Women and Men in IT-Training and t h e Wo r k P l a c e

An Evaluation Research Analysis Abstract

Results of the Second Survey Phase November 2003 - January 2004

© Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V.

Women and Men in IT Training and the Work Place An analysis of the idee_it evaluation research, jointly conducted by the Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V. registered society, Initiative D21, the German Chamber of Trade and Commerce (DIHK) and the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BiBB), and supported by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. Abstract of the results of the second survey phase from November 2003 to January 2004 As from July 2004, the full version will be available under www.idee-it.de/Begleitforschung (German only).

Publisher: Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V. Author: Dipl.-Soz. Ulrike Struwe With the support of: Silke Krick, Dilek Akten Bielefeld, June 2004 The idee_it federal education project is supported by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth in co-operation with Initiative D21, the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BiBB), the German Chamber of Trade and Commerce (DIHK) and the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH). The publisher is responsible for the content of this publication. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior permission by the Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V. registered society. © 2004 For further details on projects, activities and publications of the Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V. organisation, please refer to www.frauen-technik-impulse.de Wilhelm Bertelsmann Strasse 10, D - 33602 Bielefeld, Germany Telephone: +49 (0) 521 / 106-73 22, Fax: +49 (0) 521 / 106-71 71 Mail-to: [email protected]

Table of Contents

1

Introduction and Problem Definition................................................ p. 2

2

Methodological Approach............................................................... p. 4

3

The Career Orientation Phase ....................................................

p. 6

3.1

Information Sources and Their Use..............................................

p. 7

3.2

Reasons for Career Choice................................................................ p. 10

3.3

Choosing an IT Career - Concerns...............................................

3.4

Application and Selection Procedures................................................. p. 13

3.5

Choosing the Right Company for one’s Vocational Training............... p. 14

4

The Actual Vocational Training......................................................... p. 15

4.1

Support during Vocational Training..................................................... p. 15

4.2

Preferences during Vocational Training............................................. p. 15

4.3

Access to Training Contents...........................................................

4.4

Approval of In-company Training and

p. 11

p. 16

Suggested Modifications..................................................................... p. 17

5

Evaluation of the Interme diate and Final Examinations................ p. 19

5.1

The Intermediate Examination............................................................ p. 19

5.2

The Final Examination..........................................................................p. 20

6

Overall Evaluation of the Vocational Training – Strengths and Weaknesses.......

p. 22

7

Career Plans and Transition to Regular Employment................... p. 23

8

Outlook.............................................................................................. p. 24

List of Literature Used……………………………………………….

© Frauen geben Technik neue Impulse e.V. 2004

p. 25

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1 Introduction and Problem Definition According to Fuchs et al., there has been a downright U-turn in the debate on the persistently high mass unemployment and the end of gainful employment, issues which used to be on the top of the public agenda for decades. Within only a few weeks and largely against the backdrop of demographic development (see Fuchs/ Thon 2002: 44), these issues were replaced by an intense discussion on the imminent shortage of labour (see Fuchs/Schnur/Zika 2000: 1). Efforts to ensure skilled workers and qualified employees will still be available in sufficient numbers will have to stretch beyond 2010, since after 2010 the supply of labour will decline considerably due to the demographic development (see Fuchs/Thon 1999: 3; Fuchs/Thon 2002: 36). Especially the skyrocketing demand for IT experts will cause substantial problems throughout the entire business community (see Federal Labour Office 2003: 17). Apart from an “intelligent mixture of working time arrangements and remuneration policies as well as fiscal and social policies”, which might favourably influence the overall labour market development trends (see Fuchs/Schnur/Zika 2000: 3), a stronger inclusion of women in the labour market is mentioned in the debate as a possible measure to counteract these developments (see Fuchs/Schnur/Zika 2000: 4). According to Engelbrech, women will cease to be regarded as short-term capacity buffers or a “reserve force”, but rather as an ever more significant group supplying substitutional, additional and inventive labour (Engelbrech 2003: 79). In regards to vocational education one might add that the strong underrepresentation of women in the new IT occupations requiring formal training holds a huge potential to meet the demand of IT experts, once more women become interested in these future-oriented occupations. Given the absolute figures of women in IT occupations requiring formal training (rather than the relative values), it may be assumed that women are generally interested in IT jobs, once they are given all the pertinent details and information in an appropriate way (on the attractiveness of new IT occupations requiring formal training for women, see Struwe 2003: 6). IT and Media Jobs The following tables provide some insights into newly signed training contracts (1997 – 2003) and both the absolute and percentage increase in the number of women in IT jobs (such as skilled IT worker, computing manager, information electronics technician, IT system electronics technician, IT systems manager) and media occupations (such as skilled media and information services employee, qualified event technician, film and video editor, audio-visual media manager, video and audio media designer, digital and printed material media designer).1

1

The quoted statistics, which are based on nationwide data provided by the Federal Statistical Office and the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training include figures on information electronics technicians. The data of the idee_it evaluation research of the Women and Men in IT Training and the Work Place project do not cover this occupation as training solely takes place in the craft sector. Craft businesses, however, could not be included in this survey due to methodological reasons. Consequently, information electronics technicians were not part of the evaluation research.

© Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V. 2004

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Table 1: Newly signed training contracts in IT occupations requiring formal training and the percentage of women, 1997 – 2003.

Year 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 Total

Total 4,724 8,919 13,494 19,999 21,816 17,697 14,407 101,056

Female 650 1,236 1,937 2,710 3,008 2,269 1,748 13,558

Percentage of Women 13.8 % 13.9 % 14.4 % 13.6 % 13.8 % 12.8 % 12.1 % 13.4 %

Source: German Federal Statistical Office and the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training, calculations of the Women Give New Impetus To Technology association.

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Table 2: Newly signed training contracts for media occupations and the percentage of women, 1997 – 2003.

Year 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 Total

Total 326 4,026 6,080 7,429 7,936 6,598 6,282 38,677

Female 98 2,108 3,214 3,744 4,005 3,260 2,998 19,427

Percentage of Women 30.1 % 52.4 % 52.9 % 50.4 % 50.5 % 49.4 % 47.7 % 50.2 %

Source: German Federal Statistical Office and the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training, calculations of the Women Give New Impetus To Technology association.

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Compared to the 2003 report, the figures differ slightly, sometimes more so, sometimes less. 1997 to

2002 data are provided by the Federal Statistical Office only. Figures for 2003 are supplied by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training. The slight differences in 1997 – 2002 figures between last year’s and this year’s study result from our using of data from the Federal Statistical Office and the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training. Different survey techniques employed at the two institutions lead to diverging figures. 3

See footnote 2. © Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V. 2004

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2 Methodological Approach The evaluation research of the idee_it project 4 conducted by the Women in the Information Society and in Technology centre of excellence 5 is supported by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth and implemented in co-operation with Initiative D21 6, the German Chamber of Trade and Commerce (DIHK), the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH) and the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BiBB). It is designed as an on-line survey which seeks to collect data on the experience of young men and women during various vocational stages (career orientation, the actual training, first steps in the job market after the training) in three consecutive years. For the second round of data collection from November 2003 to January 2004, the Women in the Information Society and in Technology centre of excellence wrote to all partner institutions of the idee_it project and Initiative D21, to all German chambers of trade and commerce and – with the support of the Federal Institute for Education and Training – to all companies within the Reference Company System7. 544 companies and institutions offering vocational training programmes from all over Germany participated in the evaluation research. 4

The idee_it federal education project is supported by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior

Citizens, Women and Youth in co-operation with In Initiative D21, the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training, the German Chamber of Trade and Commerce and the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts. idee_it is co-ordinated by the Women in the Information Society and in Technology centre of excellence and is tasked with developing novel strategies to win over young women for IT occupations, to increase their numbers in training programmes and to make sure the complete their training programme and continue to work in the chosen job. Project duration: April 2000 – March 2005. 5

The Women in the Information Society and in Technology centre of excellence co-ordinates meas -

ures aiming at equal opportunities in education, vocational training, work place, science and research all over Germany. This includes leading a social dialogue on a wide basis, changing public awareness and in-depth information of the general public through nationwide initiatives, projects and measures. Funding is provided by the Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V. registered society. The centre of excellence is supported by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. 6

Initiative D21 is an initiative by well-known entrepreneurs and companies focussing on speeding up

the transition process from the industrial to the information society in Germany. Among other objectives, Germany is to close the current gap to other countries, and the potential the information society offers in regards to competitiveness, growth and employment is to be tapped in a better way. Initiative D21 is a charitable, politically independent, registered association (e.V.), which was established in Stuttgart, Germany on 27 July 1999. Some 300 members (as of 25 February 2004 and including supporters, sponsors and members of the advisory board) from companies and institutions hail from all industries, not only the IT trade. 7

The Reference Company System is basically an association initiated by the Federal Institute for Vo-

cational Education and Training currently including some 1,700 companies and institutions providing training programmes, which declared themselves willing to participate in three to four surveys on current in-company vocational training issues conducted by the federal institute (see http://www.bibb.de/12366.htm).

© Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V. 2004

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From the ranks of these organisations, 1,936 female and male trainees and graduates of IT formal training programmes declared themselves willing to co-operate with us. 1,610 of them were still in their training programmes (382 women and 1,228 men). Beyond them, an additional 104 female and 222 male graduates of formal IT training courses participated in this second round. Combining both groups, the share of women amounts to 25.1 per cent and is thus clearly above the German average. Given the number of participants and the high share of female trainees and graduates of IT training programmes, the study on hand is the most comprehensive collection and evaluation of data in this field. The study covers female and male trainees of the 2001, 2002 and 2003 training years and graduates who completed their training programmes in 1999 or later. The survey bases on partially standardised questionnaires which were made available to all participants both on-line and as a .pdf file. The 2003 questionnaires for trainees include the following categories: -

general information on the training programme career orientation and application procedure in-company training conditions situation at the vocational school intermediate examination general comments on the chosen training programme personal plans for the time after the training programme personal details

The graduates of IT training courses had to provide information on the following categories: -

general information on the completed training programme overall evaluation of the training final examination first steps in the job current employment status personal details

© Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V. 2004

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3 The Career Orientation Phase Nowadays, the process of choosing a career is of paramount importance, since it is, in our society even more so than in any other industrialised nation, vital for one’s entire life. Whenever young women enter the vocational education system, they arrive at the threshold to a “sensitive phase”, even more so than young men. Beyond this threshold lies a path which leads up to decisive junctions in the development of gender specific structures in one’s life (Blossfeld 1991: 19). Young women often confine themselves to a limited number of possible careers at the start of their professional lives. No major changes may be observed here, despite better school education and the increased tendency to take up gainful employment (see Federal Ministry for Education and Research 2003: 107; Federal Statistical Office 2000: 87). They mainly opt for careers in business (office administrator, trained retail saleswoman, trained saleswoman, industrial clerk, bank clerk), the health sector (doctor’s assistant, dentist’s assistant), or the hair styling or hotel trades (hotel manageress), etc. (see Federal Ministry for Education and Research 2003: 107), i.e. careers with a somewhat low social standing, few prospects of promotion, continuously poor remuneration and service sector-style working hours, i.e. with long daily and weekly attendance times. This concentration of young women on only a few vocational fields becomes particularly evident in the technical area. In this segment, next to no female employees may be found, even though the careers to choose from are future-proof. For women, these careers form a barrier and constitute one of the most significant gender-specific separation lines according to MetzGöckel (see Metz-Göckel 1990: 101). Even though more and more women are noted to be in training programmes for new IT occupations, their relative share gets stuck at a fairly low 12 to 14 per cent. The reason quoted most often is a certain reservation towards all things technical on the part of young women. A target-group specific provision of information is rarely considered. Past studies on the career orientation behaviour displayed by young women focussed on the fairly lengthy process of socialisation at school and the parental home, which is difficult to influence. Much research remains to be done, however, with regard to their career orientation behaviour influenced by the Internet, consultation organisations – in particular the careers service of the Federal Employment Agency – and the effects of traditional media, such as leaflets. The relatively new medium of the Internet soon became the most important information source. Concerning the rating of careers services and career information leaflets, the evaluation research produced significant differences between women and men. All information sources may be redesigned and influenced relatively easily and very quickly, too. Here, the careers services have an exceptional position, but they, too, may be indeed described as flexible.

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3.1 Information Sources and Their Use The information behaviour displayed by the women and men participating in the evaluation research differed only marginally regarding the quantitative utilisation of the mentioned sources and institutions. Regarding the qualitative rating, however, some clear differences may be observed. Figure 1: Which sources of information on your chosen career requiring formal training did you tap and how helpful was the support offered?8

86,0% 86,1%

Internet

Federal Employment Agency

39,5% 47,1% 69,3% 62,6%

Information leaflets

64,1% 60,1%

Friends, Aquaintances

School

Father

29,1% 30,0%

Women: n = 382 45,6% 47,8% 61,2% 66,0%

Internships, Taster days

Mother

Vocational informations fairs

Chamber of trade and commerce

Men: n = 1,228

35,8% 37,5% 61,4% 53,6% 45,9% 41,2%

Source: 2004 data from the “Women and Men in IT Training and the Work Place” project, Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V.

The Internet Both women and men say the Internet is the most important source for retrieving information. There is almost no difference between the genders, as 86 per cent of women and 86.1 per cent of men say it is either very helpful or fairly helpful. Thus, the women’s qualitative rating was roughly at the previous year’s importance level. For men, the significance even increased. The high figures at the top of the scale are matched by low percentage rates at the bottom: only 1.9 per cent of women and 2.5 per cent of men rate the Internet as not very

8

The table shows the ranking for the quantitative usage of the various information sources from the

women's perspective. © Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V. 2004

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helpful or not helpful at all. On the whole, the Internet thus plays a crucial role in the career orientation process. The Federal Employment Agency Due to the large numbers of young persons frequenting the employment agencies, this offer is doubtless a mainstay of the career orientation process. Its huge popularity, however, may be traced back rather to the fact that this is a widely known institution than to the quality of its careers services, as the practicality of the information given does not exactly receive top grades, with clear differences between women and men. Only a mere 39.5 per cent of women say the support given to them by the employment agency is either very helpful or fairly helpful. Given 47.1 per cent of favourable male feedback, the gap may be referred to as significant. 29.4 per cent of women and 26.1 per cent of men say the support granted by the careers services was either not very helpful of not helpful at all. Information leaflets Although career information leaflets are part of the traditional career orientation process, they are the second most informative orientation tool, ranking only behind the Internet. 69.3 per cent of women participating in the evaluation research said they are either very or fairly helpful. 62.6 per cent of male respondents come to this conclusion, too. Only 3.9 per cent of women and 9.9 per cent of men classify the information contained therein as being not very helpful or not helpful at all. Friends, acquaintances and relatives Asking friends, acquaintances and relatives about new IT occupations seems to be part and parcel of a young person's career orientation phase. Especially same-age peer groups are of paramount importance as they belong to the most crucial socialisation groups (see Pölsler/Paier 2003: 6). Speaking to members of this group is rated as very helpful or fairly helpful by 64.1 per cent of the female and 60.1 per cent of the male respondents, whereas a lower number of women (14.9 per cent) than men (19.1 per cent) say these meetings are not very helpful or not helpful at all. School Apart from the family, school is the most important socialisation environment for adolescents, and its influence even increased for older young persons (see Nyssen 1990: 49). In spite of the numerous opportunities to thoroughly shape young persons both over a long time and by presenting role models and ideals (see Struwe 2003: 24), the school’s contribution to career orientation is rated as not very helpful by both genders. A very low 30 per cent of men and 29.1 per cent of women state that school was very or fairly helpful when they sought information on careers. The number of both women and men who classify school as not very helpful or not helpful at all is clearly higher (women: 37.2 per cent, men: 39.3 per cent). Internships and Taster Days Internships as career orientation tools for the chosen IT job requiring formal training are far away from the top of the participating trainees’ agenda. This may be due to the fact that the new IT jobs are currently not very well known among students. Against the backdrop of the fact that internships are ideally suited to generate the interest of women in technical jobs and © Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V. 2004

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to boost their self-confidence, women and girls should receive tailor-made internship offers and they should accept these offers more often. 61.2 per cent of the women who completed an internship say it is very or fairly helpful, whereas 66 per cent of men say so. 20.3 per cent of women – compared to 17 per cent of men – come to the conclusion that internships and taster days are not very helpful or not helpful at all for career orientation purposes. The Parents’ Influence The parents’ influence on the career choice has to be broken down to the father’s and the mother’s influence. According to both women and men, fathers are more important when it comes to choosing a technical occupation, i.e. their expertise is tapped more often and they also receive better marks than mothers. Information provided by fathers is rated very helpful or fairly helpful by 45.6 per cent of the female participants. Men trust their fathers slightly more often (47.8 per cent). Mothers as information sources stand in the fathers’ shadow once more. A mother's input is rated by only 35.8 per cent of women and 37.5 of men as very helpful or fairly helpful. Vocational Information Fairs Quantitatively, attending vocational information fairs play a relatively minor role. In regards to their information content, these fairs are much more useful for women than they are for men, as 61.4 per cent of them classify them as very helpful or fairly helpful. A much lower share of the male respondents (53.6 per cent) comes to the same conclusion. The Chamber of Trade and Commerce As an information source on new IT jobs requiring formal training programmes, the Chamber of Trade and Commerce (IHK) does not play a major role when it comes to the number of young persons going there. Regarding qualitative aspects, however, the results are different: 45.9 per cent of women rate their consultation efforts as very helpful or fairly helpful. 41.2 per cent of men say the information provided by IHK is very helpful or fairly helpful.

© Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V. 2004

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3.2 Reasons for Career Choice Regarding the reasons for choosing an information technological career, there are some clear differences between women and men. The interest in working with new media is the reason quoted most often by both genders though. This reason was given by 92.7 per cent of men and 82.6 per cent of women. Generally, computer-based work (e.g. picture and text processing) and using the Internet are said to be essential when working with new media. What female and male trainees apparently associate with “new media” from a vocational point of view can only be inferred from looking at further reasons for the chosen careers. Women first and foremost see the possibility of making a career for themselves, whereas men mainly focus on technical aspects: women mention the reason of making professional progress (73.3 per cent) more often than men. For them, moving up the career ladder in IT occupations (67.1 per cent) is not nearly as important as the technical reasons behind the choice of career. Looking at the percentage figures, approval of the contents of the training programme has changed only slightly compared to the previous year. However, women quote this reason for choosing their vocational training programme much more often (71.6 per cent) than men do (53.7 per cent). The expectation of a good job market situation is a reason for choosing an IT career for 65.8 per cent of the surveyed women and at 57.5 per cent for a clearly lower number of men. The reason for the decline of this facet seems to be the collapse of the IT sector at the outset of this century and its broad media coverage which also has deeply influenced the career choice to the detriment of the new IT occupations. Remuneration prospects in the IT industry rank fifth in the career choice table. Men (62.6 per cent) and women (60.9 per cent) basically attach equal importance to them. A relatively low 9 per cent of women (compared to 4.8 per cent of men) state that they have chosen a vocational IT training programme because they were not able to get a training place for their preferred career. Considering aspects of technology, the largest differences between the genders come to light. 89.1 per cent of men say they want to “enjoy working with technology”, making this their number two reason for having chosen an IT career. Among women (55.5 per cent), this reason slightly gained in importance compared to the previous year. The “enjoy working with technology” reason compares to the “made my hobby my job” motive in that the gender gap is similarly remarkable. Among men, this reason for choosing a career ranks third at 75.1 per cent, and among women this reason has become even slightly more important compared to last year’s study. However, only a low 35.9 per cent of them quoted this reason as decisive for the chosen career.

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Figure 2: Why did you opt for your current vocational training at the end of the day?

82,6% 92,7%

Interest in new m edia

73,3%

Good professional developm ent prospects

67,1%

Appealing contents of the vocational training program m e

71,6% 73,7% 65,8%

Favourable labour m arket

57,5% 60,9% 62,6%

Rem uneration prospects

Men: n = 1,228

55,5%

Having fun w ith technology

89,1%

35,9%

Made m y hobby m y job

Could not get a training place for m y preferred career

Women: n = 382

75,1%

9,0% 4,8%

Source: 2004 data from the “Women and Men in IT Training and the Work Place” project, Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V.

3.3 Choosing an IT Career – Concerns Nowadays, young women give the impression that they have a high level of self-confidence – but do they display this self-confidence when opting for careers off the beaten track? Over the course of the years, women have clearly gained ground in working with computers (see Feierabend/Klingler 2003). The acquired capabilities and skills, however, have so far apparently had next to no impact on their self-assessment and their self-confidence in regards to working with new media or computers.

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Compared to their male counterparts, female trainees display a lower level of self-confidence when choosing a technology-based career. More than twice as many women than men (43.2 vs 17.2 per cent) say that they had concerns to opt for a vocational IT training programme. Here, the key reason is the fear of not being able to meet the demands of the career. More than two thirds of women (67.3 per cent) give this explanation compared to only 46.9 per cent of men. Figure 3: Did you hesitate before you opted for a training programme for one of the new IT careers? If so, which were your main concerns? 67,3%

Fear of not meeting the demands

46,9% 54,5%

Did not know much about the job Did not know anybody working in this occupation Knew hardly any young women working in the IT industry Limited PC skills Until now only little interest in working with computers Bad grades in English Bad grades in Physics Bad grades in Maths Job title unknown Bad grades in German Bad grades in Computer Sciences

40,8% 49,7% 48,8% 42,4% 6,2% 39,4% 16,6% 13,3% 5,7% 10,9% 15,6% 10,3% 10,9% 9,1% 19,0%

Women: n = 165 Men: n = 211

4,8% 4,7% 2,4% 7,1% 1,2% 4,3%

Source: 2004 data from the “Women and Men in IT Training and the Work Place” project, Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V.

A lack of information on new IT jobs is also mentioned as a reason causing concerns in the process of choosing a career. The women surveyed are clearly leading the men (54.5 vs 40 per cent) when it comes to admitting a lack of knowledge in regards to the new IT careers. Corroborating results from earlier studies, considerably more women than men say they hesitated to opt for an IT career because they had only limited PC skills prior to their vocational training. Compared to the previous year, the share of women quoting this reason dropped from 42.6 to 39.4 per cent, whereas the share of men doubled from 8.3 to 16.6 per cent. Nevertheless, women rate their PC skills much lower than men – even though their use of software programmes, the Internet and e-mails is now level with their male counterparts and both genders now use computers much more often compared to 2002 figures. This trend is also reflected in the interest in PC-based work. Compared to the previous year, fewer women state that they are not interested in working with PCs and thus hesitated to opt © Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V. 2004

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for a career in the IT industry. In 2002, the figure was as high as 21.3 per cent, this year, however, it dropped to 13.3 per cent. In contrast, the share of men who hesitated to choose an IT career because of a lack of interest in PC-based work rose from 1.4 to 5.7 per cent compared to the previous year.

3.4 Application and Selection Procedures Apparently, future IT trainees are currently far away from having to write a trying number of 50 or more applications. Almost three quarters of the female and 62.2 per cent of the male trainees had to write no more than ten applications to get a training place for an IT occupation. The lower number of applications female trainees had to submit may be due to the fact that more women than men have an Abitur or a Fachabitur school-leaving certificate. 67 per cent of women quote these qualifications as their highest school-leaving degree. Among men, this share is clearly lower (58.5 per cent). Apart from higher school-leaving degrees, women have better average grades in their leaving certificates, too. Finally, the success of an application depends on the selection procedure applied by the companies. Some HR managers point out the lack of self-confidence on the part of female applicants, whereas others underscore their higher level of maturity compared to male competitors. On the one hand, the young men are said to have a more comprehensive previous IT knowledge and a higher level of self-assurance, whereas on the other hand they display a certain arrogance with regard to their knowledge and suffer from a serious lack of communication skills. At the end of the day, however, it entirely depends on the preferences of the companies taking on the trainees which of both groups will outperform the other in the competition for training places. Apparently, a lot depends on the actual interview situation when it comes to highlighting and selling one’s skills. Female applicants for technically oriented jobs may considerably benefit from having female interviewers with a technical education background who may have an encouraging effect on them. Knowing more details on the type and methods of the tests before the actual selection procedure starts may help strengthen the women’s self-confidence in these situations, as they thus may better anticipate what is expected from them (see Baginski 2004: 18f).

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3.5 Choosing the Right Company for one's Vocational Training Whereas major differences may often be observed when it comes to the reasons for choosing a certain career, the grounds of uncertainty and the experience gained prior to the vocational training, both genders answer the question on why they have chosen their current company for vocational training basically in unison. Figure 4: Why did you eventually opt for your current company for your vocational training?

76,7% 78,6%

Good reputation of the company 60,2% 59,6%

Career options Continued employment after the end of the training programme

54,2% 54,3% 48,3% 48,0%

Remuneration prospects

46,9%

Close to my home

50,3% 37,7% 29,8%

International assignments 18,8% 20,7%

Only training place available Knew other trainees A parent works in the company

Women: n = 382 Men: n = 1,228

15,4% 11,8% 10,4% 9,1%

Source: 2004 data from the “Women and Men in IT Training and the Work Place” project, Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V.

The good reputation of a company offering vocational training places is the decisive factor in the decision-making process of more than three quarters of both men and women (women: 76.7 per cent, men: 78.6 per cent). With a clear gap, career prospects offered by the company rank second. Here, once more, only insignificant differences may be observed between female (60.2 per cent) and male respondents (59.6 per cent). The prospects (either assumed or possibly even promised) of working for the company after the end of the vocational training programme are of almost equal importance for women (54.2 per cent) and men (54.3 per cent) when choosing their place for in-company vocational training. Currently, a secure job seems to be more vital to trainees than future potential earnings.

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4 The Actual Vocational Training 4.1 Support during Vocational Training Going over the feedback on the support given to the trainees, men generally turn out to award better marks for the organisational, technical and social facets of coaching. Figure 5: How do you rate your instructors’ skills?

Open for technical questions

79,0% 85,8% 66,1%

Strong technical skills

79,7%

Imparting of vocational skills

60,9% 69,9% 60,0%

In-company training

69,2%

Coaching in the training workshop

Women: n = 382

51,9% 65,8%

Overview of the company

Men: n = 1,228

65,7% 70,5%

Company-related problems

77,0% 82,0% 62,6% 67,8%

Personal problems

65,7% 71,7%

Approachable

Source: 2004 data from the “Women and Men in IT Training and the Work Place” project, Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V.

4.2 Preferences during Vocational Training The evaluation of the contents of the training programme produced the same trend as the study conducted in the previous year. Once women and men have opted for rather technical IT training programmes, both genders like the technical sections of the training programme best, even tough they put the main emphasis on different details. If the contents of the training programme – apart from working with a computer in general and team work, which ranked first among both genders (far more than 90 per cent) – are broken down into four categories (hardware, software and programming, consultation/training/presentation/ planning, and commercial skills)9, only some marginal differences may be observed. However,

9

The individual categories include the following training contents: © Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V. 2004

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they are particularly noteworthy when it comes to dealing with hardware and software. Men prefer working with hardware components, whereas women rank this segment somewhere towards the middle of their training contents table. They rather prefer working with software programmes and programming as such. Training contents such as consulting, training, presenting and planning are ranked in the middle section by both genders, whereas commercial skills are generally confined to the middle and bottom regions of the list of preferences. Women in commercially oriented IT training programmes rather tend to place commercial, consultation, training, presentation and planning issues in the top half of preferred tasks, whereas men list working with hardware components, software programmes and programming as well as consultation/training/presentation/planning aspects first, but do not quote a single commercial skill here. Despite having chosen a commercially oriented IT career, men rather prefer the technical facets of the training with a clear focus on the hardware side whereas women put their technical emphasis on the software and programming category. The much quoted female distance to technology is not fully corroborated by this study. Even tough there may be differences between women and men in regards to working with hardware components and software solutions/programming, these merely highlight a differentiated approach to technology and do not prove a rejection of technology.

4.3 Access to Training Contents Women state much more often than men that they have not (yet) covered certain training contents. The question of why the access to individual training contents is differently evaluated in quantitative terms, a question which by the way already came up in last year’s study, is answered by some of the instructors saying10 that women only refer to a job as complete once they have completed it successfully. Men, however, regard jobs as done irrespective of the result they have achieved. The assignation of individual jobs based on stereotypes 11, i.e. Hardware: configuration and administration of PC networks, provision of technical support to serviceside colleagues, assembly of systems. Software and programming: design and integration of Web sites, intranet sites and data bases, design and further development of user interfaces, programming, installing and testing of software solutions, software quality management. Consultation/training/presentation/planning: general consultation of customers, supporting customers who want to buy IT equipment, training of customers and employees, presenting, project planning, drawing up concepts and documentations. Commercial skills: sales and marketing, calculation and preparation of quotations, cost calculations, checking of financing options, wording of purchase and maintenance contracts. 10

Among other things, the question of possible reasons for the differing access to individual training

contents was asked and discussed on the occasion of the “Gender-sensitisation in practical IT training” train-the-trainer workshops held in August and September 2003. More than 60 IT trainers participated in this workshop series developed and co-ordinated by the idee_it federal education project. 11

Kay defines stereotypes as follows: stereotypes are a series of “characteristics and/or behaviour

patterns which are assigned to individual women or men, because they belong to the group of women or men” (Kay 1998: 69). Nissen et al. differentiate between gender stereotypes (notions on how © Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V. 2004

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men, possibly unconsciously, getting heavy manual work and technically demanding jobs to do, was also picked out as a central issue. It is possible, too, that women are more cautious when approaching new training contents and that they thus only discover their value for themselves at a later stage.

4.4 Approval of In-company Training and Suggested Modifications All-in-all, the vocational training schemes receive high grades of approval. Compared to the previous year, however, the evaluations of the genders have changed, but most respondents still award favourable marks. There is also agreement between today’s trainees and graduates of IT training courses. A high number of female (75.7 per cent) and male (79.3 per cent) trainees rate the training as very good or good. Women and men who have completed their IT training courses give similar answers. 75 per cent of women and 82.4 per cent of men say their training programme was either very good or good. The continuingly high levels of approval may be rooted in the good social atmosphere in the companies and the team work, which was time and again rated as outstanding. Both female and male trainees highlight the benefits of being able to work and learn autonomously, and of the diverse and varied jobs and work environments. As regards the training contents, especially working with PCs, programming and working with new technologies in general (be it hardware-related work or solving technical problems at the customers’ premises) are mentioned most often. In spite of the high levels of approval with the training programmes, wishes to modify them are voiced. More women (48.7 per cent) than men (42.1 per cent) say that they would like to change some details of their training programme if they could. Compared to the results of the last survey phase, the shares declined perceptibly, coming from 55.3 per cent (women) and 51.7 per cent (men). Exactly as last year, most demands for changes call for an improved technical coaching and for more information on advanced training.

woman act) and vocational stereotypes (notions on how people with a certain job act). See Nissen et al. 2003: 49f) © Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V. 2004

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Figure 6: What would you change in your training programme if you could?

68,8% 66,0%

More technical coaching

64,0% 60,7%

More details on advanced training 34,9%

Female role models

14,9% 25,8% 19,1% 24,7% 28,4%

Higher level of social support Mixed groups for the exchange of experience IT magazines for women All-female theory groups All-female practical work groups All-female groups for exchanging experience IT magazines for men All male groups for exchanging experience All male practical work groups All-male theory groups

22,0% 2,7% 18,3% 2,7% 18,3% 2,3%

Women: n = 186 9,7%

1,7% 1,6% 6,0%

Men: n = 517

1,1% 1,5% 1,1% 3,7% 0,5% 2,9%

Source: 2004 data from the “Women and Men in IT Training and the Work Place” project, Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V.

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The importance of having female role models increased considerably. Remarkably, not only more women (now 34.9 per cent) are demanding more female role models, but the share of men who do so increased as well (now 14.9 per cent). This year, men are more than twice as likely to call for more female role models as last year. Female trainees first-and-foremost suggest a higher number of specific offers such as target group oriented information presentation in print media as well as all-female and all-male practical work and theory groups.

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3.2 per cent of women and 3.1 per cent of men did not suggest any concrete changes. © Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V. 2004

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5 Evaluation of the Intermediate and Final Examinations 5.1 The Intermediate Examination According to 53.9 per cent of female and 51.2 per cent of male respondents, the intermediate examination of IT training programmes has to be overhauled. Criticism mainly focussed on the correspondence between examination and training contents, which was rated as poor. Both female and male trainees also criticise the intermediate examination contents as lacking relevance for day-to-day work and regarding the level of difficulty of the intermediate examination, only a tiny little share of women says that the examination exercises are easy. Figure 7: Which was your overall result in the intermediate examination for the vocational training programme? Which average grade did you get in your school-leaving certificate?

Vocational Training Women: n = 141 Men: n = 453

very good

45,20% 47,50% 38,20% 36,9%

Men School

fair

Women School

poor

0,7%

3,5%

Women Vocational Training

2,90%

24,90% satisfactory

1,30%

2,70% good

29,1%

Men Vocational Training

20,6%

0,7%

3,30% 1,30% 5,80%

19,20%

46,00%

50,80%

School Women: n = 382 Men: n = 1,228

unsatisfactory

Source: 2004 data from the “Women and Men in IT Training and the Work Place” project, Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V.

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4 per cent of women and 2.7 per cent of men did not or were not able to comment on the average

mark of their school-leaving certificates and 8.5 per cent of women and 4.2 per cent of men did not provide details on their intermediate examination grade.

© Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V. 2004

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A good intermediate examination result in an IT training programme seems to be much harder to get than a good average mark in a school-leaving certificate from schools providing an all-round education. Less than half of the men and women who have a good schoolleaving certificate were able to achieve similar results in their intermediate examination.

5.2 The Final Examination On the whole, the evaluation of the individual facets of the final examination produces the same trends as the evaluation of the intermediate examination. However, compared to the intermediate examination, the final test is rated as “in need of an overhaul” by a much higher number of respondents. The gap between male (58.6 per cent) and female (67.3 per cent) respondents who see some need for action is also much larger. Criticism is mainly targeted at the time available for project-based work. Most respondents say that it is too short to thoroughly prepare the final examination. Men raise this issue much more often than women. Concerning the individual aspects of the examination, only few respondents say that the practical work share is too high. They rather say that the lion’s share of the examination is of a theoretical nature. However, clearly more men than women say so, whereas the majority of women says that the ratio between theory and practical work is exactly right. The intermediate and final examinations receive similar feedback when it comes to examination content. The contents of the final examination are described by a significantly lower number of women than men as very or rather helpful for day-to-day work. Only a minute share of respondents says that the final examination exercises are easy to solve. Although the respondents say that examination contents and in-company training contents match less than examination contents and vocational school syllabus contents, the incompany examination preparation generally receives better feedback than the examination preparation at the vocational schools. The negative trend, which is often reflected in relatively poor intermediate examination results, does not continue when it comes to the final examination. Many more of these tests are passed with a “good” or “very good” grade and only a few trainees merely receive a “fair”. However, women are less likely to have better final than intermediate examinations than men.

© Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V. 2004

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Figure 8: Which was your overall result in the final examination for the vocational training programme? Which average grade did you get in your school-leaving certificate?

Women: n = 104 Men: n = 222

42,3% 38,5%

32,9%

37,5%

38,3%

48,1%

50,9%

Vocational Training

48,6%

School Women: n = 104 Men: n = 222

Men School Men Vocational Training Women School

very good

good

satisfactory

fair

1,0%

0,5%

7,7%

4,1%

0,0%

1,8%

5,8%

3,8%

5,4%

5,0%

Women Vocational Training

poor

Source: 2004 data from the “Women and Men in IT Training and the Work Place” project, Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V.

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1.9 per cent of women and 0.5 per cent of men did not fill in their grade on their school-leaving cer-

tificates and 5.8 per cent of women and 2.7 per cent of men did not comment on their examination grade. © Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V. 2004

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6 Overall Evaluation of the Vocational Training – Strengths and Weaknesses All things considered, the vocational training receives positive feedback. The approval values for the companies offering the training places are generally higher than for the training programme as a whole. Remarkably, compared to the feedback of male respondents, female approval rates are lower in both cases. In spite of the very positive feedback, 34 per cent of women, i.e. more than twice as many as men (16 per cent), thought about quitting the training programme. Compared to the previous year, the share of women increased, whereas roughly the same number of men toyed with the idea of quitting the course at an early stage (women: 25.6 per cent, men: 14.9 per cent). Figure 9: Why did you consider the idea of quitting the training programme at an early stage? 43,1%

Different expectations towards the job

34,0% 38,5%

Lack of support 28,9% 30,0%

Excessive technical demands 17,8% Vocational school and in-company demands do not match

29,2% 34,5%

Inappropriate preparation of the examination at the vocational school Too much technological content

25,4% 28,4% 20,0% 5,6% 17,7% 20,3%

No appreciation of technical work Poor social atmosphere

14,6% 13,7%

Only donkey work

14,6% 12,2% 13,1%

Not enough technological content Not enough commercial content Too much commercial content

Women: n = 130 Men: n = 197

27,9% 10,8% 7,6% 7,7% 19,3%

Source: 2004 data from the “Women and Men in IT Training and the Work Place” project, Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V..

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The reason for thinking about quitting the course most often quoted by women is that they had different ideas about the job. Young men also say that they had other expectations, but not as often as women.

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2.3 per cent of female and 1 per cent of male trainees did not answer this question. © Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V. 2004

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More than one in three women says that thoughts centring on a premature end of the training course were caused by shortcomings on the coaching side. Considerably more women than men state that they felt overtaxed by the technical demands. Whether this assumption is based on a lack of support by the instructors or the low level of technical self-confidence on the part of the women has to remain unanswered for the time being. Apart from generally different ideas about the career, men rather quote a lack of congruence between in-company and vocational school demands and inappropriate examination preparation at the vocational schools as reasons for thinking about ending the training programme early. Furthermore, they highlight the poor quality of the support provided by the instructors, which they felt was increasingly inadequate. Thus, one might conclude that men mainly focus on aspects which are independent from their own efforts.

7 Career Plans and Transition to Regular Employment From hopes… With regard to their further career steps, both female and male trainees expect the job to give them a good time. This combines with the hope to have a varied occupation and to be able to work autonomously. Statements on the significance of “good remuneration prospects” and “career prospects” are subject to their progress in the vocational training programme: the answers of both men and women depend on whether they are asked before, during or after their vocational training. Whereas women prefer slightly more often than men to use what they have learned flexibly and also when working in other occupational fields, for men, flexible working hours are more important in their later career than for women. Despite having had some negative experience during the vocational training, the lion’s share of trainees wants to work in the occupation they trained for. This is the uncontested number one hope. Almost one in three women and more than one in four men consider advanced training in the guise of a university course as a career option. …to reality Almost as many graduates work in the occupation they trained for, as trainees want to do so. A relatively high number of respondents say that they are not working in exactly the same job they trained for but in a similar job, offered by the organisation where they were trained. Thus, most of the respondents did not have to leave the company or institution after the end of their vocational training programme. Only a very low number of participants had to change companies. Quite a lot of trainees consider a university course as a career development option, however, only a relatively small number of them goes on to study at university. During vocational training, more women than men raise the issue of a university course as a possible further career step. When it comes to implementing these plans, women are outnumbered almost two to one by men.

© Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V. 2004

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In-company advanced training is also quoted relatively often as a future option during vocational training, however, only a comparably small number of trainees walks the talk after the training. Towards the end of the vocational training programme, roughly one in three women and one in three men were contacted by the employer regarding a follow-up work contract. A major difference between the genders may be observed when it comes to “recommendations by the instructors”: Almost twice as many women than men received their current contract because of a personal recommendation. Currently, most of the responding men and women have an open-ended full-time contract. However, more women than men say that their appointment is limited and, at a relatively low level, more than twice as many women than men are unemployed. In regards to remuneration, there are only marginal differences in favour of the male respondents. By and large, there are only small differences between men and women when it comes to making the step from vocational training to regular employment. Due to a low number of participating graduates, however, further developments remain to be seen.

8 Outlook With the most comprehensive on-line evaluation research on the topic “women and men in IT training and the work place” in Germany, which is supported by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth and conducted within the idee_it project, idee_it aims at generating interest for the new careers and at higher application figures among young women by improving vocational training and by facilitating the first steps of their professional lives. Numerous studies on the low share of women in technical occupations focus on the lengthy socialisation process at school and the women’s parental homes, which is difficult to influence. The target-group specific provision of information through consulting organisations, the Internet and print media is not considered, neither is the role of the organisations offering in-company training during the application procedure. The first two stages of the study showed that these areas turn out to be essential for the career orientation process and will be reviewed in greater detail in the third stage. Insights gained so far will be discussed with IT instructors during train-the-trainer workshops, and concepts for their implementation will be developed. In doing so, one mainstay will be gender sensitisation in the application and selection procedure as well as in the actual vocational training. Thanks to these measures, the companies and institutions offering training places will gain valuable insights which will help them train highly qualified staff in the future.

© Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V. 2004

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List of Literature Used (available in German only) Baginski, S., 2004: Personalauswahlverfahren für Auszubildende in den neuen IT-Berufen – eine Bestandsaufnahme in ausgewählten Unternehmen. Unveröffentlichtes Manuskript. Blossfeld, H.-P., 1991: Ausbildungsniveau, Berufschancen und Erwerbsverlauf. Der Wandel von Ausbildung und Berufseinstieg bei Frauen. S. 1 - 22 in: K. U. Mayer/J. Allmendinger/J. Huinink (Hrsg.), Vom Regen in die Traufe: Frauen zwischen Beruf und Familie. Frankfurt am Main/New York: Campus Verlag. Federal Employment Agency 2003: Beruf – Bildung – Zukunft – IT-Berufe. Nürnberg: BW Bildung und Wissen Verlag. Federal Ministry for Education and Research, 2003: Berufsbildungsbericht 2003. Meckenheim: DCM Druck Center. Engelbrech, G., 2003: Interdependenzen zwischen geschlechtsspezifischer Arbeitsmarktsegmentation/-segregation und der Erwerbsbeteiligung von Frauen und Männern. S. 79 - 97 in: M. Goldmann/B. Mütherich/M. Stackelbeck/D. Tech (Hrsg.), Gender Mainstreaming und Demographischer Wandel. Projektdokumentation. Feierabend, S./Klingler, W., 2003: JIM 2002. Jugend, Information, (Multi-)Media. Basisuntersuchung zum Medienumgang 12 - 19-Jähriger in Deutschland. Baden-Baden. Fuchs, J./Schnur, P./Zika, G., 2000: Von der Massenarbeitslosigkeit zum Fachkräftemangel. Aktive Beschäftigungspolitik bleibt weiterhin erforderlich. IAB Kurzbericht 9/2000. Fuchs, J./Thon, M., 1999: Nach 2010 sinkt das Angebot an Arbeitskräften. Potentialprojektion bis 2040. IAB Kurzbericht 4/1999. Fuchs, J./Thon, M., 2002: Zur langfristigen Entwicklung des weiblichen Erwerbspersonenpotenzials. S. 35 - 45 in: G. Engelbrech (Hrsg.), Arbeitsmarktchancen für Frauen. Freiburg: freiburger graphische betriebe. Kay, R., 1998: Diskriminierung von Frauen bei der Personalauswahl. Problemanalyse und Gestaltungsempfehlungen. Wiesbaden: Gabler Verlag. Metz-Göckel, S., 1990: Berufsausbildung und Berufsfindung. S. 91 - 138 in: S. Metz-Göckel/ E. Nyssen (Hrsg.), Frauen leben Widersprüche: Zwischenbilanz der Frauenforschung. Weinheim und Basel: Beltz Verlag. Nissen, U./Keddi, B./Pfeil, P., 2003: Berufsfindungsprozesse von Mädchen und jungen Frauen. Erklärungsansätze und empirische Befunde. Opladen: Verlag Leske + Budrich. Nyssen, E., 1990: Mädchen in der Schule. S. 49 - 89 in: S. Metz-Göckel/E. Nyssen (Hrsg.), Frauen leben Widersprüche. Zwischenbilanz der Frauenforschung. Weinheim und Basel: Beltz Verlag. © Women Give New Impetus To Technology e.V. 2004

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Federal Statistical Office (publisher), 2000: Datenreport 1999. Zahlen und Fakten über die Bundesrepublik Deutschland. München: Olzog Verlag. Struwe, U., 2003: Frauen und Männer in der IT-Ausbildung. Ergebnisse der 1. Erhebungsphase: November 2002.

Internet Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training, 2004: Referenz-Betriebs-System. Internetdokument unter URL: http://www.bibb.de/de/12366.htm. Pölsler, G./Paier, D., 2003: Determinanten der Berufsorientierung von Mädchen. Eine empirische Analyse in steirischen Schulen. Studie im Rahmen der EQUALEntwicklungspartnerschaft „Girls Crack it – Mädchen und junge Frauen in nicht-traditionelle Berufe“. Integrierter Kurzbericht. Internetdokument unter URL: http://www.girls-crackit.org/forschungsbericht.pdf.

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