Article Gold Open Access 2021

Being and becoming a female student and worker in gendered processes of vocational education and training

Gender and Education
Journal · Vol. 33 · Issue 5 · pp. 514-530
Abstract

This article reports results of an ethnographic study of how girls are positioned, and position themselves, in relation to gender regimes in three vocational programmes in Swedish upper secondary education: Restaurant Management & Food, Health & Social Care, and Vehicle & Transport. The comparison shows that there are different possible feminine positions where the girls resist and comply to varying degrees both within and between the programmes, with expectations interrelated with discourses of consumption, caring and production. However, generally the position of emphasised femininity is most prominent and becoming a female worker in the programmes’ settings involves complying with feminine ideals of a caring discourse, regardless of whether the VET is oriented towards education for masculine production work, or feminine consumption work. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Keywords

Author Keywords

Vocational education Gender Ethnography identity

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations
Department of Applied Educational Science, Umeå Universitet, Umea, Västerbotten, Sweden
Department of Education and Special Education, Göteborgs Universitet, Gothenburg, Vastra Gotaland, Sweden
Department of Education, Umeå Universitet, Umea, Västerbotten, Sweden
Funding & Acknowledgements
Vetenskapsrådet, VR
Grant: 2015-02002
This work was supported by the Swedish Research Council [grant number 2015-02002].
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