Gender-Responsive TVET Framework: An Indian Perspective

Introduction

Skilled human resource is imperative for economic growth and social development of any country. The nation becomes more innovative, productive, and competitive through the expansion of skill development opportunities. Advanced skill and qualifications are essential to get access of the global labor market and employability in organized and unorganized sector. Women are the most important and dynamic section of the society as well as potentially the most valuable human resources. It is assessed that women account to one half of the world’s population but receive one-tenth of the world’s income and own one-hundredth of property (Adelakun, Oviawe, & Barfa, 2015). Several research studies have indicated that better earning opportunities for women can generate numerous microeconomic benefits (Heintz, 2006). Despite various government policies and five-year plans in India emphasized upon expansion of skill development opportunities the ineffective implementation and lack of gender focus in these programmes restrict the needs of these groups to avail relevant opportunities in the job market. This resulted in low female participation rate and created wider gender gap in indexes. Patriarchal mindset of the society, socio-cultural norms with regard to education and employability of women led to gender disparity in skill development. Young women also lack equitable access to public vocational training, apprenticeship programmes and other online job-training programmes due to digital gender divide (Bala and Singhal, 2018). Effective efforts are required to open up job-training opportunities in the field beyond those considered ‘suitable’ for females, which are generally lower paying than jobs considered fit for males. Along with this, there is a need to open the doors of new jobs available in the global economy by providing them appropriate training and skills through TVET .UNESCO (2001) defined TVET as “a comprehensive term referring to those aspects of the educational process involving, in addition to general education, the study of technologies and related sciences, and the acquisition of practical skills, attitudes, understanding and knowledge relating to occupations in various sectors of economic and social life”. By focusing on the need for TVEP for women, this chapter proposes a framework which embrace features of vocational training system, digital technologies and policies that not only provide parity in education but are also helpful in eradicating the political, economic and social barriers that hinder females from pursuing employment in traditionally ‘male’ fields and making use of their education and skills.

Gender Inequality In Skill Development

Gender equality is crucial for achieving social and institutional change that leads to the achievement of sustainable development with equity and growth, which is not achievable without the full participation of women. In order to boost long term competitive potential of the economy women will need to be more competently integrated into the economy through skill development as they represent half of human capital resource. For the realisation of full potential of women, they must have equal access to quality education, skill development resources and political participation along with equal prospects in employment, leadership and decision-making at all levels. However, gender disparity persists in every aspect. The World Bank’s 2012 World Development Report, Gender Equality and Development, clearly states that for the development of smart economies gender equality matters as it boosts productivity and development outcomes for future generation and for better societal policies. According to the ILO World Employment Social Outlook 2015, women continue to tolerate higher risks of vulnerable employment and less likely to contribute in the labour force.

Further, the 2015 McKinsey Global Institute report called ‘The Power of Parity’ highlighted a strong association between gender parity in society and gender equality at work. Report highlighted the fact that women are half the world’s working-age population, but generate only 37% of the GDP and in India this share is only 17%. According to Sixth Economics Census women are only 14% of total entrepreneurs in India.