With the tides of time, women have actively started to join the workforce. However, more often than not, their growth in the workplace gets stunted due to a lack of skill development.
Given the discrimination faced by women across the globe, it is important for them to be prepared and excel in the workplace to earn some degree of autonomy. Thus, vocational education and training (VET) is of utmost importance for them.
However, they often get discouraged from gaining such training due to some myths. This article seeks to bust these myths and prevent the spread of misinformation.
1. Work-Life Balance
This is an age-old argument thrown at women for almost everything that they do. So, it is no surprise that it acts as a barrier for women joining VET too.
VET demands a lot of your time and focus. This is said to mess up a woman’s work-life balance.
However, with time, this myth is creeping toward becoming obsolete.
Work-life balance is no longer just a women’s issue. With men increasingly contributing to household chores and sharing responsibility, it has opened up pathways for women to focus elsewhere too.
Given this shift, it is pretty evident how this myth is redundant in this day and age.
2. VET is a Man’s Domain
For the longest time VET was considered to be a man’s domain.
But as we are currently seeing, there are more and more women joining the workforce. Consequently, women are enrolling in VET in large numbers too.
This myth is not just restricted to trainees either. There was a time when trainers of VET institutes were predominantly men.
This is changing now. In fact, with changes in the course designs and VET resources, more and more women joining the VET sector as trainers.
Hence, we can conclude that this has ceased to be entirely a man’s world.
3. Vocational Education is only for People Who Join the Trade
This is arguably one of the most common myths regarding vocational education. However, this is far from the truth.
While vocational training gives an edge to people who want to join trade that is not its only role. Vocational education’s primary objective is to help an individual to develop and hone practical life skills too.
For women who are unable to complete formal education, VET is an excellent opportunity to learn new skills for starting their own businesses.
4. VET Won’t Get You High-Paying Jobs
The wage gap is a vital challenge faced by working women. It is one of the most gaping forms of discrimination they face in the workplace.
Women’s lack of skills is the most common justification provided to support this discriminatory practice. Hence, honing skills by way of vocational training can help them overcome this barrier.
Vocational training can also boost their confidence and make them more comfortable in playing leadership roles.
Thus, vocational education can actually help women to increase their earnings and take a step toward decreasing the wage gap.
5. Vocational Trainees are Employed Slower
It is often presumed that vocational education trainees are not employed as quickly as university graduates.
For women who mostly join the workforce for financial autonomy or to support their families, this myth often dissuades them from enrolling in vocational training courses.
However, this idea is absolutely misconstrued.
Logically speaking, due to the nature of the courses, vocational training graduates have more practical skills which makes them more attractive to recruiters.
Conclusion
Vocational training has become important for everyone, but more so for women.
They might be discouraged from gaining such training because of some myths. This article debunks some of these myths and proves them to be untrue.
We hope many women will come forward and avail the fantastic opportunities that await them after completing vocational training courses.