1. Women, Identity and Employability: gendered expectations and recruitment to a non-traditional occupation, engineering construction

2. Alison Andrew Faculty of Social Sciences The Open University 2 Trevelyan Square Leeds LS1 6ED www.a.m.andrew@open.ac.uk

3. Paper based on case study of women apprentices and workers in one particular ‘non-traditional’ occupation, engineering construction Qualitative in approach, mainly based on semi- structured in-depth interviews, observation, group discussion and two reviews of recruitment process Valuable opportunity to look more closely at craft and technician level training and work

4. The Engineering Construction Industry Constructs plant and makes and maintains equipment for process industries eg oil and gas, food, energy. Also nuclear plant decommissioning.

5. Apprenticeship Scheme in Engineering Construction Offers craft skills and technician apprenticeships Usual age 17 - 21 Combines training centre with FE day release (12-18 months) followed by on-site placement Generally at least 95% male (numbers fluctuate) Some female apprentices isolated in completely male settings, others with one or more other women. Instructors nearly all male 1% women on site (EOC notes among the most segregated areas of employment)

6. Tiny, hidden minority of women raises the question: do women see themselves and are they seen by others as ‘employable’ within the industry Women not seen as having identities compatible with the engineering community, may have to develop these in order to belong Apprenticeship said to involve ‘legitimate peripheral participation’ and identity transformation to full membership (Lave and Wenger, 1991) but both legitimate peripheral and full participation may be difficult for women, starting at pre-recruitment stage and continuing through to employment or lack of it.

7. Looking at: Gendered expectations and recruitment Sustaining and progressing in employment

8. Access to reliable and useful labour market information important for employability - a problem for those considering a ‘non-traditional’ route? Reported difficulties accessing information from school, college, careers advisors, and often such choices not promoted Parental and other encouragement key, but gendered expectations on all sides

9. “If you don’t already know what you want, you won’t get it” But gendered expectations make this unlikely, without positive intervention or influence Even with initial interest, progress uncertain, confidence in choice easily knocked through delays, setbacks May turn to more ‘traditional’ routes

10. Tendency of trainers and employers to see lack of confidence as necessary filter for employment and employability Tough industry, need to fit in and be fit, ‘hit the ground running’ Contrasts with more nurturing approaches eg feminist informed Criteria of ‘acceptability’ – ‘the cultural reproduction of white male hegemony is all but guaranteed’ (Collinson, Knights and Collinson, 1990: 60)

11. Interview questions reported by women may convey messages to them about who is seen as employable within the industry – pictures of gender isolation and ‘otherness’ of women

12. Recruiters believed need to select right people, retain them, be honest and fair to applicants Notions of ‘having it in you’ and individual characteristics responsible for success or failure, shared by recruiters and many women training and working in the industry Neglects contextual nature of development Can be ‘an espoused liberal equal opportunities ethos which works towards greater female participation but stops short of challenging the terms in which they are expected to participate’ (Rodd and Bartholomew, 2006:39)

13. Employability not just gaining entry but maintaining it, gaining full membership May be difficult for women

14. “I’m always seen as being an apprentice. Even though I’m not, I’m qualified, I’ve worked in all different branches of the industry”

15. Many positives of working in the industry, but also costs ‘Young women, and, in a different way, young men, do not make gender-contrary moves scot-free’ (Cockburn, 1987:202) ‘Fitting in’, managing gendered bodies, monitoring dress and other aspects of appearance and behaviour Nevertheless, some examples of harassment and ‘abuse’

16. Women may have to compromise their identities to meet the demands of the workplace and ‘fit in’

17. Conclusions Gendered expectations, model of identity which sees ‘employability’ attributes as individual and relatively fixed This view expressed by trainees and workers in the industry as well as by trainers and recruiters Neglects social practices, power dynamics, socially constructed meanings and idea that industry itself could be transformed Employability also about quality, level and renumeration of employment, not just initial entry, but all of the above can be to the detriment of women

18. References Cockburn, C (1987) Two-Track Training: Sex Inequalities and the YTS. Basingstoke and London: Macmillan. Collinson, D. Knights, D. and Collinson, M. (1990) Managing to Discriminate. London and New York: Routledge. Lave, J. and Wenger, E. (1991) Situated Learning: legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Rodd, M. and Bartholomew, H. (2006) ‘Invisible and Special: young women’s experiences as undergraduate mathematics students’, in Gender and Education, 18:1, January 06, 35-50. Wenger, E. (1998) Communities of Practice: learning, meaning and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.