ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the way in which the early labour market experiences and longer-term aspirations of technical and vocational education initiative (TVEI) leavers were indeed strongly shaped by their gender. In most cases, the longer-term career plans of the young people were linked to long-standing aspirations so far unsatisfied by the local labour market. The chapter considers the young people’s responses when asked to consider gender differences in relation to their own workplaces, relating to their awareness of both horizontal and vertical segregation; discrimination in recruitment and promotion; and their attitudes towards ‘gender innovators’ at work. Most of the young people who were interviewed were receiving some form of training, either in-house or externally, but their perceptions of its value varied greatly. The model of equal opportunities development which was often used within TVEI regarded the promotion of equality of outcomes, as distinct from equality of access as the pinnacle of success.
