Gender Discrimination in Training: a Note
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8543.00072 |
| Published date | 01 December 1997 |
| Author | Audrey VandenHeuvel,Mark Wooden |
| Date | 01 December 1997 |
British Journal of IndustrialRelations
35:4 December 1997 0007–1080 pp. 627–633
Gender Discrimination in Training: a
Note
Mark Wooden and Audrey VandenHeuvel
Abstract
Existing research evidence generally leads to the conclusion that females are
disadvantaged in terms of access to job-related training. This paper recon-
siders the evidencefor Australia using data collected as part of the 1993 Survey
of Training and Education. The findings indicate that, while men could be
expected to receive more training as a result of their labour market
endowments, this is more than compensated for by a gender effect in favour of
women. Comparison with results from an analysis of similar data for 1989
suggests a marked change in the pattern of trai ning in favour of women.
1. Introduction
In a recent paper in this journal, Miller (1994) used individual-level data
collected from Australian workers in 1989 to estimate the size of gender
discrimination in participation in job-related training. While it had been
widely believed that, in line with most studies into wage discrimination,
women were disadvantaged in the training process, Miller’s results actually
indicate that, once labour market characteristics are controlled for, women
are more likely to participate in both external training (i.e. structured off-
the-job training) and unstructured on-the-job training activities. Further,
while there is a differenti al in favour of men in the case of in-house training
(i.e. structured on-the-job training), the size of the differential is extremely
small.
These findings stand in marked contrast to those reported in earlier
studies in the UK, such as Greenhalgh and Stewart (1987), Booth (1991,
1993) and Green (1991, 1993). One possible explanation for this difference
lies in cross-national institutional differences. Certainly the size of the
gender wage gap, which might be expected to bear a relationship to the size
of any gender differential in acce ss to training, is much smaller in Australia
than in the UK (Blau and Kahn 1992; Norris and Wooden 1996: 13).
Mark Wooden is at the National Institute of Labour Studies, Flinders University of South
Australia. Audrey VandenHeuvel is at the International Survey Research Corporation,
Adelaide.
¥ Blackwell Publishers Ltd/London School of Economics 1997. Published by Blackwell Publishers Ltd,
108 Cowley Road,Oxford, OX4 1JF, and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.
To continue reading
Request your trial