Gender differences in formal, non-formal and informal adult learning

Abstract

At first sight, participation rates in adult learning do not differ strongly between men and women. Further exploration, however, makes clear that differences exist at the level of the type of learning. Men participate more in work-related learning and experience more job-related motives to participate. Women take on the main responsibilities in the home, resulting in less employment in knowledge intensive jobs and fewer opportunities for work-related training. In this paper, we use the Harvard gender analysis framework to gain insight into the differences in adult learning activities between men and women. In the empirical part, we use the Eurostat Adult Education Survey, which provides sex-aggregated data, which are needed to gain insight in the broader activity profile of the population divided by men and women.