Trends in the Training of Male and Female Workers in the United Kingdom
| Author | Luisa Zanchi,Francis Green |
| Date | 01 December 1997 |
| Published date | 01 December 1997 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8543.00073 |
British Journal of IndustrialRelations
35:4 December 1997 0007–1080 pp. 635–644
Trends in the Training of Male and
Female Workers in the United
Kingdom
Francis Green and Luisa Zanchi
Abstract
After controlling for the effect of impact of human capital and other
characteristics, including whether respondents are interviewed directly or by
proxy, there has been a convergence in the experience of women and men
regarding access to training in Britain. This convergence applies both to total
training participation in any four weeks and to the weekly volume of off-the-
job training.
1. Introduction
It has been established that, until relatively recently, women workers in
Britain experienced lower access than men to participation in work-related
training (Greenhalgh and Stewart 1987; Booth 1990, 1991; Green 1991,
1993; Blundell et al. 1996; Arulampalam and Booth 1996). At various points
in the 1980s and earlier, women not only had a lower observed frequency of
training at work than men, but in addition experienceda lower probability of
receiving training, and received fewer training hours, than men with the
same human capital and other personal and job characteristics. This
difference could be interpreted as evidence of gender discrimination, or
alternatively as reflecting different preferences of women and men.
The last decade, however, has seen changes in the UK labour market
which might be expected to lead to an opening up of more training
opportunities for women. Women have continued to increase their par-
ticipation in the labour force. Moreover, institutional changes such as the
founding of the Training and Enterprise Councils in England and Wales,
and of the Local Enterprise Councils in Scotland, the development of the
National Vocational Qualifications System, and the expansion of participa-
tion of young people in further education might all be expected to raise the
participation of groups of workers who previously had less access to tra ining.
Francis Green and Luisa Zanchi are at the Leeds University Business School, University of
Leeds.
¥ 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.
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