Abstract Participation in government-supported apprenticeship programs in the UK is characterized by stereotypical gender imbalances. This chapter draws on secondary data analysis of official statistics on young people’s participation in vocational education and training (VET) and apprenticeship, and evidence from a study of the attitudes of 14-and 15-year-olds in England and Wales to the labor market. The discussion reveals the deep-rooted nature and continuing influence of gendered stereotypes in relation to what men and women can and cannot do in the world of work. This chapter argues that while patterns of take-up in apprenticeship mirror unequal conditions in the labor market and society more widely, initiatives in some European countries indicate that there are steps that can be taken to help young women gain access to occupations that provide better prospects in terms of pay and career progression. Introduction This chapter discusses the extent to which vocational education and training (VET) policies and practices, and particularly apprenticeships, perpetuate or help to alleviate the levels of gender segregation that can be found in the labor market. While it draws mainly on data from the United Kingdom (UK), the chapter raises questions that will be pertinent in many other countries. This chapter argues that while VET mirrors conditions in the labor market and wider society, and hence cannot of itself solve the gender segregation problem, there are steps that can be taken to support young women to enable them to gain access to and benei t from areas of VET that provide better prospects in terms of pay and career progression. At the same time, such steps will also be helpful for young men who aspire to careers in occupations traditionally regarded as “female.” © Cambridge University Press 2014.
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