Why aren’t there more female heating installers and male medical practice assistants?

Why are there practically no female heating installers and drainage technicians? Why are very few young men trained as medical practice assistants or home textile designers? To what extent do gender stereotypes still influence vocational education and training today? In 2019, SFIVET staff focussed on gender issues with these kinds of questions in mind.

National press coverage of the autumn issue of SFIVET’s ‘skilled’ magazine on this topic was considerable, with news articles and broadcasts appearing in all three linguistic regions. The autumn issue presented the results of SFIVET research on apprenticeship contracts, which had revealed that young women and men differ significantly in their occupational choices: even today, many still choose occupations in line with traditionally ascribed male or female roles. Accordingly, many occupations are still clearly dominated by one gender.

SFIVET and the Swiss Association for Applied Research in Vocational Education Training (SGAB) organised a joint symposium on the topic of ‘gender-neutral occupational choices and careers’. Participants discussed possible strategies that could help young people to break free of the gender trap in vocational education and training. SFIVET researchers also examined gender issues in several projects and wrote a chapter of the book ‘Gendersensible Berufsorientierung und Berufswahl – Beiträge aus Forschung und Praxis’ (hep-Verlag publishing house, 2019).