Thirty years of education, training and work among women and men

A study published in a book marking the 30th anniversary of Portugal’s Commission for Equality in Labour and Employment reviews the major trends over the past 30 years in terms of education, training and work among women and men. The analysis reveals a relative devaluation by society in general, and the labour market in particular, of the efforts and commitment of women in acquiring additional qualifications and skills in order to improve their employment prospects.

A study on education, training and work published as one of the chapters of the book, The equality of women and men in the world of work in Portugal: Policies and circumstances (in Portuguese, 1.24Mb PDF), which was issued to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the formation of the Commission for Equality in Labour and Employment (CITE). In the study, Margarida Chagas Lopes and Heloísa Perista examine similarities and differences in the paths of women and men over 30 years of education, training and work in Portugal.

Given the unavailability of indicators on individual paths, their analysis is based on statistical information published by:

• Statistics Portugal (INE);

• the Ministry of Education (Ministério da Educação);

• the Ministry of Labour and Social Solidarity (MTSS);

• international sources such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

A number of earlier studies and research reports were also used as sources for the analysis.

Findings

One of the study’s main findings is that women’s investment in improving their skills and qualifications is not fully valued by society in general and the labour market in particular. This is still an unequal process compared with men, in which women have to put in more effort, work double loads (in terms of professional and family-related responsibilities), on multiple shifts, but with equal motivation.

The study analyses the paths of women and men in terms of education, training and work over the past 30 years, thus going back to the early 1970s.

The 1970s

In the 1970s, the first phase in the restructuring of sectors traditionally characterised by a high level of female workers (such as textiles and clothing) took place. This was a missed opportunity to involve vocational training in the improvement and modernisation of female employment. As well as the inadequate structure of training at the time, the authors stress the very low basic formal qualifications of male and female workers as a reason for this failure.

The 1980s and beyond

In the 1980s, there was a major development in formal education at all levels in Portugal. Women became an increasing proportion of those people who were achieving increasingly higher levels of educational qualifications. But although conditions for equal opportunities for men and women in the labour market were apparently improving, this did not occur during that decade or even in the following ones.

The diversity of women’s approaches to education and training persisted throughout the period, tending to consolidate the so-called ‘bimodal’ work pattern (where they leave employment following the birth of a first child and return when the child is of a suitable age).

Equivalent effort in terms of ‘investment in human capital’ does not have the same results in terms of employment opportunities, status, working conditions and job satisfaction for women and men. Compared with men who have equivalent qualifications and training, women have to invest more in education and training and then have to wait longer to find a job and to obtain an eventual promotion.

An uncertain future

The study’s authors share the view that the current social and economic situation makes it even more difficult to predict how the paths of education, training and work among women and men will evolve. It is no doubt essential to maintain investment, particularly through government policies, in the implementation of measures to promote gender equality in these areas. Nevertheless, irreversible steps have been taken to achieve gender equality over the past 30 years that will lead to increased convergence in the paths of education, training and work among women and men.

Reference

Chagas Lopes, M. and Perista, H., ‘Trinta anos de educação, formação e trabalho: convergências e divergências nas trajectórias de mulheres e homens’ [Thirty years of education, training and work: Convergences and divergences in the trajectories of women and men], in Ferreira, V. (ed.), A igualdade de mulheres e homens no trabalho e no emprego em Portugal: políticas e circunstâncias (2.4Mb PDF) [The equality of women and men in the world of work in Portugal: Policies and circumstances], Lisbon, CITE, 2010, pp. 191–216.

Heloísa Perista and Eudelina Quintal, CESIS