Where women are disadvantaged in adult education
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In Austria, 56% of women and 55% of men participate in non-formal training (see “Education at a glance 2024”) – this seems like not much difference. What the numbers do not show, however, are the prevailing injustices against women. Women are more likely to be discriminated against in education and training and less likely to be represented in adult vocational education and training. Looking at women as teachers, guidance counsellors and educational managers, the disadvantages of a typical ‘women’s profession’ are apparent: Unpaid work and precarious employment remain a reality.
Continuing education for careers is a matter for men
Women are quite present in adult education as participants in educational offerings. Since the end of National Socialism, adult education centres have been regarded as an educational area for women – according to KEBÖ statistics, they account for more than 70% of participants in adult education centres in 2023.
However, if one looks at the selected continuing education content, it can be seen that women are less represented than men in the publicly higher rated continuing education courses, such as career-oriented continuing education. Women, in particular, sharpen general skills, while men, on the other hand, learn in a career-related manner.
According to the Adult Education Survey, men are more likely than women to participate in non-formal training on technical, practical or job-specific skills (men: 27.5%; Women: 12.8%). Men are also more likely to take part in training courses on IT skills: 10.3% of men attend IT courses, compared to 5.9% of women. And men (7.8%) are also more strongly represented than women (3.5%) when it comes to continuing training in leadership skills.
Women, on the other hand, are more likely to report training in health and safety skills development (women: 14.5%; Men: 6.6%) to visit. More women (7.5%) than men (2.3%) are also represented in further training on mental strength or personal development.
In total, more than three quarters of men in Austria report participating in non-formal education in order to be able to exercise their profession better or to improve their career opportunities. In the case of women, this figure is around 67%.
There are still “women’s” and “men’s” occupations associated with pay differences
However, there are also differences in vocational or career-oriented education itself: Women are still less likely than men to complete training in the so-called STEM field (mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology), which is usually rated higher in public and monetary terms than occupations outside this field. And this has consequences for the workplace: Despite extensive legal gender equality in the occupational fields, the gender-specific segregation of the labour market is still a reality (see also magazine erwachsenenbildung.at, issue 43).
The coronavirus pandemic, for example, has made it clear that women carry out a large part of the system-maintaining professions and activities, such as care and health professions and professions in the food trade. And this also goes hand in hand with income differences. These are often unjustified and therefore discriminatory, as shown by the German pilot project ‘Comparable Worth’. The project evaluates and compares occupations with regard to their actual work requirements and workloads. An example: Nurses work under similarly burdensome work requirements as managers in the company administration or engineering scientists, but earn up to 13 euros per hour less.
Girls and women are more likely to be discriminated against in education and training
Apart from the sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker discussion about the structural disadvantage of women in the world of work, current studies and discussions on women's experiences of discrimination in adult education are largely lacking. This is indicated by a special evaluation of the study ‘Experiences of discrimination by women in Austria’ (PDF) from 2020.
10% of the total of 2,317 respondents living in Austria state that they have experienced disadvantage or discrimination in the field of education - i.e. at school, in other educational institutions or in further education - of which 12% are women and 7% men. 11% of respondents say they have observed discrimination in the educational context.
The analysis of the study shows that women are more often affected than men in twelve of the 19 forms of discrimination in the field of education. Women and girls are more likely to experience exclusion and isolation (63% vs. 51%) and are more likely to be victims of bullying, threat or extortion (54% vs. 45%). The differences are particularly pronounced in the experience of cyberbullying (52% vs. 29%), in negative experiences in community facilities such as break rooms (50% vs. 33%) and in the experience of sexual harassment (38% vs. 2%). Forty-nine percent of women said they were discriminated against by teachers or other lecturers.
Adult education as a ‘women’s profession’ with all its disadvantages
Adult education has been committed to women in education for many years and implements numerous women's education projects. But what about gender equality in adult education institutions themselves? There are hardly any useful data or studies. What you know: According to KEBÖ statistics, around 60% of adult educators are women, which tends to be even higher, as not all KEBÖ organisations have the number of women and men among their employees. Figures are missing for institutions outside the KEBÖ. However, when describing the occupational field, it is clear that adult education is a ‘women’s profession’ with the classic characteristics of such a profession. Translated into everyday working life, this means: Adult educators often experience precarious employment or do not receive adequate remuneration. This is shown, for example, by the fact that they are often employed part-time, but in reality often work more, or by the fact that they are versatile and well qualified and therefore consider or do many other things in addition to their actual activity. In addition, adult education institutions often have to make do with scarce resources and work strongly project- and funding-oriented. This means that there are people working in adult education, and most of them women, who also contribute to corporate risks (see also the article entitled ‘Adult educator’in the magazine erwachsenenbildung.at).
Disadvantage of adult educators also within their own educational organization?
It is not possible to say whether adult educators experience disadvantages compared to their male colleagues within their own working environment. There is a lack of data and representative surveys.
However, the fact that adult education is not immune to it is described, for example, by the adult educator Lea Pelosi in a magazine article. She has had conversations with women in adult education and conducted a survey. Women from adult education told her that, for example, criticism of women often triggers irritation or rejection. The institutions’ self-descriptions often contain terms such as ‘promoting women’, ‘re-entry women’, ‘collegiality’ and ‘solidarity’. Those who express themselves critically here risk the accusation of ingratitude.
In fact, however, there is a lack of reliable data, studies and studies on the extent to which structural discrimination works in the adult education sector, which is very enlightened in its own right, and whether or to what extent the management and board level is male-dominated.
The only thing that is certain is: In adult education, the majority of women work and they shape this industry significantly. They should therefore be visible, recognised and remunerated and used in accordance with their competences. And in view of the participants in continuing education, there is a need for offers that are not only concerned with the labour market integration of women - educational work that is critical of domination and society is far from obsolete.
Further information:
- Education at a Glance 2024
- KEBÖ statistics 2023
- Pilot project Comparable Worth
- Article: Women sharpen general skills, men learn professionally
- Study: Discrimination Experiences of Women in Austria (PDF)
- Magazine adult education.at: The visibility of women* in adult education
Text/Author of original article in German: Lucia Paar/CONEDU
Editing of original article in German: Sabine Schnepfleitner/CONEDU
Translation into English: EPALE Austria
