Still a perfect model? The gender impact of vocational training in Germany

Abstract

Reconstructing the parallel structure of ‘dual’ and ‘school-based’ vocational routes reveals the close connection between the German vocational training system and the segmentation of the labour market by gender. The example of jobs in childcare and pre-primary education shows that the legacy of semi-professionalism in these occupations is not just rooted in the nature of training and working conditions, but complexly interlinks with the prevalence of the male breadwinner model sustained by social policy regulations and the German taxation system. In France, by contrast, the central state takes responsibility for the provision of childcare from zero to six years of age to support female labour force participation and dual-earner couples. This has also fostered professionalisation in the respective occupations. Whilst this may not necessarily induce a degendering process at the level of horizontal segregation of vocational qualifications, it facilitates gender equality in terms of vertical mobility and the professional status of women.

Keywords:

• labour market segmentation
• school-based VET
• social services
• tertiarisation
• staff shortages

Acknowledgements

We thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions as well as Insa Bertram for supporting the development of the manuscript.

Notes

1. The dual system is characterised by the combination of subject-oriented and general education in vocational schools and company-based training. Depending on their vocational specialisation, apprentices spend about 15% of their training in vocational schools and the remaining time in the company, which also holds employment contracts with the apprentices.

2. Nursing has been subject to various national and EU regulations during the last years. This has resulted in considerable convergence in terms of nursing qualifications and occupational profiles across the EU despite the fact that variations in standards based on the different national contexts persist (Brockmann 2011).

3. Between 1996 and 2009, the share of female part-time employment as part of total female employment rose from 50.8 to 70.3% (Wolf 2010).

4. This development is more pronounced in East than in West Germany (see Klenner, Menke, and Pfahl 2012).

5. The EU-27 average gender pay gap is at 16%. Of the 27 countries, the gender pay gap is only bigger in Austria, Estonia and the Czech Republic than in Germany (OECD 2013b, 257).

6. The French Laicism has a long tradition, denoting the absence of religious involvement in government affairs as well as the absence of government involvement in religious affairs. It is based on the 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State.