Girls in vocational education and training (VET): choosing and navigating male-dominated qualifications in engineering and construction

Women remain underrepresented in occupational sectors such as engineering and construction - as sectors with increasing skills shortages and implicated in UK political growth agendas, the sectors themselves and government agendas report urgent needs to expand their recruitment. The multi-faceted barriers women face in entering these highly masculinised occupational spaces are well documented in existing literature. Despite these barriers, there are women who do embark on qualification pathways into these occupations. This thesis explores the choices and experiences of young women pursuing different male-dominated vocational qualifications. Interviews were carried out with 17 young women pursuing engineering and construction qualifications at an English Further Education (FE) college. Alongside these, a sub-sample of college staff, related industry informants, and young women on gender-typical pathways (n=15) were interviewed to provide contextual insights and comparative data. This thesis proposes an emergent framework for conceptualising choice-making as visible, plausible, and viable possibilities, developed through empirical data collection and analysis. Through this framework, the research reveals the interconnected, overlapping arrangements in homes, schools and colleges that act to make male dominated pathways a possibility for some young women. Through exposure to practices at home and school and the influence of social actors such as parents and teachers’, women are unbounded from gendered conventions, and accrue crucial forms of social and cultural capital that enable pathways towards these male-dominated careers. Important differences emerge in the preceding practices and shape dispositions that orient women more towards engineering or construction. However, I argue that despite making choices contrary to gendered norms as a resistance to countervailing processes, normative gendered dynamics are often (re)produced in different ways. Tensions and complexities are revealed throughout the women’s choices and experiences. Young women recognise their choice as contrary to gendered norms and their role in potentially pioneering social change whilst concurrently want to fit in and be accepted as legitimate in their chosen career paths. Through a focus on the atypical this thesis contributes broader explanations about wider processes that shape the reproduction of gendered educational and occupational choices. Practical recommendations are made, suggesting the value of a coordinated approach between schools, colleges, and industry.