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SCHOOL TO WORK OR SCHOOL TO HOME? AN ASSESSMENT OF GIRLS’ VOCATIONAL SECONDARY EDUCATION IN TURKEY

SCHOOL TO WORK OR SCHOOL TO HOME? AN ASSESSMENT OF GIRLS’ VOCATIONAL SECONDARY EDUCATION IN TURKEY. Fatoş Gökşen , Deniz Yükseker , Ayşe Alnıaçık Koç University Social Policy Center (KÜ-SPM) . ESPAnet –The Anniversary Conference , Edinburgh, 6-8 September 2012.

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SCHOOL TO WORK OR SCHOOL TO HOME? AN ASSESSMENT OF GIRLS’ VOCATIONAL SECONDARY EDUCATION IN TURKEY

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  1. SCHOOL TO WORK OR SCHOOL TO HOME? AN ASSESSMENT OF GIRLS’ VOCATIONAL SECONDARY EDUCATION IN TURKEY • FatoşGökşen, DenizYükseker, AyşeAlnıaçık • Koç University Social Policy Center (KÜ-SPM) ESPAnet –The Anniversary Conference , Edinburgh, 6-8 September 2012

  2. Girls’ VocationalSecondaryEducation in Turkey • At the intersection of two critical gender policy debates: • girls’ secondary school enrolment (%66) • women’s labour force participation (%29) • Paradoxical socialpoliciesregarding gender equality: • preserving women’s role in the family as mothers and wives, • but at the same time making legislative changes securing women’s status as independent citizens. • Thus, vocational education for girls is a good vantage point to analyse these contradictions.

  3. Plan of thepaper • Theaims of theresearch • Literature review: • Women’s Employment, Education and Social Policies • Gender and Vocational Education • Girls’ Vocational Education in Turkey: Historical Background and Current State • Fieldwork and analysis of findings: • Choosing girls’ vocational education • School to Work Transitions • Reproduction of Familialism: School-to-Home?

  4. TheAims of theResearch • The analysis of Girl’s Technical and Vocational High Schools (GTVHS) in terms of • content and structure of educational choices • employment outcomes: school to work transition • reproduction of familialism: school to home transition

  5. Women’s Employment, Education and Social Policies • European Context • Employment as a solution topoverty and social exclusion  growing emphasis on maintaining the “employability” of excluded groups especially the youth via education (Daly, 2012). • Welfare state paradoxes in terms of women’s employment (Daly, 2000; Orloff, 2002; Estévez-Abe 2005; Mandel and Semyonov, 2006; Lewis, 2006; Lewis et al. 2008) • Turkish Context • Familialism (Yazıcı, 2012) • Adherence to conservative patriarchal values and dubious objectives of increasing women’s labour force participation (Kılıç 2008; Buğra and Yakut-Çakar, 2010; Dedeoğlu, 2012)

  6. GenderandVocationalEducation • School to work transition: general education vs. vocationaleducation • Safety net anddiversioneffects (ArumandShavit, 1995; Shavitand Müller, 2000; Müller, 2005); vocationaleffect (IannelliandRaffe 2007) • Skills, employment, unemployment, reemployment (Korpi et al. 2003; Estevez-Abe 2005 ) • Occupational segregation by sex (Charles et al. 2001; Smyth, 2005) • Process of socialization and reproduction of inequalities • Issue of choice (Gaskell, 1985) • Socializationandreproduction of inequalitiesbased on classandgender (Bates, 1991; Colley et al, 2003; Skeggs, 1988)

  7. Girls’ Vocational Education in Turkey: Historical Background

  8. Girls’ Vocational Education in Turkey: CurrentState • Rate of vocational education at the secondary level: 44 percent(2011) • Proportion of girls in vocationaleducation: 41 percent (2011) • Within this, 36 per cent are in GVTHS. • Government goal: toraisevocationaleducation at secondarylevelto65 per cent • Women’s labour force participation rate: 29 per cent (2011) • Governmentgoal: 35 per cent by2023

  9. Girls’ Vocational Education in Turkey: CurrentState • Fields of Study in GTVHS • 37 fields in total • 36 % enrolled in child development 13 % Information technologies • 12 % Clothing production technologies • 12 % Food and beverage services • Naming of Schools Boys’ Technical Education Technical and IndustrialVocational Schools • Girls’ Technical Education  Girls’ Technical and VocationalSchools

  10. FieldResearch • Focusgroupinterviews Rate of vocationaleducation at thesecondarylevel -Women • Withstudentsandgraduates • 4 cities: İstanbul, Kayseri, Denizli, Mersin • 8 focusgroups • 35 students , 32 graduates Source: NationalEducationStatistics 2007-2011.

  11. An Analysis of Gendered Vocational Education in Turkey • Choosing Girls’ Vocational Schools: A “Golden Bracelet”? • School to Work Transitions • Reproduction of Familialism: School-to-Home?

  12. Choosing Girls’ Vocational Schools: A “Golden Bracelet”? • Whosechoice? • Mostlystudents’ choice • Conservative families’ choiceforsomegraduatesandstudents • Why? • “tohave a vocation/craft” or “to be skilled” “golden bracelet” (altınbilezik), a term that alludes to the perception that a skill is a store of value that would always help an individual to find a job. • “At least I would become a good mother.”

  13. Choosing Girls’ Vocational Schools: A “Golden Bracelet”? • To have a vocation Perceptions of an appropriate vocation for women: becoming a teacher or a government employee. A profession that can be reached with university education.

  14. Choosing Girls’ Vocational Schools: A “Golden Bracelet”? • Becoming a goodmother • When I first started this high school, I thought that I would at least have a vocational skill. But my opinions changed completely afterwards, especially after I joined the child development program. When I finish high school, I would at least become a good mother. Even if I cannot have a vocation, I can be a conscious mother (Kayseri, student). • I chose my program myself. And the first reason is to become a good mother (Istanbul, student).

  15. Choosing Girls’ Vocational Schools: A “Golden Bracelet”? • It is “choice” (Gaskell, 1985). • Choice,whichis enforced in adolescence, is bound with norms of gender appropriate behaviours (Charles et al. (2001). • It is choice within a “structure of constraint.” (McCall and Orloff, 2005).

  16. SchooltoWorkTransitions • Women’s Education and Labour Force Participation (TURKSTAT, 2011) • 12.6 percent LFP for urban womenwith 5 years of education • 30 per cent for urban women with high school education • 38.6 per cent for urban women with a (girls’ orco-ed) vocational high school degree • 71 per cent for university graduates • Strong links between education and employment yet weak links between vocational education and employment

  17. SchooltoWorkTransitions • Mismatch between skills learned in GTVHSs and skills demanded in the labour market. • Gendered notions of appropriate jobs for women constrain opportunities in the labour market. • Graduates are discouraged in the labour market since available jobs are often low paidand have undesirable working conditions.

  18. SchooltoWorkTransitions – Families • It is not really possible for women to work unless the job has some connection to the state. For instance, if the proprietor of a workplace is a man, what if something happens [to you]? There is a notion that you cannot work there. But if the job has some connection to the state, then that is sound, nothing would happen. [Question: What if you cannot become a government employee?] Then [my parents] would not let me work (Mersin, student). • Until eleventh grade I had a dream that I could become a teacher. Then last year, they closed it down [the BA program for hairdressing teachers].... My friends went on to two-year colleges. But when they graduate they won’t be able to find employment as teachers. They will end up working in hairdressers’ salons. I am in the worst situation.... My parents gave me a last chance to prepare for the university entrance exams this year. They won’t let me have a nine-to-five job in a hair salon.... They won’t let me work except as a teacher (Kayseri, graduate).

  19. SchooltoWorkTransitions – EmployersandCustomers • In Mersin, the catering sector revolves around tourist groups. But they wouldn’t let a woman manage it. In a restaurant, only those who wash the dishes are women. I have never seen a restaurant or café with a female cook. Why are great cooks always men? “Because,” [ouremployers] used to say, “you cannot cook food in those giant pots with your weak arms.” They always belittled us(Mersin, graduate). • …. In hairdressing, you cannot earn money unless you own your own salon. Besides, it is a man’s job, because female customers prefer male hairdressers. ….. And a manicurist woman cannot work in a hair salon for men in Mersin…. If people were to see a female manicurist in a men’s salon, they would immediate create a bad reputation for her, saying, “oh look, she does manicure for men!” (Mersin, graduate).

  20. SchooltoWorkTransitions – TurkishLabourMarkets • Informality, low pay and long working hours • Vocational schools raise the expectations of young women who want to work, but once they graduate, the available jobs understandably fall below their expectations. • They don’t qualify for the more prestigious jobs that require university degrees.

  21. Reproduction of Familialism: School-to-Home? • Doesvocationaleducationsocialize youngwomen out of the labour market?(Skeggs, 1988) • Marriage market prospects • Home-basedwork • Discouragedworker

  22. Reproduction of Familialism: School-to-Home? • Marriage market prospectsandhome-basedwork • I am not saying that working at home is better. But one does not have another opportunity, if she does not want to jeopardize her marriage, then it is better to work at home, because before your husband comes home, you will have finished all your work. You will have taken care of your child, cooked your meals and completed all your tasks (Kayseri, student).

  23. Reproduction of Familialism: School-to-Home? • Discorougedworker, labour market conditionsandfamily • I started working in a day care centre. You start working at a very early hour. But then I did not have enough time for my own child. Since I left home very early and came back very late, I was told that my child kept asking for me. Then my husband said, “instead of depriving our child of yourself, sit at home and take care of your own child.” Therefore I preferred to stay home and look after my child (Mersin, graduate).

  24. Conclusion • Gender-specific vocational education poorly prepares young women for the labour market in terms of • marketable vocational skills • basic academic skills requiredforadmissionintohigher education. • Gendered norms and expectations at school and at home and prejudice against women in the labour market • preventschooltoworktransition • leadtoschooltohometransition

  25. Conclusion • Policyimplications of thefindings: • General academic high schools rather than vocational schools might give more opportunities to young women forhigher education and employment. • Gendered investment in secondary education has low returns in terms of improving women’s labour force participation rates. Besides, it is likely to reinforce gender segregation in occupations. • Needforforminglinkages between labour market demands and the quality and content of vocational training. • Suggestion: Offervocational training on a gender-neutral basis as a post-secondary certificate degree

  26. ContactInformation FatoşGökşen (Koç UniversitySocialPolicyCenterDirector) T: 90 212 338 13 11 E-mail: fgoksen@ku.edu.tr Deniz Yükseker (Koç UniversitySocialPolicyCenterAssociateDirector) T: 90 212 338 13 09 E-mail: dyukseker@ku.edu.tr Ayşe Alnıaçık (Koç UniversitySocialPolicyCenterCoordinator) T: 90 212 338 18 41 E-mail: aalniacik@ku.edu.tr Koç University Rumeli Feneri Yolu, Sarıyer 34450 İstanbul, Turkey

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