- Analysis Of Statistics
Throughout Canada,
both the number of women trainees and the proportion of women trainees have
declined in all areas of institutional and industrial training.
There
has been an increase of almost 12,000 in the total number of institutional
trainees but the participation of women in these training spaces has declined
by 3.4%.
There has been a decline in all categories of Industrial
Training; women's participation has declined by 4.4%.
The number of
women in non-traditional occupations has declined in every province.
- Priority Placement Of Women Trainees
For the
first year of the Act, 20% of all seats in non-traditional courses were
reserved for women applicants. In June of 1983 the Minister raised the 20%
seating priority to 30%. This priority placement system has not given women
greater access to non-traditional training. The numerical information about
1983-84 is far from complete, and therefore it is not possible to tell the
long-range impact of this measure, but we can see that between 1981-82 and
1982-83 -the numbers of women in non-traditional occupational training declined
in every province. A priority seating system should work when there are large
numbers of women clamoring for the training spaces. However, when demand for
this training is not evident among potential women clients, unfilled seats are
returned to the general pool of training places.
This measure neither
promotes nor encourages women to take non-traditional training; in a sense it
is a "neutral" measure.
When these priority seats are not completely
filled by women, it encourages and reinforces the belief that "women don't want
it". The 30% reserved seating plan is a good one but can only be effective if
offered in conjunction with an aggressive recruitment campaign.
- Regional Targets For Women In Non-Traditional
Occupations (WINTO)
Managers and directors in every region are
being told they must increase their female participation rates in WINTO by 5%.
This means that a region, in which 6% of its trainees in non-traditional
occupations are women, must increase the percentage of women to 11%. This
measure is an affirmative one because it requires that CEC managers and
personnel actively recruit women for WINTO placement. This target of a 5% WINTO
increase is the only measure in the National Training Program which actually
forces CEC staffs to grapple with the problem of why women aren't going into
non-traditional training.
- Advertising Campaign
The advertising program
that first accompanied the announcement of the National Training Act was
criticized by many respondents as being too "glamorous". The women shown in the
ads in the non-traditional jobs were young and beautiful and generally emitted
a sense of unreality. In order for women to visualize themselves in new,
non-traditional jobs, they must see role models with whom they can identify.
It is difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of advertising with so
few statistics available on enrolments.
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