Comment:

Table 13 indicates that:

- nearly 10 out of every 20 female trainees are in their 20's; 3 are under 20 years; and 7 are 30 years or older.

- eight out of 20 female trainees are married; an equal number are single (never married); and 4 are divorced, separated or widowed.

- if we combine age and marital status and compare these to the participation and unemployment rates shown in table 8, we would expect to find more divorced, separated and widowed females and fewer married females in the younger age groups.

- the number of dependents indicates that 16 out of 20 female trainees have no dependents and 4 have one or more dependents. This does not fit with out data on participation rates for mothers which suggests that we should find more women with dependents in training programs. The problem may be the result of women not knowing how to register dependents. If a woman is married to a man earning less than she earns, does she list their children as dependents or does he?

- the data on schooling levels completed prior to entry to the training program again raises the question of why so many women who already have some secondary schooling are in BTSD programs.

- the spread for women in language programs with regard to schooling suggests that immigrant women may have much higher levels of education than the stereotypes imply. If they are better educated than the general population of female trainees, why do they end up in occupations which require low educational levels.

- data on the labour force status of female trainees prior to entry into the program suggest that most women are already in the labour force. This indicates that women who are entering programs from a non-working status are clearly a minority and, therefore, we cannot accept that "many trainees simply return to housekeeping at the end of their course - an opinion held by the CEIC.

The overall picture provided by these data suggests that CMTP programs are serving young (under 30 years), single women with no dependents; who have at least some secondary school education; and who were in the labour force by unemployed prior to entry into the training program. The type of woman least likely to be in a CMTP program is older (over 30 years); divorced, separated or widowed; has one or more dependents; and has little education. That is, disadvantaged, sole-support mothers.