How are gender equality discourses framed in Australia in 2014, in policies and approaches?  How and where are these discourses visible (or not) in a marketised and increasingly competitive VET system? What might the implications be for women and girls, for learning, for training and in the links to ‘decent’ work?  What might this mean in the ongoing struggles for gender informed policies for Australian women in all their diversity?

This talk will revisit approaches to equity generally, and gender/women specifically since the formation of a national VET system in Australia. It will re-interrogate the 2006 article ‘Asking difficult (feminist) questions: the case of ‘disappearing women and policy problematics in Australian VET’  (Butler & Ferrier 2006).  While considering contemporary challenges to the Australian labour force, including the positioning of women in education and employment, recent changes to the VET will be considered utilizing a gender lens.  Inevitably, questions about approaches to and attitudes about ‘doing gender’ will emerge.

Contact: Pia Cort, cort@edu.au.dk