Gender policies meet VET practices – the case of health and social care in Norway

Abstract

Could the labour market gender balance be improved by introducing new types of apprenticeship-trained workers? This article investigates what happened in the wake of the Norwegian VET programme for health and social care, a new approach introduced via the 1994 educational reform. By upgrading this traditionally female-dominated area of education, it was hoped that working conditions for women would improve and that, over time, the gender balance among workers would improve. Hence, Norwegian VET policy became a means to meet and the ambitions set by national policies for gender equality. Twenty years on, health and social care remains the most popular VET programme for female applicants. However, only a minority of those attending the school-based part of the education applies for apprenticeships as health care workers; most opt to switch to general education in order to access higher education. Those who stay on typically hold part-time jobs. This area of the labour market remains segregated in terms of gender. Based on extensive quantitative and qualitative data, the article discusses what might explain this development.