Women into Non-Traditional Sectors: Addressing Gender Segregation in the Northern Ireland Workforce

Michael Potter, Myrtle Hill

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    15 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The horizontal segregation of the workforce along gender lines tends to assign women to lower paid, lower status employment. Consequently, schemes to address segregation have focused on preparing women to enter non‐traditional occupations through training and development processes. This article examines models to encourage women into non‐traditional employment, focusing on the Women into Non‐Traditional Sectors (WINS) project in Belfast, Northern Ireland. However, changing women to suit a hostile work environment assumes women to be the problem, whereas it is the barriers that women face in undertaking non‐traditional jobs that need to be changed. It is concluded, therefore, that while models such as WINS can be successful in assisting women into non‐traditional sectors, change processes to make workplaces more accessible are a more pressing and appropriate approach to de‐segregating the workforce.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)133-150
    JournalJournal Of Vocational Education And Training
    Volume61
    Issue number2
    Publication statusPublished - 2009

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