevalent in some fields than in others, with girls and women particularly under-represented in fields requiring science, technology, engineering and mathematic (STEM) skills and knowledge: women account for only 35% of STEM students in higher education globally (UNESCO 2018). This under-representation is significant and detrimental to both individuals and society. In addition to being required for ‘traditional’ and ‘emerging’ occupations, STEM skills and knowledge are often needed for the so-called ‘jobs of the future’ - driving innovation, inclusive growth and sustainable development.
While much of the focus to date has been on the participation of girls and women in school and university STEM education, there has been relatively little attention paid to the participation of girls and women in STEM-related TVET. Recognizing the gap in TVET-specific data and literature, UNESCO-UNEVOC conducted a study on boosting gender equality in science and technology throughout 2019 and 2020. The report on this study was published at the end of 2020 and provides an overview of gender disparities in STEM-related TVET for ten countries. The ten case countries were selected in collaboration with members of UNESCO’s global platform of TVET institutions, the UNEVOC Network.
A challenge for TVET programmes and careers
While technical and vocational education and training (TVET) has the potential to bolster the participation of women in the labour market, this potential is not always well understood and capitalized on. In general, female students are lowly represen ...
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read more
Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-related technical and vocational education and training (TVET) has a potentially significant role to play in providing the skills and competencies required to support innovation, productivity an ...
download read more
A challenge for TVET programmes and careers
While technical and vocational education and training (TVET) has the potential to bolster the participation of women in the labour market, this potential is not always well understood and capitalized on. In general, female students are lowly represen ...
download read more 
Closing gender divides in digital skills through education
This publication seeks to expose some of these biases and put forward ideas to begin closing a digital skills gender gap that is, in most parts of the world, wide and growing. Today, women and girls are 25 per cent less likely than men to know how to ...
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Ensuring an inclusive and gender-responsive learning environment is a goal of technical and vocational institutions in Malawi. Outlined are guidelines intended for administrators and instructors in technical, entrepreneurial and vocat ...
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