The project “Cross-cutting discrimination. Gender and vocational education” was launched in March 2015. It aimed at combating cross-cutting discrimination on the grounds of gender, low educational background and low socio-economic status through research and advocacy. The project focused on the women graduated from basic vocational schools who work or look for a job.

The starting point of the project were the alarming statistics which show that opportunities for basic vocational education are much better for men than for women. According to the data from 2011, 28% of men and 16% of women with vocational educational background are on the labor market and the pay gap between them is over 30%, which is considerably higher than the average pay gap.

Based on the research the experts developed the recommendations for the government to take measures that would guarantee an equal opportunities and chances of the target group in education and employment. Advocacy was aimed at the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, the Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment, the trade unions and the associations of employers.

The project’s objectives:

• Diagnosis of the situation and needs of the target group (sociological report based on the research on working and unemployed women with vocational educational background).
• Conclusions and recommendations addressed to the decision makers, trade unions, NGOs, media and other social actors (final report)
• Recommendations regarding system’s solutions (based on the diagnosis of situation and needs of women with vocational educational background) developed by the experts of different thematic areas such as labor market, education, antidiscrimination law. The recommendation 32nd of the CEDAW Committee issued 07.11.2014 addressed to the Polish government concerning, among others supporting women in choosing a vocational training in non-traditional occupations contribute to strengthening the results of the project.
• Establishing cooperation between different actors of labor market, including trade unions, NGOs , an association of employers and academia.

Activities within the project:

The activities carried out within the framework of the project: 1) establishing a team of external experts to consult and support the project, 2) developing a sociological report based on the research of focused groups and individual interviews, 3) developing a pay gap report based on the statistics, 4) advocacy among the decision makers,  5)  conference and presentation of the final report,  7) promotion of the project in media.

Donor:

The project is implemented in a frame of the program “Citizens for Democracy” funded by EEA Grants.