Policy Note Unlocking Opportunities: Empowering Women Ekaterina Pankratova Mohamed Ihsan Ajwad in Technical and Vocational Dana Jasmine Alrayess Sonja Loots Education and Training Nicola Duell Gael Fostier de Moraes in Saudi Arabia 1| Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia © 2024 The World Bank This work was prepared by The World Bank at the request of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s (KSA) 1818 H Street NW, Washington DC Technical and Vocational Training Corporation. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions 20433 expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of the Executive Directors of The Telephone: 202-473-1000; World Bank or the governments they represent. Web: www.worldbank.org The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work and does not Some rights reserved. assume responsibility for any errors, omissions, or discrepancies in the information, or liability with respect to the use of or failure to use the information, methods, processes, or conclusions set forth. The boundaries, colors, denominations, links/footnotes and other information shown in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. The citation of works authored by others does not mean the World Bank endorses the views expressed by those authors or the content of their works. Nothing herein shall constitute or be construed or considered to be a limitation upon or waiver of the privileges and immunities of The World Bank, all of which are specifically reserved. Rights and Permissions The material in this work is subject to copyright. Because The World Bank encourages dissemination of its knowledge, this work may be reproduced, in whole or in part, for noncommercial purposes as long as full attribution to this work is given. Attribution: Ekaterina Pankratova, Mohamed Ihsan Ajwad, Dana Jasmine Alrayess, Sonja Loots, Nicola Duell, and Gael de Moraes. 2024. Unlocking Opportunities: Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Saudi Arabia. World Bank. Washington, DC. Translations: If you create a translation of this work, please add the following disclaimer along with the attribution: “This translation was not created by the World Bank and should not be considered an official World Bank translation. The World Bank shall not be liable for any content or error in this translation.” Adaptations: If you create an adaptation of this work, please add the following disclaimer along with the attribution: “This is an adaptation of an original work by the World Bank. Views and opinions expressed in the adaptation are the sole responsibility of the author or authors of the adaptation and are not endorsed by the World Bank.” All queries on rights and licenses, including subsidiary rights, should be addressed to World Bank Publications, The World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA; fax: 202-522-2625; e-mail: pubrights@worldbank.org. 2| Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Acknowledgments This report is the product of collaboration between Saudi Arabia’s Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) and the World Bank under the Technical Cooperation Program with the Saudi Arabian government. The collaboration was led by Mohamed Ihsan Ajwad (Senior Economist and Task Team Leader) and Ekaterina Pankratova (Senior Social Protection Specialist and Program Coordinator for the GCC Social Protection and Jobs RAS Engagement, World Bank). The authors of the report are Ekaterina Pankratova, Mohamed Ihsan Ajwad, Dana Jasmine Alrayess, Sonja Loots, Nicola Duell, and Gael De Moraes. The report benefited from the technical insights and strategic guidance of Johannes Koettl (Senior Economist and Task Team Leader for the GCC Social Protection and Jobs RAS Engagement), Ramy Zeid (Labor Economist, World Bank), Nayib Rivera (Labor Economist, World Bank), Carole Chartouni (Senior Economist, World Bank), and Neil Butcher (Skills Expert-Consultant, World Bank). Harry David (Editor-Consultant, World Bank) provided editorial support. Manuel Gache (Designer-Consultant, World Bank) contributed to the design of the report. Fatiha Amar (Operations Analyst, World Bank) and Larisa Marquez (Operations Officer, World Bank) provided operational support. The authors of the report are thankful to the World Bank Peer Reviewers Venkatesh Sundararaman (Lead Economist, World Bank) and Zaina Dawani (Senior Education Specialist, World Bank) for their valuable comments and suggestions that strengthened the report. Yasmine Khaled-Jaiser (Translation and Arabization Consultant, World Bank) carried out the translation of the report from English into Arabic to enhance outreach to Arabic-speaking audiences. The report benefited from the strategic guidance and insights of Safaa El Kogali (Country Director, Gulf Cooperation Council Countries, World Bank) and Cristobal Ridao Cano (Practice Manager, Social Protection and Jobs, Middle East and North Africa, World Bank). The World Bank task team expresses its sincere appreciation for those involved in the World Bank’s long-standing partnership with TVTC, who provided guidance and valuable insights—namely, His Excellency Dr. Ahmad Alfahaid (Former Governor, TVTC), Reem Abdulaziz AlMugbel (Deputy Governor for Planning and Business Development), Eng. Sultan Alsunaya (General Manager for International Cooperation, Owner of the project, TVTC), Bandary AlFarraj 3| Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Project Management, TVTC), Taghreed Albalawi (Project Management Office, TVTC), Mr. Abdulmajeed Alrushaydan (General Administration of International Cooperation, Project Manager, TVTC), Eng. Abdo Azibi (General Directorate of Curricula, TVTC), Eng. Mishaal Al-Saif (Deputy Director of Strategic Management Office, TVTC), Dr. Ahmed Al-Haydan (General Functional Coordination Administration, TVTC), Eng. Abdulaziz AlDayhan (General Administration of Trainees Affairs, TVTC), Eng. Mohammed AlAhmad (General Administration of Trainees Affairs, TVTC), Hatem Al-Rudaini (Office of the Assistant Deputy Governor for Training, TVTC), and Taybah Mousa (Office of the Assistant Deputy Governor for Training, TVTC), Eng. Fahad Alsehli (Manager of Planning, TVTC), Eng. Abdulaziz Aldukhayyel (Office of Deputy Governor for Planning and Business Development, TVTC), Eng. Saleh Alshowaier (Deputy Manager for General Directorate of Curricula, TVTC), Eng. Malik Almania (Strategic Management Office, TVTC), Fatimah Alsalman (Strategic Management Office, TVTC), Fayzah Alghamdi (Office of the Deputy Governor for Training, TVTC), Abdulrahman Altayyar (Deputy Manager for International Cooperation, TVTC). The task team’s close and successful collaboration with TVTC, their joint efforts in advancing reforms and providing technical and vocational education and training for female Saudi students, and all the support extended by TVTC to the task team in organizing and preparing technical consultations and workshops led to this report. 4| Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Executive summary Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 emphasizes the importance of achieving gender equity and empowering women. In skills-development systems, gender equity involves promoting an inclusive and enabling environment that allows men and women to access quality education, training, and employment opportunities. It seeks to challenge stereotypes, biases, and discrimination that hinder women from fully realizing their potential. The pursuit of gender equity in skills- development systems is not only a matter of social justice but an investment in economic growth and sustainable development. Investing in gender-equity initiatives is estimated to contribute an increase in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in the European Union of up to 9.6 percent by 2050. This amounts to as much as €3.15 trillion. In fact, a recent estimation of economic growth if the gender employment gap is fully closed by 2050 shows that Middle-East and North African countries could have an average increase in GDP per capita of around 31%. For Saudi Arabia, this figure could be over 40% (Figure 1).1 Thus, by ensuring that everyone, regardless of their gender, has equal access to education, training, and employment opportunities, societies can harness the full potential of their diverse talent pool and foster inclusive and prosperous communities. Figure 1. Estimated gains in GDP per capita if gender gaps close by 2050 • YEM 80 • IRQ • SYR Aggregate capital fully adjusts (GEGI) 70 JOR • • PSE • IRN • DZA 60 • EGY LBN • 50 • MABN • SAU • DJI 40 IBY • 30 • OMN 20 KWT • • BHR • ARE 10 QAT • 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 2050 LTGM 45 degree line Fitted values: y=1.56x+0 1 | Fiuratti, Pennings & Torres, 2024. 5| Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is an important educational pathway for women and men alike, as it makes skill development more accessible. It serves as a valuable complement to traditional higher education and is instrumental in meeting the practical needs of industries, promoting vocational skills, and offering accessible pathways towards employment. While significant progress has been made internationally to make TVET more accessible to women, there are persistent challenges that keep many women from participating in it. At the societal level, social stereotypes often shape attitudes toward female educational choices. Negative perceptions regarding TVET and the absence of visible female role models or leaders in TVET fields further add to these challenges. In addition to societal factors, institutional policies within TVET providers pose significant constraints. The policies of and overall environment within these institutions may inadvertently foster an atmosphere that is less conducive to female participation. Other constraints may include concerns about discrimination or harassment and the perception of lower pay for female TVET graduates than their male counterparts. At the personal level, these constraints are compounded because all the constraints at the societal and institutional levels influence the beliefs, values, interests, aspirations, and motivations of individuals, their families, and their peers. In Saudi Arabia, the past few years have seen significant transformational gender reforms in legislation, policies, and practices that remove constraints on women’s entry into labor markets. The target of 30 percent female labor force participation (LFP) by 2030 has been successfully met eight years in advance. Figure 2 shows how Saudi female LFP increased by almost 18 percent between 2016 and 2023.2 Part of these efforts have included concerted efforts at upskilling, training, and enabling lifelong learning for Saudi women. The implementation of nationwide policies and extensive training programs was complemented by reforms specifically aimed at advancing the inclusion of women in TVET. However, as with challenges encountered in TVET systems globally, Saudi Arabia’s TVET system faces persistent obstacles. 2 | GASTAT, 2016; 2019; 2023. 6| Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Figure 2. Labor force participation rates for Saudi females and males 100,0% 90,0% 80,0% 70,0% 66,6% 67,5% 63,2% 60,0% 50,0% 40,0% 35,3% 30,0% 26,0% 17,7% 20,0% 10,0% 0,0% 2018 2019 2020 Saudi Male Saudi Female This policy report takes stock of the achievements of Saudi Arabia in enabling women to participate in skills development, identifies remaining challenges, and presents international best practices on how to address gender barriers and constraints in TVET. Key recommendations from this report include: · Drafting a national strategic approach to leverage women’s participation in skills development in the TVET sector. This includes creating a comprehensive ecosystem that connects all stakeholders, and that emphasizes the production and sharing of reliable data and information. · Fostering awareness of opportunities will enhance the perception of vocational education as a viable option for girls and women. This includes highlighting opportunities to develop skills expected to be in high demand and meet the rapidly emerging demands of Saudi Arabia’s labor market. This could be done by expanding awareness initiatives for TVET opportunities among target groups, including students, youths, and midcareer professionals seeking upskilling or career transition by building on existing outreach 7| Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia strategies, such as job fairs, career advising, or strategic marketing, and targeting households to inform parents or guardians about the opportunities available to girls beyond the traditional choices. In addition, focusing on lifelong learning and making use of female role models in specific careers are all important strategies for raising awareness. Awareness could also extend to TVTC colleges, emphasizing the importance of female inclusion in emerging occupations and obtaining support within the organizations for related initiatives. Additionally, TVTC could set national-policy-aligned enrollment targets and key performance indicators for training providers. Through the newly established Future of Work Unit, TVTC can shape strategies to raise awareness of new TVET offerings that are in line with the strategic directions of Saudi economic diversification and the Vision 2030 targets. Lastly, TVTC can draw on labor market information to identify in-demand programs for better supply-demand alignment. · TVTC can contribute to rendering the TVET system gender sensitive by regularly reviewing national and institutional policies to ensure equitable opportunities for all. Although there have been significant changes in legislation and policies to support women’s participation in the labor market, inequities such as wage differentiation are still prevalent. Using evidence collected through research to regularly review policies, as well as monitoring and evaluating interventions, is necessary in pursuit of equity. Gender policies should further focus on the societal, institutional, and personal levels, ensure equal access to TVET, and provide the same opportunities to access decent employment. This includes equal access to all occupations regardless of gender biases, equal access to emerging occupational fields that provide new labor market opportunities for decent jobs, and gender mainstreaming in all aspects of TVET-system development, with a specific focus on development of human resources (promotion of women in managerial positions at TVET governing bodies, intermediary institutions, and providers). Appointing mentors for women who aspire to move into managerial positions may incentivize women to participate in such developmental programs. · Designing incentives for TVET enrollment by providing financial incentives for trainees. These incentives could form a comprehensive approach, including scholarships that support recipients at all stages of their careers, particularly focusing on scholarships for girls. These incentives can also 8| Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia be extended for continuing TVET programs for professional development, particularly for women working in target fields or looking to reskill. · Supporting the school-to-work transition by collaborating with private sector firms to hire more female apprentices and create internships for female TVET trainees. More incentives could be supplemented by integrating structured internship and apprenticeship opportunities as part of TVET enrollment. · Building on existing initiatives that have shown success. The Riyadh Technical College for Girls, which has implemented mandatory internship programs and ensured high employment for women obtaining qualifications, is a good-practice model that can be replicated by other institutions. Research from TVTC focusing on identifying similar examples of TVET colleges and initiatives across the country can result in good-practice models to guide other institutions to implement similar programs. · Evaluating current initiatives and share Saudi success stories with other countries. Several initiatives and newly designed programs are currently being implemented by TVTC. Evaluating the impact of these initiatives can guide decisions regarding which to scale, replicate, or adjust to speak more directly to the remaining challenges the sector faces. TVTC can develop a measurement framework consisting of key performance indicators regarding women’s inclusion in TVET programs based on inputs and intermediate outcomes, and it can develop outcome indicators measuring the performance of vocational programs for women in terms of students’ labor market success. Such evaluation and development of internal TVTC statistics and data enhancements can help guide TVTC development in the country. Examples of successful Saudi developments in the TVET sector could also be shared with other countries and the international community to learn from the country. TVTC, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, and the Ministry of Education could contribute significantly in developing a national approach to advance equitable participation of women in education and training opportunities. These entities can draw inspiration from successful models, such 9| Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as the Australian, Dutch, Bangladeshi, and German approaches, which map challenges to specific interventions along the education-to-career pathway. Connecting stakeholders toward a common goal, and facilitating information sharing—commonly known as an ecosystem—are also important aspects of gender-centered reform. Key to such an ecosystem is aligning TVET programs available to women with labor market demands to ensure faster absorption of women into the workforce. By diversifying program options, reducing gender segregation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, and addressing skills shortages to satisfy local labor market needs, Saudi Arabia can enable women to access emerging and male-dominated professions, such as green jobs and jobs in the information and communication technologies (ICT) and tourism industries. Furthermore, attracting young students to TVET programs hinges on aligning these programs with booming and emerging industries and occupations in Saudi Arabia. This alignment is a key tenet of Vision 2030 and the National Transformation Plan, both of which aim to free the economy from reliance on the oil and gas sectors and emphasize advancing the tourism, manufacturing, retail, technology, mining, and energy sectors by implementing supportive policies and focusing on developing human capital. Regular review of national and institutional policies is also necessary to ensure equitable opportunities for all. Strengthening policies and interventions in the TVET sector will likely influence the broader labor market and allow Saudi Arabia to address challenges with persistent gender gaps in LFP and wages. Overall, the gender-related reforms in Saudi Arabia prioritized in Vision 2030 aim to create a more inclusive and equitable society by empowering Saudi women. This can only happen when there is a clear understanding of gender inequities, how they manifest at different educational levels and in the workplace, and which interventions could work to change the status quo. A focus on TVET can further these goals by ensuring equal access to education and employment opportunities, promoting gender mainstreaming in all aspects of the TVET system, and providing opportunities for upskilling and reskilling for older cohorts of workers. In recent years, Saudi Arabia has made intentional efforts to design and develop a National Skills Strategy that aims to create a coordinated skills development system, with lifelong learning at its core. This, along with other efforts, such as increased TVET participation, 10 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will directly advance women’s increased participation in the labor market will inevitably strengthen the overall workforce, thereby accelerating innovation and economic growth. TVTC can assume a pivotal role in addressing gender barriers and constraints in TVET and supporting Saudi Arabia’s vision of expanded economic and social development. TVTC can formalize its commitment to women’s advancement by positioning itself as an advocate of national strategies and initiatives. Through partnerships with other stakeholders, it can build an ecosystem designed to facilitate the successful participation of women in TVET. Drawing from international experiences, modifications in the design of TVTC training programs can overcome existing barriers. Addressing these barriers and implementing targeted design features in TVET programs in Saudi Arabia are crucial to increasing female LFP, especially in sectors and occupations that are traditionally dominated by men or potentially require reskilling or upskilling to meet emerging requirements of labor markets. Well-coordinated and strategically designed interventions, program redesigns, and dedicated resources allocated to these reforms can directly support the achievement of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 goals and support economic growth in key sectors. 11 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia — CONTENTS — 01۰ INTRODUCTION 14 Introduction 15 — 02۰ GENDER-EQUITY 17 Why gender-equity interventions in skills development are necessary 18 2.1 A FRAMEWORK OF GENDER-EQUITY INTERVENTION 19 2.2 GLOBAL ISSUES FOR WOMEN IN TVET 21 — 03۰ THE CURRENT STATE OF GENDER REFORM IN SAUDI TVET 27 3.1 RECENT POLICY ADVANCES FOR GENDER INCLUSION BY TVTC 30 3.2 FEMALE PARTICIPATION CONSTRAINTS IN TVET 37 — 04۰ INTERNATIONAL LESSONS ON ADVANCING GENDER EQUITY IN TVET 45 NATIONAL-LEVEL STRATEGIES 47 4.1  a. Australia’s Advancing Women in STEM Strategy 48 b. Bangladesh: a national strategy for promoting gender equity in TVET 54 c. The Netherlands: leading through legislation and policy 57 d. Germany: partnerships and national approach to gender equity in TVET and STEM 60 PUBLIC-AWARENESS AND OUTREACH PROGRAMS 64 4.2  a. Awareness raising 65 b. Career counseling 66 c. Mentorship programs and role models 67 4.3 RENDERING TVET SYSTEMS GENDER SENSITIVE 67 4.4 DESIGNING INCENTIVES TO ENROLL IN TVET 69 a. Financial incentives 69 b. Reducing sectoral segregation 72 SUPPORTING THE SCHOOL-TO-WORK TRANSITION 74 4.5  4.6 MAIN LESSONS FROM THE INTERNATIONAL EXAMPLES 75 — 05۰ CONCLUSION: IMPLEMENTING CHANGE IN SAUDI ARABIA 78 RECOMMENDATIONS 81 — 06۰ REFERENCES 88 Appendix A: Current KSA TVTC Interventions mapped against Recommendations 95 12 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia — Figure 1. Estimated gains in GDP per capita if gender gaps close by 2050 5 Figure 2. Labor force participation rates for Saudi females and males 7 Figure 3. Factors influencing female participation in TVET and STEM 20 Figure 4. Fields of study of VET graduates, by gender, in the European Union 23 Figure 5. Labor force participation rate (%), Saudis and non-Saudis, by gender, Q3 2017–Q3 2023 32 Figure 6. Labor force participation rate (%), Saudis, by gender, Q3 2017–Q3 2023 33 Figure 7. Labor force participation rate of Saudi women by educational level 34 Figure 8. Employment rates of recent graduates by gender 35 Figure 9. Participation rate in TVET by gender 36 Figure 10. Saudi male and female earnings by educational level, Q4 2022 37 Figure 11. Summary of constraints for female participation in Saudi TVET 38 Figure 12. Comparison of NEET rates 40 Figure 13. Number of female trainees per year in colleges 42 Figure 14. Number of TVTC courses offered per region by gender 43 Figure 15. Connecting key constraints to Saudi female participation in TVET with international policy interventions 47 Figure 16. National approach to gender equity in STEM: Australia 49 Figure 17. Pathway approach to identify key moments in women’s STEM journey 50 Figure 18. Example of STEM Equity Monitor report 53 Figure 19. National approach to gender equity in TVET: Bangladesh 55 Figure 20. National approach to gender equity in STEM: the Netherlands 58 Figure 21. Summary of national gender-equity initiatives in Germany 61 Figure 22. Female-apprenticeship trends 65 Figure 23. Incentivizing gender inclusion in TVET: financial incentives for trainees 70 Figure 24. Diversifying TVET vocational choices: promoting take-up of TVET in male-dominated professions in Austria 72 Figure 25. Diversifying TVET vocational choices: reducing gender segregation of IT occupations 73 — Table 1. Share of female tertiary graduates by field of study, 2018 (%) 24 Table 2 Recent Legal Reforms Related to Women’s Employment 29 Table 3. Focus areas of gender-equity interventions 59 Table 4. Remaining challenges in relation to possible solutions from international examples 82 — Box 1. High share of women graduating in ICT fields of study in MENA countries 25 Box 2. Ten-step action plan for gender mainstreaming in TVET 56 13 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 01· INTRODUCTION 14 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Introduction Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 promotes women’s skill development and their advancement in the labor market. Since 2017, Saudi Arabia has seen the fastest progress in reducing barriers to women’s access to labor markets by advancing reforms regarding guardianship, mobility, protection of women in the workplace, entrepreneurship and access to financing, and retirement age.3 One of its approaches has been to empower women through upskilling, training, and lifelong learning. In recent years, many Saudi women have entered the labor market; however, further interventions are necessary to fully realize the contribution women can make to economic and social advancement. Several studies around the world have shown that women’s participation in vocational education and training has a direct relationship with LFP.4 And increased LFP stimulates the economy, particularly if it is strategically aligned with key industries or sectors. A targeted focus on education and training for Saudi women is estimated to yield $400 billion by 2030.5 The motivation for a more equitable skills-development system thus has both societal and economic elements, as it promotes overall inclusivity and prosperity. In recent years, Saudi Arabia has reformed its TVET system. These reforms have broadened TVET institutions’ educational offerings for women and promoted TVET as a viable pathway to the labor market. Despite this progress, persistent challenges remain. Women’s LFP rates in all age groups remain just slightly above half of those for men, and women who graduate from postsecondary vocational educational institutions still face considerable disadvantages in finding a job, compared to their male peers.6 The barriers to attracting and retaining women to TVET, and ensuring their subsequent employment, are common to Saudi Arabia and other countries around the world. Thus, leveraging extensive international experience in tackling these barriers can enable policy makers to address such barriers in Saudi Arabia. Women’s participation in TVET plays an important role in working toward the national strategic goals set out in Vision 2030. This report takes stock of Saudi Arabia’s achievements in enabling women to develop skills, identifies remaining challenges, and presents international best practices on how to address gender barriers in TVET, upskilling, and lifelong learning. Section 2 positions gender in the global context of skills development to illustrate the necessity of gender-based interventions, particularly in STEM-related TVET, and identifies barriers at the societal, institutional, and personal levels. 3 | World Bank, 2020. 4 | See Bairagya et. al, 2021. 5 | The National News. “Progress on gender equality in Saudi Arabia ‘advancing in leaps’.” Dec 2022. 6 | Rivera et al., 2022. 15 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Next, it discusses the issues faced by women in TVET globally. Section 3 takes stock of TVTC’s achievements in promoting women’s participation in TVET. These achievements include the expansion of women’s participation in TVET and consequently the labor market. This section concludes by reflecting on remaining challenges pertaining to Saudi women’s participation in TVET. The focus broadens in Section 4, which draws on international experience and achievements in addressing gender barriers in TVET. The section examines the significance of gender-equity interventions in TVET and explores how different countries have implemented such interventions. Additionally, it provides examples of program redesign and adaptation aimed at raising public awareness, conducting outreach programs, creating gender-sensitive TVET systems, establishing incentives for TVET education, and supporting the school-to-work transition. The report concludes by identifying key areas of strategic policy interventions that can further gender equity within the country’s skills-development system. Women’s participation in TVET plays an important role in working toward the national strategic goals set out in Vision 2030. 16 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 02· GENDER-EQUITY 17 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Why gender-equity interventions in skills development are necessary Numerous studies have brought to light the deep-seated gender biases in access to training programs, financial services, and the overall labor market.7 Women often encounter challenges that hinder their participation and success in TVET programs and their access to opportunities. To address these challenges, and to foster a more inclusive learning environment, it is important to incorporate targeted design features within TVET programs.8 When women are adequately represented and supported in TVET programs, they can pursue career paths that align with their skills and interests, thereby reducing skills gaps and ensuring a better match between labor market demands and available talents. Gender disparities in TVET can directly affect female LFP. When women face barriers to accessing quality TVET, they may be deterred from pursuing careers in technical fields, leading them to participate less in the labor market and miss out on upskilling and lifelong-learning opportunities offered by TVET institutions. By removing these barriers and promoting gender equality in TVET, countries can allow more women to enter the workforce with the skills and qualifications needed to meet future-of-work requirements.9 Increased female LFP benefits the economy by expanding the pool of talent available to employers, enhancing productivity, stimulating economic growth, and promoting lifelong-learning and upskilling opportunities. When women are empowered through TVET, they can contribute their unique skills and perspectives to various industries and sectors. Moreover, as more women enter technical fields, it can help address labor shortages in critical sectors, reducing skills gaps and enhancing the country’s overall labor productivity. Addressing gender biases and promoting female empowerment in TVET is important for advancing women’s participation in the labor force, enhancing the country’s workforce diversity and labor productivity, and stimulating economic growth. 7 | World Bank, 2020a 8 | ILO, 2020c; Khan et al., 2017; Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, nd; UNESCO UNEVOC, 2020. 9 | British Council, 2020. 18 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Gender disparities in TVET are pronounced in STEM fields. Global data show the stark underrepresentation of girls and women in STEM-related TVET.10 Increasing women’s participation in STEM education is important for not only empowering women economically but addressing the shortage of qualified individuals needed to meet the increasing demand for jobs in the science and technology sectors.11 Girls and women are the greatest untapped population of potential future STEM professionals who will solve global problems.12 Furthermore, the labor impact of the fourth Industrial Revolution underscores the importance of having an adept workforce. Technology adoption has become a key driver of business transformation, particularly within fields expected to lead job growth in the coming years, such as big-data analytics, environmental- management technology, and cybersecurity. Conversely, administrative roles and traditional security, factory, and commerce roles are the fastest declining.13 The underrepresentation of women in STEM fields, especially within TVET, which emphasizes practical skills development and offers accessible industry-relevant education, risks leaving a talent pool untapped and creating economic disparities and workplace imbalance. Investing in women’s participation in STEM fields is important for supporting women’s participation in TVET and the labor market. Thus, gender-equity interventions should extend beyond merely increasing overall TVET participation and must specifically address the barriers hindering the entry and progression of girls and women in STEM-related vocational education. However, many of the factors influencing their participation in TVET overlap with the factors influencing participation in STEM fields. Efforts must therefore be comprehensive, both targeting shared challenges and tailoring strategies to address the unique obstacles faced by women pursuing STEM-related TVET. 2.1 A FRAMEWORK OF GENDER-EQUITY INTERVENTION Factors influencing gender equity are found at the societal, institutional, and personal levels (Figure 3). At the societal level, gender stereotypes are strongly interlinked with social norms and individual expectations and behaviors. Public policies, including legislation, are important vehicles to advance equity. The institutional level represents the meso-level of social interactions—in this context, TVET institutions and workplaces. At this level, policies, cultures, role models, and perceptions of equity and safety all affect female participation. Last, at the personal level, individual interests, motivations, and aspirations— 10 | UNESCO UNEVOC, 2020 11 | European Institute for Gender Equality, 2017. 12 | UNESCO, 2017. 13 | World Economic Forum, 2023 19 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia all of which can influence female participation in TVET—are often influenced by family and peer relationships and environments. Challenges at the personal level are often direct consequences of imbalances at the societal and institutional levels. Figure 3. Factors influencing female participation in TVET and STEM Societal Social norms (mass & social media; societal and cultural norms). level Public policy (gender-equity policies & legislation). Institutional TVET institutes (institutional policies and environment; role models; teachers' perceptions; level learning infrastructure; career guidance). Labor market organization (workplace culture; employee-equity profile; perception of safety; open and hidden employer bias). Personal Individual learner (interests, motivation, level aspirations, self-perception). Family and peers (parental beliefs, values, expectations; peer relationships and influence; household financial assets). Source: Adapted from UNESCO- UNEVOC, 2020. 20 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia At the societal level, gender stereotypes can be perpetuated by communications and perceptions of a wide range of actors based on social norms and culturally grounded gender bias. These stereotypes are transmitted early on in life. As girls mature, these stereotypes can affect their confidence and belief in their ability to excel in STEM fields, deterring them from considering TVET.14 At later stages in life, vocational choices may be influenced by gender norms defining what activities are considered masculine or feminine. At the institutional level, the working environment in TVET-related professions can pose challenges for women. Factors that come into play relate to conditions for reconciling work and family life—especially working hours. Career breaks and limited opportunities for upskilling after breaks can also affect women’s long- term participation and advancement in TVET fields. It is therefore necessary to offer them upskilling, lifelong-learning, and employment opportunities after a career break, especially as labor markets are rapidly developing and future- of-work demands are changing.15 In addition, a male-dominated working environment, often coupled with discriminatory behavior, hampers women from developing confidence. Therefore, legislation protecting women in the workplace is crucial for fostering an enabling environment. It is also important at this level to ensure that TVET institutions have appropriate policies in place to advance gender equity and guide appropriate behaviors. Finally, at the personal level, the focus turns to how individuals are empowered or disempowered by their perceptions, interests, and motivations and their closest family and friends to break gendered barriers to education and career progression. Achieving gender equity in TVET necessitates a comprehensive understanding of the constraints faced by women at the societal, institutional, and personal levels. Section 2.2 examines successes and constraints associated with women’s participation in TVET both on a global scale and in Saudi Arabia. 2.2 GLOBAL ISSUES FOR WOMEN IN TVET The challenges Saudi women face in accessing and graduating from TVET programs (discussed in section 3) are not unique to the country. Women worldwide encounter similar obstacles and are less likely to secure employment after graduation than men. Various factors contribute to gender- related constraints in TVET programs, even if these programs are open and (by law) equally accessible to women and men. As shown earlier, these limitations often arise from societal norms and lack of access to information, which lead 14 | UNICEF, 2020. 15 | Dasgupta and Stout, 2014. 21 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to gender stereotypes, inadequate role models and networks, and an overall negative perception of TVET. In many countries, girls’ interest in traditionally male-dominated fields is shaped by stereotypes and normative gender perceptions.16 Interviewed young people in Australia recognize that gender stereotypes and other barriers deter female participation in construction, the auto industry, electro- technology manufacturing, and other male-dominated industries. The media and the social environment play a dominant role in career decisions.17 The educational system may also unintentionally foster gender stereotypes. An analysis (carried out by UNESCO) of 110 national curricula in 78 countries shows that gender biases and stereotypes persist, particularly in math and science textbooks.18 Several studies conducted in OECD countries find that teachers tend to rate the mathematical ability of male students higher than female students, even when both groups demonstrate equal ability.19 Generally, women are less likely to enter higher-paying vocational fields compared to men. Again, Saudi Arabia is not an exception. In the EU, gender segregation in fields of study tends to be higher in TVET than in tertiary education. Women in the EU and many OECD countries are significantly more likely than men to pursue an education in the fields of social sciences, business and law, services, and health and welfare (Table 1). Globally, only 35 percent of students in STEM fields are women.20 More boys than girls aspire to a career as a scientist or engineer (in 72 out of 78 countries covered by UNICEF, 2020). Meanwhile, more girls than boys are interested in a career in the health field (in all 78 countries). Within STEM fields, gender differences are most visible in engineering, manufacturing, construction, and ICT.21 And women in OECD countries account for just 28 percent of green jobs.22 Gender segregation in TVET fields of study tends to be very high around the world. For example, in the European Union, male vocational education and training (VET)23 graduates are most likely to have studied engineering, manufacturing, and construction (59 percent), while only 10 percent of female VET graduates studied these fields. The most common fields for female VET graduates are social sciences, business, and law (35 percent), 16 | UNICEF, 2020. 17 | Struthers and Strachan, 2019. 18 | Chavatzia, 2017; and Brussino and McBrien 2022 19 | Brussino and McBrien 2022 20 | UNESCO/UNEVOC. Promoting gender equality in STEM-related TVET 21| UNICEF, 2020 22 | OECD, 2023b. 23 | Usually, the notion of VET rather than TVET is used. 22 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia services (23 percent), and health and welfare (22 percent) (Figure 11). Further, employment data from the EU in 2021 show that in 20 member states, recent male graduates from TVET institutions had higher employment rates than their female counterparts.24 Figure 4. Fields of study of VET graduates, by gender, in the European Union Engineering, manufacturing 100% Enginee and construction and con Social sciences, business 90% and law Social s and law Services 80% Service Agriculture and veterinary 70% Agricult Sciences, mathematics and computing Science 60% and com Health and welfare Other Health a 50% Other Note: Includes individuals aged 40% 15 to 34 not in formal education. Note: Includ "Other" fields of study include 15 to 34 no "Humanities, language and 30% "Other" fiel arts", "Teacher training and "Humanitie education science" and "General 20% arts", "Teac VET programmes". education s Source: Authors' calculations 10% VET progra using EU-LFS data (2017) Source: Aut 0% using EU-LF Male Female Source: Vandeweyer and Verhagen (2020). In many countries, women are also underrepresented in ICT fields of study.25 However, a closer look at the share of women among graduates from tertiary education institutions in selected countries shows a more complex picture. Women are well represented among graduates in natural sciences in most countries. Women are overrepresented among health and welfare graduates in all countries shown (except Bangladesh). Also, women are typically overrepresented in arts and humanities (except in Bangladesh). The share of women among graduates in ICT is above 40 percent in Morocco, India, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates, all countries with a comparatively low female LFP rate. The share of women among graduates in engineering was above 40 percent only in Bangladesh, Morocco, and Tunisia out of the 15 countries shown in Table 1. 24 | Eurostat, Employment rates of recent graduates, May 2023. 25 | Bello et al. 2021, EIGE 2018 23 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Table 1. Share of female tertiary graduates by field of study, 2018 (%) ICT Engineering Natural Health and Business Arts and Female sciences welfare administration humanities labor force and law participation rate (2018) AUSTRALIA 21.8 23.2 51.3 74.4 57.0 78.0 73.2 AUSTRIA 14.3 21.5 49.6 69.3 57.0 78.0 72.2 BANGLADESH 27.3 46.1 14.9 25.3 26.6 32.7 38.8 CANADA 30.0 19.7 53.8 76.5 55.8 65.6 75.5 EGYPT 36.8 20.9 64.2 56.0 35.9 67.8 19.4 GERMANY 19.4 21.1 46.8 70.6 53.1 73.5 75.2 GHANA 19.9 16.4 26.8 60.9 44.8 43.5 66.9 INDIA 46.3 30.8 51.4 61.6 46.8 59.4 21.9 MOROCCO 41.3 42.2 48.7 72.3 48.7 47.9 24.6 NETHERLANDS 14.5 23.1 43.8 79.9 47.3 63.3 76.3 SAUDI ARABIA 46.0 2.7 67.5 60.4 45.5 69.1 22.9 TUNISIA 55.6 44.2 77.2 75.3 71.3 74.4 29.7 TURKEY 34.5 27.1 58.0 67.0 47.0 59.2 37.7 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 55.4 30.8 30.8 81.8 43.2 83.7 54.4 Source: Adapted from Bello et al. (2021), based on UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Labor Force Survey data, female labor force participation (15–64, International Labour Organization modeled estimates) . The digital transition is creating increasing demand for ICT specialists and for digital skills at all proficiency levels across occupations. In a wide range of countries, women are underrepresented among VET students and higher education students. The share of female ICT graduates from tertiary education institutions in 2018 was highest in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) (with the highest share of 75.6 percent recorded in Oman). A range of Asian countries also had comparatively high shares of female ICT graduates (in addition to India, this includes Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Thailand).26 The shares of women among graduates in engineering varied significantly across these countries. Among MENA countries, it was comparatively high in Morocco and Tunisia and very low in Saudi Arabia. Among Asian countries, the share was comparatively high in Bangladesh and low in Thailand. 26 | Bello et al. 2021 24 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Box 1. High share of women graduating in ICT fields of study in MENA countries In MENA countries, the share of women among ICT graduates In Jordan, the proportion of women graduating in ICT fields is significantly higher than in OECD countries. India also has a of study is notably high, aligning with trends in other 27 high share of ICT graduates, according to UNESCO statistics. MENA countries. Despite the weak overall female labor The share of women among ICT graduates is higher than their force participation rate—among the lowest in the region share in total employment. and globally—the ICT sector stands out with 32 percent of its workforce consisting of women, surpassing all other There are no comparable figures for graduation of women in sectors. Despite broader challenges to participation, the ICT VET-trained ICT fields. To allow women to pursue ICT studies sector managed to boost female employment, showcasing within the TVET system, Saudi Arabia recently started to its potential to generate both demand and opportunities for set up technical and digital colleges for girls. 28 Interviews in women in the workforce. 29 Saudi Arabia at these colleges suggest that girls’ interest in ICT studies in digital technical colleges is high. Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 set a target for women’s 30 participation in ICT professions of 29.5 percent. The An experimental study conducted in Tunisia on discrimination Ministry of Communications and Information currently in the recruitment process (by sending fictive CVs of male leads its own women’s empowerment strategy to increase and female candidates with the same level of qualification the participation of women in the field through forums, and experience) indicates that discrimination exists and training programs, and support for entrepreneurs. Other recruitment practices follow gender stereotypes (Alaref et initiatives include public-private partnerships targeting skills al. 2020). Results of this study show that in the IT sector— and education for women in the field, such as the launch in which there is gender parity in enrollment in higher of the Apple Developer Academy in collaboration with a education—women are 15 percentage points (43 percent) local university to train female Apple software developers. less likely to receive a callback from an employer. This finding Between 2017 and 2022, the participation rate of women in may explain in part why the unemployment rate of female the ICT sector grew from 7 percent to more than 33 percent graduates is 36 percentage points higher than that of their by the end of 2022, an average higher than all G20 countries male peers in the Tunisian IT sector. On the other hand, no and members of the European Union (EU). By 2021, Saudi discrimination was found against women in male-dominated Arabia had a higher startup rate for women than men. engineering occupations, even as the unemployment gap in this field reached a staggering 48 percentage points in 2014. 27 | Bello et al. 2021 29 | Int@J, “Jordan’s ICT & ITES sector Statistics”, 2018 28 | https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/593229/SAUDI-ARABIA/Two-digital- 30 | Ministry of Communication and Information Technology “Annual Report”, colleges-to-providevocational-training-to-girls 2023 25 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Tackling the societal and institutional challenges noted here requires policy guidance and interventions in a number of areas. These areas include the TVET system and the whole education system as well as labor market transition, the work environment, and childcare. However, while these interventions represent a step in the right direction, they might not be sufficient. To make a more significant impact on women’s participation in TVET, a comprehensive approach is needed to address engagement at the societal, institutional, and personal levels. 26 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 03· THE CURRENT STATE OF GENDER REFORM IN SAUDI TVET 27 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia The transformative changes witnessed in recent years reflect a remarkable shift toward women’s empowerment. At its core, Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 aims to promote a vibrant society, expand economic opportunities, and create an environment conducive to innovation and creativity. In the years following the launch of Vision 2030 in 2016, Saudi Arabia extended its civil and labor laws to include women’s rights and address issues of travel, family, government services, and finance.31 The Vision also included a clear and highly visible message emphasizing the role of women in fostering a thriving economy in Saudi Arabia. As testament to this commitment, it set a target to increase women’s participation in the workforce from 22 to 30 percent.32 This goal has already been reached, with the General Authority for Statistics reporting a labor market participation rate of 35.3 percent for women in 2023.33 This was accompanied by legal reforms to empower women in the labor market by eliminating barriers to their progress (Table 2). Additionally, various programs and initiatives were introduced to enable and bolster women’s engagement in the labor market. Saudi Arabia is looking for programs that will continue to raise women’s preparedness for the labor market. This section looks at some of the key changes in policy and practice that have facilitated women’s advancement and increased participation in the labor market. It then reflects on remaining constraints on women’s participation in TVET, both in Saudi Arabia and globally. 31 | For a full table of laws on reforms related to women during this period: https://www.saudiembassy.net/sites/default/ files/Factsheet%20on%20Progress%20for%20Women%20in%20Saudi%20Arabia.pdf 32 | Government of Saudi Arabia. “Vision2030.” 33 GASTAT, 2023. 28 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Table 2 Recent Legal Reforms Related to Women’s Employment 2017 Women can get appointed to high-level government positions. Women are granted access to government services without male-guardian approval, facilitating access to jobs and higher education. Historic decree issued allowing women to drive, reversing decades of prohibition. 2018 Anti-harassment law makes harassment a criminal offense and requires proactive measures from both government and private entities to prevent and address harassment. Women become eligible to work in previously prohibited positions in the military, customs and border control, and public prosecution offices. Women are allowed to open a business without male-guardian consent. Unified guide is issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development regulating women’s work environments to ensure equal opportunities, prohibit wage discrimination, and mandate workplace accommodations for women. 2019 — PRESENT Labor law is amended to redefine a laborer as “any person, male or female,” eliminating ambiguity regarding women’s entry into the workforce. Retirement age for women is aligned with men’s at 60 years old, and pension credits for maternity leave are introduced. Termination during pregnancy or maternity leave is prohibited. All industries become open to women’s employment, as do night shifts. Saudization quotas are adjusted to stimulate female employment across the economy. Education opportunities are expanded to include all Saudi women. 29 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 3.1 RECENT POLICY ADVANCES FOR GENDER INCLUSION BY TVTC Creating a supportive policy environment, reinforced by appropriate funding, plays a central role in advancing gender equity in the labor market. TVTC has included gender diversity and advancement of opportunities for men and women as key strategic goals.34 In response to this strategic intent, several institutions dedicated to female TVET education have been established in recent years, including 14 international technical colleges for girls,35 37 female technical colleges, three digital technical colleges, one industrial institute in prison,36 and several private training facilities. Public institutions enroll more than 34,000 trainees, with over 180 women in leadership positions.37 A more recent development includes expanding TVET offerings for women in colleges that were previously exclusively for males. For example, the International Aviation Technical College in Riyadh announced that it plans to enroll its first cohort of female students sponsored by a new airline, Riyadh Air, in January 2024. The objective is to train the first cohort of female Saudi aircraft engineers, incorporating the college’s mentorship and on-the-job training. In promoting access and outreach, TVTC organized innovation competitions focused on three-dimensional printing and technical solutions. Furthermore, in response to the growing importance of cybersecurity, TVTC conducted a Cybersecurity Capacity Building Camp. This initiative aimed to bridge the gender gap in cybersecurity by upskilling women and empowering them to become cybersecurity experts. It has also hosted several Hackathons at some of its colleges, such as those in Al-Ahsa and Riyadh, in which students compete to find innovative solutions in the fields of health, education, entertainment, and the environment, among others. Other activities aimed at both female and male students include innovation exhibitions on the regional level and a countrywide competition for both students and graduates of the TVTC system, aimed at gathering innovative ideas to improve the TVET system. TVTC has also promoted social-responsibility activities, including hosting a Socialthon, in which trainees, both male and female, compete to developing technological solutions that address pressing social issues. These competitions and initiatives, whether female targeted or female inclusive, not only provide women with an opportunity to showcase their technical capabilities but encourage them to pursue careers in fields featuring emerging technologies.38 34 | TVTC, 2020; and TVTC, “Mission and Vision statements.” 35 | International Technical Colleges Website. 36 | TVTC. “Training Facilities.” 37 | TVTC. “Governor of TVTC Dr. Ahmed Al-Fahaid inaugurates Women Leaderships Forum entitle “Support and Empowerment.” Dec, 2022. 38 | A list of TVTC’s activities can be found at https://tvtc.gov.sa/En/About/E-Participation/Pages/co-develoment.aspx. 30 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia To attract young boys and girls, but especially girls, into the TVET system, TVTC launched technical summer clubs in summer of 2023.39 The clubs offer free courses in a diverse range of TVET fields in different regions of Saudi Arabia, exposing young minds to the possibilities and opportunities TVET education offers. By providing hands-on experience in cutting-edge technologies such as cyber awareness, montage art, and professional photography, the initiative not only showcases the creative and innovative aspects of TVET but dispels misconceptions and biases surrounding technical education, particularly education for women. Engaging girls at a young age through these clubs erodes the notion that TVET must be male dominated and demonstrates that TVET is attainable for girls. This transformative platform empowers young girls with valuable skills, instills confidence, and fosters gender equality, promoting TVET as a rewarding pathway for the future workforce. Other initiatives include competitions and events focused on self-development and leadership skills.40 These include a preparatory camp for volunteers for the Islamic pilgrimage (Hajj) and student-exchange programs with institutes in the United Arab Emirates. These initiatives offer women valuable leadership training and hands-on experience to assume active roles in different fields. Beyond enriching students’ educational experiences beyond the classroom, these initiatives contribute to building the appeal of TVET to young girls. TVET for girls can now be viewed as changing over time, supporting aspirations, and expanding learning possibilities in emerging and traditionally male-dominated fields. Consequently, this shift in perception is crucial for transforming the culture around TVET and attracting more girls to pursue TVET. TVTC’s recent accomplishments in empowering women in TVET reflect its commitment to promoting gender equality and technical-skill development. The combination of technical activities, talent and innovation programs, social- responsibility activities, cultural activities, scouting initiatives, and targeted measures for women and girls has yielded tangible results.41 The impact of these initiatives, among other efforts by TVTC, is reflected in the progress made between 2019 and 2021. During this time, the number of enrolled women and girls increased from 17,959 to 27,304, raising the percentage of female enrollees from 21.3 percent to 26.1 percent. Moreover, the country expanded the number of TVET colleges for females from 29 to 38, providing greater access to quality education for women. This, coupled with the surge in female completions from 83,778 to 566,860, showcases the effectiveness of the country’s efforts in retaining and graduating female students from TVET 39 | https://tvtc.gov.sa/En/MediaCenter/News/Pages/summerclub.aspx 40 | https://tvtc.gov.sa/En/MediaCenter/News/Pages/hajjprograms.aspx 41 | TVTC Internal Data, December 2022 31 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia programs. Furthermore, the country increased the number of specializations available to women from 14 to 23, with a focus on STEM, ICT, hospitality and tourism, and office administration. This expansion not only diversifies career opportunities for women but addresses the demand for skilled professionals in various industries. The impact of policy initiatives can also be seen in women’s increased participation in the labor market. The World Bank’s “Gulf Economic Update” in fall 2023 features a chapter that highlights the unprecedented advances in female LFP witnessed in Saudi Arabia. The report explores the impact of the structural reforms, evolving social norms, and government actions that led to this surge in diverse sectors.42 Ongoing initiatives are taking progress a step further and have undoubtedly increased the female LFP rate in the country (Figures 5 and 6). Saudi Arabia has reached a historically low unemployment rate (7 percent in 2023), and its private sector employed over 2.2 million men and women as of 2023. Female LFP has increased across all age groups, and jobs were created in the private sector, thanks to a range of policy measures successfully implemented by the government since 2015. LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATE (%), SAUDIS AND 5. Figure Labor force participation NON-SAUDIS, rate (%), Saudis BY GENDER, and non-Saudis, Q3 2017 - Q3 2022 by gender, Q3 2017–Q3 2023 100 81 79,9 78 79 79 78 80 60 40 36 35,5 20 30 23 25 20 0 Male 2017 / Q3 2018 / Q3 2019 / Q3 2020 / Q3 2021 / Q3 2022 / Q3 Male Female Source: GASTAT Labor Force Survey. 42 | World Bank, “Gulf Economic Update,” 2023 32 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATE (%), SAUDIS, BY GENDER, Q3 2017 - Q3 2022 Figure 6. Labor force participation rate (%), Saudis, by gender, Q3 2017–Q3 2023 90 67 66 65 67 70 63 63 50 30 37 34 31 10 20 23 18 -10 Male 2017 / Q3 2018 / Q3 2019 / Q3 2020 / Q3 2021 / Q3 2022 / Q3 Male Female Despite the progress in female LFP, across all age groups women’s LFP rate is just slightly above half that for men. This persistent gap highlights the continued challenges women face in accessing and participating in the labor market and underscores the need for continued efforts to promote gender equality in employment and other economic opportunities. While progress has been made, there is still much work to be done to ensure that women continue to enter the labor market equipped with required skills for the future of the labor market, contribute to their families and society, and benefit from rising employment opportunities in the private sector. Policies and programs aimed at improving access to education and promoting gender equality in education could significantly improve female LFP rates, particularly among the least educated. In the past five years, the bulk of the increase in female LFP has been among Saudi women with a medium level of education. Specifically, those with postsecondary nontertiary education saw a remarkable increase of 51 percentage points (Figure 7). This surge can be attributed, at least in part, to the expanded educational opportunities provided by TVTC, including the increase in number of colleges and course offerings and the corresponding surge in enrollment in and graduation from TVET. This expansion in educational 33 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia opportunities greatly affected labor market dynamics. The number of female TVET graduates entering the labor market within six months of graduation increased from 12,628 in 2019 to 16,859 in 2020, indicating a growing alignment between educational attainment and workforce integration.43 Meanwhile, women with higher education experienced a notable increase of 12 percentage points. Such progress is significant, given that these are the education levels for which TVTC provides training, highlighting the vital role of the institution in enhancing women’s employment prospects. Figure 7. Labor force participation rate of Saudi women by educational level LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATE (%), FEMALE, Q3 2018- Q3 2022 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Doctorate Degree Degree Secondary non Short-Cycle Tertiary Master Bachelor No schooling Early Primary Education Lower Secondary Upper Secondary Post- childhood 2018 Q3 2019 Q3 2020 Q3 2021 Q3 2022 Q3 Source: GASTAT Labor Force Survey.44 Women graduating from postsecondary vocational education still face considerable disadvantages in finding a job, compared to their male peers. Looking deeper into women’s engagement with TVTC and the labor market, 43 | TVTC Internal Data, December 2022 44 | Prior to 2021, education categorization for levels below bachelor’s degree was as follows: Illiterate, Read & Write, Did not complete primary school, Primary, Intermediate, Secondary or Equivalent, Diploma. The overall number of categories remained the same, but the categories changed names except for bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and doctorate. The change in categorization may affect this graph, and the results should be interpreted with caution. 34 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Figure 8 shows that about 62 percent of male graduates find work within six months of graduation compared to 20 percent of female graduates—a much wider gap than in comparable countries.45 Employment of female TVTC graduates is concentrated in service-sector occupations, mirroring overall employment trends for women in the labor market. There are, however, some efforts to bridge the gap between women graduates and labor market absorption in nontraditional fields. For example, TVTC has broadened its range of course offerings for women, invested in placement programs, and introduced targeted initiatives, such as the women’s-training initiative for maintaining vehicles in the Northern Borders PRovince, the first phase of which was inaugurated in 2023.46 Such programs and initiatives can help bridge the gender gap in the Saudi labor force by providing women with the necessary skills to enter higher-paying and specialized jobs. Figure 8. Employment rates of recent graduates by gender (%) OF POST-SECONDA VOCATIONAL GRADUATES SAUDI ARABIA* AND COMPARATOR COUNTRIES 2018 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Serbia Malta Austria Germany Switzerland Sweden Poland Netherlands Norway United Kingdom Hungary Estonia Denmark Latvia Finland Lithuania Portugal Ireland Belgium France Spain Slovenia Romania Greece Croatia Italy Turkey Macedonia Saudi Arabia Slovakia Montenegro Male Female 45 | Rivera et al., 2022. 46 | TVTC. “Expansion of the Women’s Training Initiative for the Primary Maintenance of Vehicles in Several Region.” May, 2023. 35 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia The potential of TVTC to support women’s participation in the labor market could be further leveraged. Women’s participation in the TVET system has increased significantly in the last few years, with the number of women enrolled in TVTC institutions increasing fivefold between 2015 and 2018. Yet, among youths aged 15 to 24, only 6 percent of boys and men and less than 2 percent of girls and women participated in TVET (Figure 9).47 This underscores the importance of continuing efforts to promote female participation in technical education in Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, alignment between the needs of fast-growing sectors and TVTC course offerings can guide women toward not only greater participation in the labor market but also more and better job opportunities. Figure 9. Participation rate in TVET by gender PARTICIPATION RATE IN TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL PROGRAMS (%) OF 15 TO 24 YEARS OLD 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0 Jordan Oman Germany France United Kingdom Spain Norway Portugal Korea Arab States Saudi Arabia Bahrain United Arab Emirates Qatar Malaysia Male Female Earnings by educational level also show promising results. Although a wage gap still exists, the disparity is notably smaller for those with upper-secondary education, short-cycle tertiary education, and bachelor’s degrees compared to those with master’s degrees and doctorates (see Figure 10). This indicates that TVET at the former levels could be viewed as a viable opportunity for women to bridge the gender wage gap and improve their earning potential. Persistent gender gaps in LFP, potential challenges in finding employment after completion of vocational education, participation in TVET in general, and 47 | Rivera et al., 2022. 36 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia wage gaps are still areas that need attention. The following section expands on other constraints that need to be addressed to advance women’s participation in continued skills development in Saudi Arabia. Figure 10. Saudi male and female earnings by educational level, Q4 2022 30.000 25.000 20.000 15.000 10.000 5.000 0 Education Bachelor’s Master’s Doctoral No Schooling Early Childhood Primary Lower Secondary Upper Secondary Post-Secondary Non-Tertiary Short-Cycle tertiary Male Female Source: GASTAT Labor Force Survey. 3.2 FEMALE PARTICIPATION CONSTRAINTS IN TVET Despite the progress made toward a more equitable labor market, Saudi women continue to experience more challenges than men, including in the TVET system. The challenges discussed in this section are summarized in Figure 11 and loosely grouped by the level of analysis they most likely originate from. These challenges also closely mirror the global challenges discussed in the previous section. At the societal level, stereotypes regarding women’s participation in what are perceived as male-dominated fields of study and work, and negative perceptions of TVET in general, are persistent 37 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia challenges. Further, large numbers of women are categorized as “neither in employment, education, and training” (NEET), which demonstrates that there is still a large portion of the population that has yet to upskill and exploit labor market opportunities. At the institutional level, the challenges include lack of career guidance, lack of awareness of TVET offerings and outcomes, limited course offerings for female students, lack of graduate support to enter the labor market, and limited enrollment of women. All of these challenges affect individuals, their families, and their peers at the personal level. Figure 11. Summary of constraints for female participation in Saudi TVET Key constraints: Large numbers of women NEET Stereotypes: Male-dominated fields Societal level Stereotypes: Negative perceptions of TVET Key constraints: Lack of career guidance/awareness limited course offerings Institutional level Graduate support to enter labor market Limited enrollment of women Key constraints: All constraints in societal and institutiocnal level Personal level influence beliefs, values, interests, aspirations, and motivations of individuals, their families and friends. Many new jobs are found in traditionally male-dominated fields, such as construction, transportation, financial services, and energy. Wholesale, retail trade, and administrative jobs in the private sector are still male dominated 38 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and in many cases are saturated with non-native workers. Some of these male-dominated occupations and job roles may be perceived as offering lower wages, difficult working conditions, and unsuitable working hours and are less likely to be pursued by women, particularly in comparison to their public sector counterparts. The prevailing societal norms and gender stereotypes associated with these industries contribute to the limited participation of women in TVET programs, hindering their access to lucrative job opportunities and high-growth sectors. Other constraints include a general negative perception of TVET within Saudi society. In the Middle East, widespread misconceptions surround TVET, with many viewing it as a lower-tier education associated with individuals who lack the academic qualifications for university or come from disadvantaged social backgrounds.48 For instance, a study on young Saudi students’ perception of TVET revealed significant misunderstandings and a lack of awareness about the opportunities TVET offers and how to access them. Students overwhelmingly ranked foreign universities as the best education option, followed by local universities, and considered TVET as a last resort. This mindset is influenced by the belief that career success and development, even in the military, are tied to educational rankings. Moreover, students expressed fears that pursuing a TVET path would hinder their ability to achieve their aspirations, such as securing a well-paying job, owning a house and car, and finding a suitable partner for marriage. Many women are not pursuing education or employment at all. Young women are more likely than young men to be NEET.49 Almost 30 percent of young women are NEET, compared to only 16 percent of men (Figure 12). This gap is wider than the averages of EU countries, OECD countries, and high- income countries. 48 | Sultana, 2017. 49 | UNICEF, 2020 39 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Figure 12. Comparison of NEET rates 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Israel Finland Ireland Sweden Belgium Spain Singapore France United States High income Norway Germany Italy Saudi Arabia Luxembourg South Africa Denmark Czechia Estonia Costa Rica NEET Male NEET Female Source: World Bank WDI Enrollment rates between TVET colleges and universities in Saudi Arabia contrast starkly. Only 7 percent of high school graduates chose TVET in 2015— a small fraction of university entrants.50 Concerningly, students did not seem to understand what TVET was or what its functions were. The misconceptions and lack of awareness about TVET are even more pronounced for female students, who face additional discouragement because of societal perceptions of women in technical jobs. At the same time, many young women opt out of pursuing any type of TVET or tertiary education that would prepare them for the labor market. Attracting women into TVET also means stoking their interest in participating in the labor market. However, it is important to update these findings given the recent advances in the economy and educational system and recent improvements and diversification in TVET offerings. 50 | Yamada, 2018. 40 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Regarding outcomes of TVET graduates, constraints also arise at the juncture between the societal and institutional levels. As noted earlier, men are three times more likely to find work within six months of graduation, compared to women. This is one of the largest gender gaps among high- income economies. Field visits to technical colleges suggest that these results may differ by study subject. For example, the Riyadh Technical Digital College for Girls has demonstrated a higher transition rate for women than men. One possible explanation is the high demand for IT specialists in the job market. Another contributing factor is that the college has integrated mandatory internship programs with private sector companies into its curriculum. These findings highlight the importance of creating more opportunities for women in TVET courses, forming strategic linkages with the private sector, and emphasizing job opportunities that align with the needs of the labor market. Furthermore, it is important for policy makers to ensure that students have full information about what jobs are in demand before they pursue their education. Additionally, incorporating internship programs into TVET courses can provide students with practical skills and real-world experience and ease the labor market transition, as it helps to build trust between the employer and the student (and future job applicant). TVTC has boosted enrollment of young women in TVET programs and widened occupational choices; however, their overall enrollment remains low. From 2018 to 2021, Saudi Arabia almost doubled the number of female TVET students (Figure 13). Nonetheless, these numbers remain well below those of men, and gender segregation by field of study remains high. The potential of the TVET system to address skills shortages and integrate young people into training who would otherwise remain unskilled, and the potential to reduce horizontal and vertical skills mismatch through the TVET system, remains largely unachieved. Other constraints at the TVET-institute level come from restrictions of course offerings by TVET colleges (Figure 14). Until the past few years, Saudi Arabia only offered TVET courses for women that were traditionally more acceptable for women, such as courses on computer technology, tailoring, beauty salons, and cosmetics. Data from TVTC applications and admissions show Saudi women’s occupational aspirations are shifting from these traditionally female fields toward fields such as accounting, ICT, and administrative work. TVTC 41 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia data from 2019 show that the number of admitted female students in these fields does not match the high number of applicants. In other instances, women may opt out of TVET because of their perception that these programs are unappealing or unsuitable or because they feel isolated within a TVET institution. Accordingly, TVTC has been working to develop capacity to more swiftly adapt to constant changes in social norms and labor market needs by opening courses and widening study choices for girls. It has also introduced efforts to provide financial incentives for girls to pursue VET. Monitoring labor market trends can help TVTC address mismatches by adapting program offerings for women to meet firms’ skills demand and making changes at the institutional level. More recently, TVTC has started offering technical courses for boys and girls at the same TVET facility, such as Riyadh Aviation TVET College, which now collaborates closely with the new Saudi Arabian airline— Riyadh Air—to provide offerings for female students. Figure 13. Number of female trainees per year in colleges 45000 40.771 40000 38.504 34.719 35000 30000 28.870 25000 21.129 20000 15000 10000 5000 87 301 717 0 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Bachelor of technical Colleges Technical college diploma 42 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Figure 14. Number of TVTC courses offered per region by gender 250 200 150 100 50 0 Riyadh Region Medina area Jazan region Al-Jawf region Northern Border District Eastern Province Najran Province Male Female Source: TVTC data. Despite significant research focusing on gender-based inequalities in education in Saudi Arabia, limited attention has been given to understanding why women tend to avoid STEM education and employment. The personal- level constraints are influenced by a complex interplay of individual aspirations, perceptions, and societal expectations. Regarding school, for example, one study of female STEM students in a public university in Saudi Arabia showed that they felt career guidance and information provided in high school was “inadequate.”51 Cultural and family influences can also shape young women’s career choices, leading them to opt for fields perceived as more socially acceptable for women. In a study featuring a series of interviews with Saudi youths, a repeated theme emerged: family, particularly the patriarch of their family, influenced their educational decisions. Many of the interviewed female students explained that they would only pursue opportunities that they thought their families would approve.52 Prevailing gender norms and role expectations can hinder women from considering STEM fields as viable career options, leading to limited female representation in technical and scientific TVET programs. Addressing these constraints and implementing targeted design features in TVET programs in Saudi Arabia are crucial to increasing female LFP, especially in sectors and occupations that are traditionally dominated by men. Interventions, program redesigns, and dedicated resources allocated to these reforms directly contribute to supporting the goals of Vision 2030. 51 | Sani, 2018. 52 | Almoaibed, 2019. 43 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia To understand the gender-based disparities in the outcomes of students and identify gender-related gaps within TVTC, and in turn to address the above- mentioned constraints, a comprehensive analysis and internal assessment of labor market and TVTC data are necessary. Once the main constraints are identified, TVTC must build on existing initiatives and develop new initiatives to target these constraints. Potential adaptations include expanding educational choices, providing gender-sensitive vocational guidance, integrating more workplace-based learning phases, raising awareness among companies to reduce discrimination, and fostering collaborations with the education sector to tackle gender stereotypes. Drawing from international experiences outlined in the next chapter can provide valuable insights for TVTC to enhance and expand its efforts in promoting the participation of women in TVET. Through intentional modifications in the design of training programs and strategic policy making, TVTC can be more effective in overcoming gender constraints and leading the way in empowering women in technical and vocational education. By enhancing TVET programs and making them more accessible to women, Saudi Arabia can unlock the potential of a previously untapped workforce, leading to a more diversified and sustainable economy. 44 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 04· INTERNATIONAL LESSONS ON ADVANCING GENDER EQUITY IN TVET 45 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Global efforts to transform skills systems include a focus on making these systems more equitable and accessible to all. An increase in women’s participation in the labor market, in particular, has proven to improve macroeconomic and financial stability, contribute to economic growth, and reduce income inequality.53 Yet, in many cases, gender concerns have not been fully integrated into mainstream policies. This section shares examples of national approaches to advancing gender in VET, with examples from Australia, Bangladesh, the Netherlands, and Germany. Next it examines targeted interventions focusing on many of the challenges listed in sections two and three. These interventions include public-awareness and outreach programs, building gender-sensitive TVET systems, designing incentives to enroll in TVET, and supporting women’s transition into the labor market. Policy responses can be tailored to address barriers at each level—societal, institutional, and individual—affecting female participation in TVET. At the societal level, initiatives to combat gender inequalities involve policy reforms, such as equal-pay policies and antidiscrimination legislation.54 Additionally, general awareness programs and targeted outreach seek to attract girls to TVET and boys to female-dominated TVET majors, such as those within the care professions. At the institutional level, these policies include continuous improvement of TVET system quality and collaboration with the private sector. Initiatives addressing constraints on the personal level include fostering role models, influencing family perceptions, providing mentoring, and offering financial incentives. Policy responses can also address constraints across levels (Figure 15). For example, awareness-raising and outreach programs can ease personal-level constraints, such as familial and peer pressures. Accordingly, the subsequent examples illustrate diverse policy approaches, strategies, and activities, grouped by their main activity. 53 | UNICEF, 2020 54 | UNESCO/UNEVOC, 2021 46 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Figure 15. Connecting key constraints to Saudi female participation in TVET with international policy interventions Key constraints identified Policy interventions to in Saudi Arabian TVET make TVET system more equitable Societal level Public awareness and outreach programs • Large numbers of women are NEET Awareness raising • Stereotypes: negative perceptions of TVET • Stereotypes: male-dominated fields Counseling programs Institutional level Mentorship programs and role models • Lack of career guidance/awareness Rendering TVET systems gener sensitive • Limited course offerings • Graduate support to enter labor market Incentives to enroll in TVET • Limited enrollment of women Financial incentives Personal level Reducing sectoral segregation • Effects of stereotypes, lack of policy guidance, lack of career guidance, limited Supporting school-to-work transition enrollment, and lack of graduate support on the beliefs, aspirations, and motivations of individuals, families, and peers National strategy & Monitoring and evaluation 4.1 NATIONAL-LEVEL STRATEGIES Measures addressing the different factors leading to gender inequality in TVET participation are most effective if embedded in a wider strategy and coordinated among a variety of actors. Countries strive toward building comprehensive ecosystems to attract women into TVET. The examples below illustrate the different approaches that have been implemented to advance gender equity in TVET systems. Ideally, national strategies address 47 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia factors affecting gender equity in TVET at the societal, institutional, and personal levels and take a life cycle perspective. Plans and strategies should have concrete goals that can be tracked. National plans and strategies include ringfenced funding for research or implementation strategies that enhance the acceptance of women’s participation in TVET. National strategies combine different policies, so countries may focus on different things. The four national examples discussed next illustrate these different approaches to scaled strategic interventions. These interventions employ a pathway approach to map and intervene in women’s education and career trajectories. The interventions are strategically implemented in a targeted and outcome- based manner to pursue gender equality in TVET. Additionally, these nations have passed legislation to guide policy and practice, while also strengthening partnerships between public and private entities in an effort to promote gender equity in TVET. a. Australia’s Advancing Women in STEM Strategy The Australian government has invested in skills development and pursued reform in recent years. It recognizes that rapid technological change is driving workforce needs—ultimately requiring an optimized and agile educational system supplying skills to match labor market needs. STEM skills are critical to achieve this. One way to advance STEM skills is to promote the participation of girls and women in STEM education and careers. Women and girls are underrepresented throughout the STEM pipeline, with only 17 percent of the STEM workforce in 2016 consisting of women. To address this issue, the government developed the Advancing Women in STEM Strategy.55  55 | Government of Australia, 2020. 48 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Figure 16. National approach to gender equity in STEM: Australia Four key focus areas: Positioning Government as leader to Supporting women in STEM careers. support gender equity in STEM. Including addressing inequities that prevent organizations from attracting women to, and retaining women in, the STEM sector. Enabling STEM potential through Making women in STEM visible. Including education. Including empowering girls and creating diverse, strong role models will supporting teachers and parents to see a ensure women in STEM are visible and will future for themselves in STEM. help to address the bias and stereotyping that currently exists in STEM. Source: Advancing Women in STEM Strategy.56 To guide the strategy’s development, the government first sought to understand the challenges girls and women experience along the STEM pathway from early education to established careers. As illustrated in Figure 17, women and girls experience both internal and external pressures along the pathway that might keep them from engaging in STEM fields. To map the challenges, it was helpful to identify key players that could challenge stereotypes, provide information, or act as role models or mentors. This map provided a starting point for identifying appropriate interventions.   56 | Government of Australia. “Advancing women in STEM Strategy.” September, 2019. 49 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Figure 17. Pathway approach to identify key moments in women’s STEM journey Gender stereotypes Access to STEM extra Year 10, 11, 12 STEM course Family and/or caring Access to development Gendered play/ curricula activities course selection requirements responsibilities opportunities skill learning Access to schooling Sexism/harassment/ Networking/ Unrecognised Gender and discrimination conference career breaks unconscious bias requirements Gender biased Flexible work tenure/promotion PRESSURES arrangements Re-training/re-entry Perceptions of self STEM self-confidence Risk appetite Recruitment practices to the workforce External Lack of understanding Perceived as male Job security of STEM careers dominated International career Internal Cultural expectations/ Ability to financially mobility bias influences support self Disengagement with Work/life balance STEM pedagogy Lack of confidence to apply for promotion ACADEMIA Parents Peers Career counsellors Employers Mentors Senior career sponsors R SO Educators/Principals Support networks F ES KEY Role models P RO INFLUENCERS E R RE CA R Y / MI D C H E L R EA R E SEA POST R UNDERGRADUATE/ EARLY PRIMARY HIGH VOCATIONAL GRADUATE EDUCATION SCHOOL SCHOOL EDUCATION AND MOBILITY ENTRY LEVEL TRAINING CAREER PATHWAY MI CA D STEM RE skill ER s us ed in n on S ST C A ENIO E M RE R se ER tti ng WORKFORCE UNDERSTANDING THE STEM JOURNEY STEM A women’s journey through STEM can be impacted by many factors. This diagram represents where known pressures and key influencers (who can help or hinder progression) first appear, noting many of these continue throughout the education and career path once they are present and may be experienced differently by individuals. WORKFORCE OTHER   Source: Advancing Women in STEM Strategy, 2020.  Central to the strategy is the role of the government as a participant, supporter, and enabler. As participant, the government ensures that departments have initiatives to support women in STEM, such as scholarships, internships, and mentoring programs. As supporter, the government provides assistance to gender-equity initiatives such as the Women in STEM and Entrepreneurship grants program, which provided $10 million for 54 projects in the first three funding rounds.57 As enabler, the government passes legislation, implements policies, supports monitoring and evaluation, and enacts accountability measures to create an environment conducive to successful equity interventions.   57 | Australian Ministry for Industry and Science. “Grants to strengthen women in STEM careers.” January, 2023. 50 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Beyond the government’s contributions, the strategy focuses on several interventions in three key areas—education, careers, and visibility— including the following:58 i. Enabling STEM potential through education · Girls in STEM Toolkit: To break down gender stereotypes, the toolkit educates girls, parents, teachers, career counselors, and other influencers about opportunities in STEM and the types of careers that can arise from STEM education. · Indigenous Girls STEM Academy: The academy annually supports up to 100 Indigenous girls in exploring the potential for a STEM career, guiding them through their school years, tertiary education, and entry into the workforce. · Stronger Smarter Institute: The institute supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women who teach STEM subjects. · Engineering is Elementary: The majority of the program’s educational units feature girls or women as main characters to demonstrate to girls, boys, and educators that girls and women can be engineers. This positive messaging challenges the gendered stereotypes that reduce girls’ participation in STEM. · DigIT: This program helps year 9 and year 10 students that are underrepresented in STEM and IT subjects to engage with digital technologies and pursue related careers. It exposes students to role models and helps them understand the many possibilities a future in IT may hold. · Curious Minds: The program provides education at STEM summer schools and a coaching program for high-potential female students in years 9 and 10. It aims to ignite girls’ passion and participation in STEM. ii. Supporting women in STEM careers · Male Champions of Change for STEM (MCC-STEM): Seventeen male Australian STEM leaders are addressing gender inequity in their organizations. 58 | Government of Australia, 2019. 51 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia · Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE): This includes 44 Australian universities, medical research institutes, and research agencies encompassing around half of the nation’s publicly funded research sector. Since the launch of SAGE, member organizations have improved arrangements for carers’ leave, expanded on-campus childcare, and undertaken women-only recruitment. · Boosting Female Founders: The program provides targeted funding and support for women engaging in innovative entrepreneurship, including in STEM sectors, to help female founders overcome barriers to accessing early-stage capital. iii. Making women in STEM visible · Women in STEM Ambassador: The initiative advocates greater gender equity in STEM, provides advice to business leaders, policymakers, and educators on issues affecting girls and women in STEM, and increases visibility of girls and women in STEM education and careers. · Digital-awareness-raising initiative: The initiative aims to change the public perception of women in STEM by fighting stereotypes and gender bias. · Superstars of STEM: The program inspires girls and women in schools, universities, and workplaces by increasing the visibility of women working in STEM. To track the impact of gender interventions in STEM fields, the government publishes the annual STEM Equity Monitor report.59 Several data points are tracked throughout the STEM pathway to monitor changes in participation and attitudes as well as general trends (see Figure 18).  For example, in 2016, women represented 17 percent of STEM completions in vocational education and less than 11 percent for engineering and related technologies. In addition, women only represented around 9 percent of the STEM-qualified part of the workforce in 2016. 59 | See Government of Australia, 2022. 52 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Figure 18. Example of STEM Equity Monitor report   2021 RESULTS - YOUTH IN STEM (12-17 YEAR OLDS) STEM WOMEN AT UNIVERSITY 2021 WOMEN RESEARCHERS 2021 WOMEN 29% 2020 UNDERGRADUATE ENROLMENTS AND COMPLETIONS AT LEVEL E SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY ENGINEERING IMPORTANCE OF STEM SKILLS FOR GETTING A GOOD JOB MATHEMATICS % OF UNIVERSITY STEM ENROLMENTS 36% OF RESEARCH WORKFORCE 18% 38% % OF UNIVERSITY by headcount GIRLS 76% 83% 56% 82% STEM COMPLETIONS ARC NHMRC % of women BOYS 78% 88% 73% 83% 2021 UNDERGRADUATE EARNINGS 2021 POSTGRADUATE EARNINGS chief investigators on applications Women earned less than men for Women earned less than men for funded by ARC CONFIDENCE IN STEM SUBJECTS 3 of the 4 STEM fields following 3 of the 4 STEM fields following and NHMRC GIRLS 67% 59% 35% 68% undergraduate study postgraduate coursework study 25% 29% PRO FES SOR BOYS 67% 74% 57% 70% DEM IA ACA UNDERGRADUATE/VOCATIONAL POST ENTRY LEVEL SCHOOLING PATH WAY EDUCATION AND TRAINING EDUCATION CAREER ST WOR EM 2020-21 RESULTS - PARENTS, TEACHERS & CAREER ADVISERS STEM WOMEN IN VET KFO RCE 2020 VET STEM ENROLMENTS AND COMPLETIONS 2021 VET STEM LEAD ERSH GRADUATE EARNINGS IP 16% SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY ENGINEERING MATHEMATICS % OF VET STEM ENROLMENTS Women earned less than men 2021 IMPORTANCE OF STEM SKILLS FOR GETTING A GOOD JOB after graduating from 3 out of 4 WOMEN IN STEM fields MOTHERS 78% 87% 72% 87% % OF VET STEM COMPLETIONS 19% LEADERSHIP POSITIONS FATHERS 84% 91% 79% 90% REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN AT SENIOR MANAGEMENT LEVEL IN STEM-QUALIFIED INDUSTRIES 91% 96% 72% 96% SECONDARY 23% STEM TEACHER - WOMEN 2021 STEM-QUALIFIED INDUSTRIES SECONDARY STEM TEACHER - MEN 91% 84% 83% 96% STEM-QUALIFIED INDUSTRY EMPLOYEES GENDER PAY GAP STEM-QUALIFIED OCCUPATIONS REPRESENTATION OF 27% PARENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF BOYS’ AND GIRLS’ CONFIDENCE IN STEM SUBJECTS WOMEN AT CEO LEVEL IN 20% ALL 9% 5% 3% 11% GIRLS MORE STEM-QUALIFIED INDUSTRIES CONFIDENT INDUSTRIES BOYS MORE CONFIDENT 24% 35% 51% 23% WOMEN 25,752 p.a. 18% ALL 15% WOMEN 8% EDUCATORS’ PERCEPTIONS OF BOYS’ AND GIRLS’ CONFIDENCE IN STEM SUBJECTS STEM GIRLS MORE CONFIDENT 5% 3% 2% 7% INDUSTRIES 26, 784 p.a. BOYS MORE CONFIDENT 29% 40% 61% 33% Arrows next to percentages indicate a change since last report. This may not be a statistically significant change and should be treated with caution Source: STEM Equity Monitor (2022). The Advancing Women in STEM Strategy has addressed the under- representation of women in STEM fields in Australia. The strategy has funded several initiatives that have increased the participation and retention of women in STEM fields. Key lessons to learn from the Australian approach are the following:  · Government buy-in and active participation are essential to the success of systemic initiatives.  53 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia · A strong focus on data provides baselines and targets to work toward, enabling the tracking of progress over time. It further promotes a sense of accountability to motivate relevant stakeholders to participate in equity efforts.   · Education and career opportunities are interlinked components within the broader STEM pathway.   Australia does not single out educational levels for specific interventions but provides a continuum of interventions. All of them aim at supporting awareness and involvement of girls and women in STEM education and careers. Such an approach positions girls and women at the center of interventions and requires collaboration at the systemic level to pursue equitable outcomes at each educational level. b. Bangladesh: a national strategy for promoting gender equity in TVET Unlike the pathway approach in Australia, Bangladesh opted for a six- objective, targeted strategic approach to gender equality in TVET. In collaboration with the International Labour Organization and EU, the government developed the National Strategy for Promotion of Gender Equality in TVET in 2012.60 The goal was to increase female participation in enrollment, management, teaching, and support staff at TVET institutes. At the time, female participation in TVET was low, at 33 percent in private institutions and ranging from 9 to 13 percent in public institutions.61 The strategy had six priority strategic objectives (Figure 19). 60 | Government of Bangladesh, ILO & EU, 2012 61 | ILO, 2012 54 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Figure 19. National approach to gender equity in TVET: Bangladesh In collaboration with the ILO and EU, the Government of Bangladesh developed (2012) the National Strategy for Promotion of Gender Equality in TVET Strategy had six priority strategic objectives: 1۰ 2۰ 3۰ Improving female Transforming mindsets and Establish gender enrolment numbers (40% attitudes and eliminating responsive environments by 2020). negative perceptions of with appropriate support women in TVET. systems in place (e.g. 4۰ zero tolerance re sexual Strengthen links between 5۰ harassment). supply and demand and Strengthen institutional accommodate skills capacity on gender 6۰ training for informal competence at all levels Establish adequate data workers (including (e.g. including capacity management systems entrepreneurship building on gender to track progress. or apprenticeship mainstreaming). opportunities for women). Source: Government of Bangladesh, ILO and EU, 2012. 55 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Box 2. Ten-step action plan for gender mainstreaming in TVET The government of Bangladesh, in partnership with the 05. Set up social-campaigning guidelines and promotional International Labour Organization and EU, developed a 10- measures for attracting female students. step action plan to mainstream gender in TVET: 06. Establish and strengthen gender-responsive strategic partnerships. 01. Begin with a gender-based situational mapping of the 07. Strengthen staff capacity on gender issues and institution. establish a gender-mainstreaming unit or network. 02. Analyze data, undertake causal analysis, and identify 08. Carry out a gender-budgeting exercise. gender gaps. 09. Set up research and documentation units. 03. Chart an initial tentative gender action plan. 10. Plan for a participatory gender audit or finalize the 04. Conduct a gender analysis of the training-program cycle. gender action plan. Source: Government of Bangladesh, ILO, and EU, 2015. In 2017, the World Bank reviewed gender-reform progress in the Bangladeshi TVET system.62 The review showed that enrollment rates of women remained consistently low at 12 percent. Further, a lack of relevant studies and reliable data prevented effective policy discussions on the issue. Other remaining challenges included nonconducive environments, unavailability of female- friendly courses, relatively high TVET costs for poor households, persistently weak demand for technical training of female students because of their lack of awareness of such training, and employers’ misperception of appropriate female roles at work. The study recommended a stronger focus on creating a gender-friendly environment in TVET institutions, developing more service- oriented diploma programs, launching a TVET-awareness campaign for girls and women, supporting a career-counseling and guidance system for girls and women, improving access to higher education, providing more demand- stimulating incentives, generating research and knowledge on TVET for girls and women, and leveraging partnerships to promote skills development for girls and women.  Several legislative and policy documents have been written in the past few years to advance gender equity across sectors. Transforming the TVET system is still a priority. As part of the EU Gender Action Plan 2021–2025,63 gender equity in TVET participation and equal access to training programs are 62 | World Bank, 2017. 63 | EU, 2021. 56 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia key to advancing women’s participation in the labor market.   Key lessons from Bangladesh include the following:  i. Enabling policies and action plans are key to set change in motion, but change takes time.  ii. Implementation at the institutional level needs to be supported.    iii. The hardest work is arguably to tackle stereotypes and other sociocultural beliefs that limit women’s participation.  iv. Formal progress reports on the implementation of such strategies are important accountability measures.  c. The Netherlands: leading through legislation and policy The Netherlands does not have a singular approach to promoting gender equity in education and the labor market but has created a legislative and policy landscape that promotes equity. For example, the Equal Pay Act of 1975 and the Equal Treatment Act for Men and Women of 1980 (amended in 2006 to bring national law in line with EU law) established the right to equality for women and men in both private and public employment. In addition, the 1994 General Equal Treatment Act sets out the legal basis against discrimination in most forms, including labor market discrimination and discrimination on the grounds of religion, political beliefs, race, ethnicity, and gender. In 2015, the European Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (or FEMM Committee) requested an overview of gender-equality legislation and policies in the Netherlands. 57 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Figure 20. National approach to gender equity in STEM: the Netherlands The aim of the Technology The National Technical Pact Pact (2022) monitors and reports on girls and women’s participation ۰ Girls/women are more likely to opt for a technical in TVET and STEM fields by education and job. providing ۰ Young people with (or without) a migration background ۰ Factsheets are more likely to opt for a technical education and job ۰ Access to concrete tips, guidelines, publications ۰ Embedding science & digitization in the curriculum of and white papers primary and secondary education. ۰ Research publications ۰ Increase in the number of apprenticeship companies. ۰ Intake and participation data In the Netherlands, research has also confirmed that gender stereotyping - mostly from family and peers - influences the educational and career choices of children. Girls believe that a technical education or profession is not for them. Thus, when girls and women are in the position to choose their TVET subjects, parents often do not encourage them to choose STEM subjects. Source: Technology Pact. The resulting analysis showed that while women’s labor market participation was high, this participation was worse than that of their male counterparts. For instance, female LFP was 72 percent in 2013, but women’s participation was often part-time, few women held top positions in companies, and policies on childcare and parental leave were often not hitting the mark.64 This work contributed to a gender policy plan under the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, which foregrounded interventions in three core areas: the labor market; women’s safety, security, and acceptance; and gender diversity and equal treatment.65 The focus of interventions in each of these areas is shown in Table 3. 64 | Directorate-general for internal policies, Netherlands, 2015.    65 | https://eige.europa.eu/gender-mainstreaming/countries/netherlands?language_content_entity=en 58 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Table 3. Focus areas of gender-equity interventions THE LABOR MARKET WOMEN’S SAFETY, SECURITY, AND GENDER DIVERSITY AND EQUAL ACCEPTANCE TREATMENT Commitment to gender equality in employ- Interventions focus on: Interventions focus on: ment and income include a focus on: • Minimizing harassment and violence • Better media representation of women • Financial independence for women against women • Facilitating gender diversity for children • The appointment of more women to and young adults senior positions • Equal treatment as outlined in the so- • Eliminating the gender pay gap called rainbow agreements in the national government coalition agreement Regarding female participation in TVET fields, girls and women are generally overrepresented in non-STEM TVET programs and underrepresented in STEM-based TVET programs. Of all girls and women in the Netherlands starting TVET in the 2019/20 academic year, only 14 percent registered for technology and ICT-related courses.66 As in many other places, gender stereotyping mostly comes from social influences that shape the professional choices of children. Girls often believe that a technical education or profession is not for them and consequently refrain from choosing subjects aligned with careers in STEM fields.67 Compared to other countries in the EU, the proportion of highly educated, technically qualified women in the Netherlands is very low (approximately 3 percent) and among the lowest in Europe. One intervention aimed at improving the flow of students to STEM jobs is the National Technical Pact 2020.68 The pact focuses on talent development and career guidance as central components of STEM pathways and is based on three principles:  1. Implementing the pact across regions and sectors is critical to success. The National Technical Pact contains agreements that help regions and sectors to achieve their own goals.  2. Collaboration between the educational sector, industry, and employees is the key to attractive technology education that connects seamlessly with the labor market. The business community, social partners, educational 66 | VHTO, 2020. 67 | VHTO, 2018. 68 | National Technical Pact, Netherlands, 2020. 59 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia institutions (public and private), employees, students, and regional and national governments all make their own contributions to the pact.  3. Technical education across the board forms the foundation for a healthy labor market for technicians. The pact focuses on primary education, secondary education, vocational education, higher education, and worker training.  The pact enables collaborative partnerships between educational institutions at different levels, ministries, and the private sector to advance priority areas, including girls’ and women’s participation in STEM fields. The National Technical Pact web platform69 includes web pages focusing on the role the pact plays in creating opportunities in STEM fields for girls and women. Through the Technology Pact Monitor,70 the public can track progress on TVET/STEM-field reform. The platform further provides access to gender-equity tools, such as policies, checklists, and communication guides. Some of the successes of the National Technical Pact in the TVET system include a 27 percent share of girls graduating from school-level vocational education in physics and chemistry during 2020/2021 and 8 percent of women selecting technical courses in higher levels of vocational education. While these percentages still seem quite low, they show significant progress in a short time frame,71 which suggests that while having supportive policies or legislation is important, implementation of targeted interventions moves the needle. d. Germany: partnerships and national approach to gender equity in TVET and STEM In Germany, demographic change is inspiring policies to increase gender equity and female employment. Different forces have led to additional efforts to reduce gender inequalities in TVET education—including STEM education—and labor market access in recent years. In addition to the goals of social justice and equity in education, there is also a strong business case for promoting gender equity. Results from skills forecasting and different key stakeholders suggest that labor and skills shortages may prevent economic growth potential from being fully realized in Germany. 69 | Techniekpact. National Technical Pact web platform. 70 | Techniekpact. Technology Pact Monitor. 71 | Techniekpact. Highlights of women in TVET. 60 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Figure 21. Summary of national gender-equity initiatives in Germany The Federal Ministry of Education and Projects are linked with an overarching Research coordinates a research and metaproject to promote professional implementation grant (20-50 million exchange, improve public awareness, euros per year) to support projects that and elevate impact.   contribute to increasing the visibility and representation of women who are active in science, research, and innovation. Alliance for initial VET and continuous education and training brings together federal and regional ministries Projects promote knowledge (Employment, Education, Economy), generation, develop and test initiatives, public employment service, sector and focus on the sustainability of associations, trade unions, and successful approaches and strategies. employers. Source:  OECD STIP Compass.72 The policy that intended to secure skilled labor consisted in a strategy developed by the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. The strategy was decided in 2011 and contained five pillars: modernizing TVET, targeting continuous training, expanding job opportunities and LFP, improving work quality and work culture, and updating immigration policies and reducing emigration. This strategy is still being pursued and its outcome monitored regularly; its latest version was adopted on October 12, 2022.73 Measures to increase female employment include awareness-raising activities, investment in childcare facilities, and development of full-day school models. The employment agency has also offered guidance for women returning to the labor market. The first pillar relates to the dual VET system and introduces an apprenticeship guarantee. This aims at giving every young person without a professional qualification access to fully qualifying in-company training if possible. The dual VET system develops skills needed by the German economy, is considered a central pillar of the German economic model, and has contributed to low youth unemployment rates and a smooth labor market transition. The employment 72 | OECD STIP Compass. “Women in Science, Research and Innovation: Making Achievements and Potential Visible, Anchoring Visibility Structurally.”August, 2021. 73 | German Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. “Measures and plans to secure skilled workers.” 61 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia agency’s and job center’s initiatives to support young people will be sharpened and expanded. The initiatives include both first steps, such as career advice and career orientation, and placement in and promotion of training. Additional financial support is to be given to those training in other regions because they lack offers in their own regional market or because they harbor a specific career aspiration that requires leaving their region. Young people who live in a region with a weak training system and whose efforts to find training have been unsuccessful despite extensive support have a legal right to a training offer in another region. Ministries’ collaboration has been central to the strategy for more than a decade. The alliance (2019–22) for training and education includes associations, ministries, trade unions, and employers. It was committed to bringing young adults and training companies together so that as many young people as possible would start vocational training in 2023.74 The partners in the Alliance for Education and Training have agreed on the following key areas of action: bringing more companies and young people together and keeping them in training to further increase the attractiveness and quality of dual training; and jointly promoting vocational training to strengthen professional training and advance those with higher qualifications or higher levels of professional education.75 Another key pillar of the strategy consists of increasing female employment and reducing the gender pay gap. Some of the efforts include an increase in the number of childcare facilities in recent years, and the New Quality of Work Initiative is tasked with promoting diversity. To promote gender equity and diversity in general, this initiative is conducting research and implementing concrete actions and pilot programs (“experimentation spaces”) to test new approaches for more diverse workplaces, sustainability, and digitalization in a future-of-work approach. The initiative unites the federal, state, and local governments, employers’ associations, the chambers of industry and commerce, the chamber of crafts, trade unions, the Federal Employment Agency, and the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. In addition, the initiative appoints experts from operational practices to serve as ambassadors, acting as the public face of the initiative and providing expertise and practical knowledge on central topics.76 As a result of joined efforts and investments in childcare facilities, the gender employment gap has significantly narrowed over the past decade. The caveat is that many more women work part-time than men do. 74 | Alliance for Education and Training web page 75 | Alliance for Education and Training. “Alliance 2023–2026.” 76 | German Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. “Quality of Work Initiative.” 62 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia A challenge for German policies is that occupational segregation remains high.77 The National STEM Council has been examining issues regarding women in STEM, both within the dual VET system and in higher education. It has formulated recommendations on how to attract and retain women in STEM occupations holistically.78 The Federal Ministry of Education and Research set up a STEM action plan in 2022, endowed with a budget of 45 million euros.79 This plan consists of five points: i. COOPERATION@STEM:80 creating incentives to implement more extracurricular and school activities to strengthen the next generation of STEM specialists ii. QUALITY@STEM: supporting STEM actors to improve the provision of high-quality STEM education to children and young people, and expanding professional networking opportunities iii. FAMILIES@STEM: getting support from parents for STEM vocational training or a STEM degree iv. RESEARCH@STEM: promoting practice-oriented research to strengthen STEM education in schools and creative-learning locations v. EARLY START@STEM: promoting STEM education for children and young people The Federal Ministry of Education and Research coordinates the Focus on Innovative Women program, aiming to provide funding for strategies that create equal opportunities for women in education and research. The 36 million euros of earmarked funding is targeted at a range of educational and research entities to implement research and initiatives in a three-year time frame.81 Awareness-raising projects that have been implemented by various actors include the Klischeefrei initiative (“free of gender stereotypes”), Komm-mach-MINT82 (“come do STEM”), girls’ and boys’ days, and a range of smaller projects. One of the most innovative initiatives, Klischeefrei, aims to eliminate gender stereotypes and promote diversity in education. To maximize impact, it aims at starting to influence people early in life: daycare centers, elementary schools, and lower secondary schools. The initiative provides information through information desks, fact sheets, special dossiers, portraits, and a newsletter. In addition, it organizes an annual symposium; organizes guidance, workshops, and online 77 | KOFA, 2021. 78 | See, National STEM Forum. 79 | German Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. “STEM action plan.” 80 | MINT is the German acronym for STEM; names of programs have been translated into English. 81 | German Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. “Innovative Women in Focus.” November, 2020. 82 | Komm-mach-MINT Initiative. 63 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia seminars; and offers an e-learning course (Advising on Professions without Stereotypes). It represents a nationwide network of partner organizations from education, politics, business, and science aiming to implement targeted measures, create networks, and exchange materials and share best practices. It is coordinated by the Federal Agency for Vocational Education and Training BiBB.83 Awareness-raising material is being prepared. Partners and initiatives can be found throughout the country and take a life cycle perspective. The different programs and initiatives rest on cooperation of various actors and start with activities to erode gender stereotypes and increase interest in STEM subjects early on and throughout the whole educational system. 4.2 PUBLIC-AWARENESS AND OUTREACH PROGRAMS Not all countries have elaborated national strategies to promote women in TVET; rather, some strategies consist of very targeted, localized, and specific measures. Such strategies may or may not be embedded in a wider national strategy. Public-awareness and outreach programs to attract women and girls to TVET aim to provide information to encourage behavioral change and shift the public’s perception of women in TVET. This is particularly important in order to address gender stereotypes and guide girls and women to make more informed educational choices. Young people’s career expectations may be unrealistic or poorly informed because of poor access to impartial learning and information. This is especially true for girls, who are often misled by gender stereotypes. Girls’ educational pathways can also be heavily influenced by outside factors, such as the socioeconomic status of their parents, social norms and backgrounds, negative perceptions of some TVET career paths in the trades and technical fields, insufficient school and career counseling, and lack of role models in TVET and STEM. Without adequate resources, women’s aspirations can be narrow and distorted.  Many countries have adopted campaigns in schools to reach out to boys and girls and to raise awareness among parents. Awareness campaigns can occur on a large scale, such as through the media (television and radio), or they can be targeted at specific schools or demographic groups.  In this section, we provide examples of concrete measures and initiatives. 83 | Klischeefrei Initiative. 64 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a. Awareness raising International Girls in ICT Day is a flagship global effort to raise awareness and to encourage girls and young women to consider STEM studies and careers. It is led by the International Telecommunication Union, and since its launch in 2011, more than 377,000 girls and young women have taken part in over 11,400 celebrations in 171 countries worldwide.84 International Girls in ICT Days take place in many European countries, including Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands, and in other countries, including several in MENA (for example, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon). Figure 22. Female-apprenticeship trends GERMANY ۰ The most popular SWITZERLAND ۰ Three most popular apprenticeship occupations are in the apprenticeship occupations are business management and retail sectors. and administration, wholesale and retail sales, and building and civil engineering. AUSTRIA ۰ “Office, trade and finance” is the second largest group of apprentice IRELAND ۰ Introduced programs in service occupations, with nearly as many apprentices and business areas following the economic as the machine and metal sector. crisis. ENGLAND ۰ Apprenticeships used to be AUSTRALIA ۰ Introduced non-trade mostly in traditional trade fields, but since apprenticeships in the 1980s, and these the 1990s service-sector apprenticeships now outnumber trade apprenticeships. grew strongly. Several countries are attempting to raise awareness by increasing girls’ contact with STEM subjects. In Germany, for example, voluntary internships are being proposed for girls seeking to enter STEM occupations. More than one in four companies or institutions that participate in International Girls in ICT Day have hired former interns as their own interns or trainees. Another example is the EnterTechnik program in Germany, which encourages young women to enter promising technical professions. In Germany, the voluntary social or 84 | International Telecommunication Union. “Bridging the gender divide.” December, 2022. 65 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ecological year allows school graduates to explore technical professions for 12 months to gain insight into various training and study opportunities after completing secondary school or high school. Participants engage in three 3-month internships in participating companies in different technical areas.85 In Turkey, an International Girls in Information and Communications Technology Day has been organized, along with an International Day of Women and Girls in Science. In the Engineer Girls of Turkey project, awareness and information- provision activities regarding engineering fields have been conducted for students and their teachers and school 20 provinces. The total number of students, parents, and teachers reached is 24,876.86 To raise awareness about VET and engage in outreach, Albania has conducted a program for girls and women administrators. In the 2019/2020 academic year, 2,500 students were reached in 75 high schools in  in rural areas since 2018.87 b. Career counseling Career counseling and labor market information are needed for young people and their parents to make informed choices. Accurate information helps to overcome gender stereotypes. This information includes easily accessible online and on-site information on occupations, VET training details, typical tasks, typical workplaces, career pathways, and wages. For example, in Germany, on the Berufenet website the Federal Employment Agency provides details on 324 recognized VET and university-trained occupations. In addition, short videos are provided on each occupation.88 Other countries have used public employment services to set up similar information services (for example, in France, the public employment service developed the Rome occupational database89). Public employment services may also provide information on occupations in high demand. In addition to provision of information, career counseling and guidance is essential. Online tools can help young people who are still in secondary school or who already left it to profile their competencies and interest. In-person advice and counseling can help guide young people. In Germany, for example, staff of the vocational information centers (Berufsinformationszentrum, or BiZ),90 which are run by the local employment agencies, visit secondary schools to let pupils know about the centers’ vocational guidance services and provide group and individual career guidance. In-depth career guidance is offered on school or BiZ premises. This guidance is gender neutral. 85 | See EnterTechnik.de. 86 | Republic of Türkiye, 2021 87 | Suta et al., 2021. 88 | Bundesagentur für Arbeit (German Federal Employment Agency). “Berufenet.” 89 | Pole-Emploi (French National Employment Agency). “ROME.” 90 | Bundesagentur für Arbeit (German Federal Employment Agency). “Career information centre.” 66 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia c. Mentorship programs and role models Ambassador and mentorship programs are also well suited to fostering girls’ and young women’s interest in nontraditional studies and occupations. Germany offers an illustrative example through its Girlsatec Ambassadors program, which aims to introduce interesting technical professions to female students by providing them with information on technical professions. This is achieved through through professional orientation programs, technology camps, factory tours, visits for school classes and by connecting students with companies providing apprenticeships. Notably, the program’s focal point is its team of volunteer ambassadors, who form a network of current and former female apprentices, women pursuing technical studies, and female skilled workers and engineers.91 In Ghana, social media and online broadcasting are used to promote educational role models. The Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training initiated the “MyTVET Campaign” with the goal of altering the negative perception of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) among students and the general public. Through different platforms such as Facebook and YouTube, the campaign showcases ambassadors discussing the importance of women in TVET careers, including construction, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering.92 A similar initiative is the Ghana Skills Development Initiative. The initiative encourages young women to choose TVET courses by organizing national skills competitions and junior high school TVET clubs, providing career guidance and counseling, and identifying TVET ambassadors and role models. Despite these initiatives, young women’s enrollment in TVET courses remains low.93 Providing visible role models through ambassadorship programs also exist on a global scale. For instance, Inspiring Girls is an organization operating in 28 countries around the world (as of December 2021) that aims to motivate school-aged girls through sharing the testimony and experience of inspiring female role models.94,95 4.3 RENDERING TVET SYSTEMS GENDER SENSITIVE A good reputation is key to attract both boys and girls to a TVET system. To improve the reputation of a system, countries need to constantly improve its quality. That includes making sure that they have modern equipment, 91 | Girlsatec. “What is an ambassador?.” 92 | CTVET, 2020. 93 | Amegah, 2022; World Bank et al., 2023. 94 | Inspiring Girls.com 95 | Brussino and McBrien, 2022. 67 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia teachers are upskilled, training standards are set, and the curricula are up-to- date and designed with input from the public and private sectors. The quality of TVET affects productivity and labor market transitions, and when that impact is acknowledged, it improves the TVET system’s reputation. In some OECD countries, such as Austria, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland, VET graduates have higher employment rates and lower unemployment rates than graduates from general programs at the same education level. In these countries, VET has a good reputation and VET-trained workers are needed.96 As workplace-based learning and internships are important features of many TVET systems, some countries have developed programs to render internships attractive to girls. For example, in the Netherlands, the Meer meisjes in mbo Techniek program (“more girls in TVET”) lowers the threshold for participating in various fields of technical study for girls within their own educational institute. It includes an initiative for “safe internships,” which guides women in their choice of internship, checks whether proposed internships are suitable (for example, whether machines can be adjusted to interns’ body size, whether uniforms are available in various sizes, and whether the companies employ other women in technical occupations), conducts progress interviews during the internship, provides after-internship feedback, and establishes a blacklist of unsuitable companies.97 The training environment is an important factor in attracting women to VET. This includes childcare facilities for parents wanting to participate in vocational training. In Germany, apprentices within the dual TVET system with young children are given the opportunity to pursue their apprenticeship part- time, which helps them cope with issues of work-life balance.98 In Benin, the Youth Employment Program supports women’s participation in the program’s training measures by inviting trainees needing childcare for young children to bring someone to look after their children. Both the trainee and their caregiver receive transportation and a midday meal.99 Some countries have also started to revise textbooks in a gender-sensitive way.100 TVET could integrate into the educational system and workplace young people who failed at school, dropped out, or had difficulties with theoretical education. This is potentially highly relevant for young women, as they are more likely than boys to be NEET in many countries, in particular if they are 96 | Vandeweyer and Verhagen 2020. 97 | UNESCO/UNEVOC, 2020 98 | Ausbildung.info. “Education with a child.” 99 | World Bank, 2020. 100 | See, for example, UNESCO/UNEVOC, 2020; Brussino and McBrien; and Suta et al., 2021. 68 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia low skilled. In Germany, the public employment service finances prevocational training programs for young people who have difficulties in finding TVET, including those with bad marks at school, those who left school early, and those who quit another TVET program.101 The assisted dual TVET program is being implemented by the public employment service to help young people find career guidance, find an apprenticeship within the dual TVET system, prepare and apply for that spot, and, once the application is successful, prepare for exams, overcome learning difficulties, and improve German language skills. After completing TVET, support is provided to find employment.102 In Germany, other actors finance certain support programs. The city of Munich is financing the pass(t)genau project, which provides advice, bridging courses, and psychological support for disadvantaged young people who take up TVET in selected, mainly female-dominated shortage occupations (such as hotel and restaurant jobs, the food trade, green professions such as gardeners and landscapers, the retail trade, medical and dental specialists, hairdressers, painters, varnishers, and caregivers). Activities include intensive advice for participants and companies, placement in training, seminars, and weekly lessons. The counseling includes psychosocial counseling, individual support, and crisis interventions to strengthen the trainees in their professional and personal socialization. The placement activity offers support in the search for a training position, which also serves to secure junior staff. The demand- oriented seminars provide industry-specific practical courses, delve into deeper learning of the content, and promote soft skills to facilitate a successful integration into training. In addition, German courses are offered at different language levels for migrants. The vast majority of participants in this program have been women.103 4.4 DESIGNING INCENTIVES TO ENROLL IN TVET a. Financial incentives Financial incentives to participate in TVET can be general or targeted. A general incentive to enroll in TVET exists in countries running apprenticeship systems. For example, in Germany, apprentices participating in the dual vocational-training system receive apprenticeship wages. This applies to boys and girls equally. There is a fixed minimum for apprenticeship wages, and above this general minimum threshold, apprenticeship wages can be fixed by collective bargaining. They increase with each year of learning and vary by 101 | Bundesagentur für Arbeit (German Federal Employment Agency). “Vocational training courses.” 102 | Bundesagentur für Arbeit (German Federal Employment Agency). “Assisted training.” 103 | Information provided during a World Bank study visit. See also, Münchner Beschäftigungs- und Qualifizierungsprogramm (MBQ—Munich Employment and Qualification Program). “Pass(t)genau.” 69 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia occupation.104 However, apprenticeship wages need to be below the statutory minimum wage to deter young people from abandoning their dual vocational training (that is, so apprenticeships do not compete with regular jobs). TVET in full-time vocational school (without a dual track) is usually free, and the vast majority of university courses are free, but students do not get a training allowance. Scholarships for such allowances exist, however, through the Bafög program for students coming from poor families. Figure 23 summarizes some examples of financial incentives for TVET students. Figure 23. Incentivizing gender inclusion in TVET: financial incentives for trainees SCHOLARSHIPS VOUCHERS CONDITIONAL INTERSECTIONAL APPRENTICESHIP CASH TRANSFERS GRANTS THAT SALARY ADDRESS COMMON BARRIERS GHANA KENYA RWANDA AND PERU GERMANY & “Invest in Her” Out-of-school DR CONGO Stipend to female AUSTRIA scholarship youth vouchers Cash grants to trainees with Apprenticeship for vocational women conditional children under the salary for dual training on training age of 5 vocational trainees attendance GERMANY Grants for young people with low- income parents Source: World Bank analysis, 2023. 104 | For example, in 2021, apprentices earned an average salary of 987 euros per month. See Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (Federal Institute for Vocational Training). “Collective training allowances.” 70 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia In Ireland since 1990, companies have been able to receive grants from the public employment service if they recruit female apprentices in traditional crafts such as construction and engineering. The maximum amount a company may receive is 2,667 euros (for 28 weeks). Take-up has been low.105 The Apprenticeship Action Plan 2021–25 foresees extending the scheme to all apprenticeship programs where there is an 80 percent or higher representation of a single gender to encourage gender balance across the apprenticeship system.106 In Canada, the government has been piloting the Apprenticeship Incentive Grant for Women, which supports women financially while they train as apprentices in fields in which women are underrepresented. The grant of 6,000 Canadian dollars is available twice during the training period. Supporting women’s entry into the trades continues to be a priority for Canada. In fall 2022, the government launched a call for proposals for the new Women in the Skilled Trades Initiative, which will support projects that recruit and retain women and help them succeed in 39 eligible nationally certified trades found predominately in the construction and manufacturing sectors. Projects under this initiative will be announced in summer 2023.107 In Turkey, the Engineer Girls of Turkey project provided support for training female students. In existence from 2016 to 2020, it was run with the cooperation of the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Services, the United Nations Development Programme, and Limak Holding. Along with providing scholarship opportunities for students, the program provided internship and employment opportunities, English language training, training for the social- engineering certificate program, and mentoring support. Five hundred sixty female students have benefited from the scholarship program.108 Several African countries are running scholarship programs for girls to enroll in TVET. For example, in Ghana, the Invest in Her scholarship program provides full and partial scholarships, mentorship, entrepreneurship training, and connections to job opportunities for young women interested in TVET.109 Another example is Kenya, where youths are given out-of-school vouchers for vocational training. This measure lowered dropout rates and increased female enrollment and graduation, particularly for training in male-dominated occupations.110 These measures support boys and girls. 105 | CEDEFOP. Database on financing apprenticeships in the EU. “Female apprenticeship bursaries.” 106 | Government of Ireland. “Action Plan for Apprenticeship, 2021 to 2025.” February, 2022. 107 | Government of Canada. “Funding: Apprenticeship Incentive Grant for Women—What this grant offers.” May, 2016. 108 | Republic of Türkiye, 2021. 109 | The INVEST project. 110 | Hicks et al., 2016. 71 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia b. Reducing sectoral segregation In some countries the TVET system is providing targeted incentives for girls and young women to enroll in TVET. For example, in Austria, a country that, like Germany, has a well-established TVET system with a strong dual vocational-training track, the Women in Craft and Technics (FiT) program has been run by the public employment service since 2006 and aims to reduce gender stereotypes and occupational segregation.111 Austria, like Germany, has high occupational gender segregation. The FiT program offers women vocational guidance and financial support for enrolling in technical vocational training, lasting two to four years. An evaluation of this program for the period 2015–20 found it to be successful in bringing women into male- dominated occupations.112 Seventy percent of participants were employed within six months of participating, and 63 percent work in the profession in which they were trained.113 Figure 24. Diversifying TVET vocational choices: promoting take-up of TVET in male-dominated professions in Austria “Women in Public employment support for getting Preparatory and technical know-how Crafts and Tech vocational qualification in non- counselling, including career planning Occupations” traditional occupations. sessions, mentoring, support in finding Program an apprenticeship or traineeship place in companies. Certified qualifications through > apprenticeships (2-4 years), technical 70 percent of participants vocational schools and universities were employed within six months of of applied science in non-traditional participating. professions. Source: Women in crafts and technology. 111 | As shown by an evaluation carried out in 2014. See AMS, 2014. 112 | Bergmann et al., 2022. 113 | Arbeitsmarktservice Österreich (Labor Market Service Austria). “Women in crafts and technology.” 72 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia In India, other positive measures have been implemented to increase the share of women in ICT. Women’s share among ICT specialists is relatively large compared to their LFP rate, but women are still underrepresented in this strategic sector. The country has been encouraging enrollment of girls in ICT fields of study both at universities and at the intermediate education level. For example, India is encouraging women to enroll through measures such as polytechnic institutions exclusively for women and a 30 percent quota at certain polytechnic institutions. Of the 300,000 available openings for vocational courses that are in compliance with National Skills and Qualification Framework level 4, 20 percent have been reserved for women. At higher education institutions, in the 2016/2017 academic year, less than 30 percent of undergraduate students in engineering and computer science were women. However, women constituted 57 percent of postgraduate students and 40 percent of PhD students in computer engineering.114 Figure 25. Diversifying TVET vocational choices: reducing gender segregation of IT occupations INDIA INDONESIA GERMANY QUOTES COMPETITIONS NEW COURSES AND AWARDS Share of women among IT Fewer women choose ICT study Proportions of females in specalists is higher than their fields compared to men. information and communication share in labor force. technology (ICT) programs low. 30% quota on women’s enrollment Incentivize through the “Kartini Universities created new IT at certain polytechnics and Next Generation Award,” a courses, which saw an increased establishment of polytechnics competition to encourage the share of women in IT: exclusively for women. creativity and achievements of General informatics: 18.4% women who use ICT. Medical informatics: 32.3% Bioinformatics: 39.6% Media informatics: 45% Source: ILO, 2019. 114 | ILO, 2019. 73 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 4.5 SUPPORTING THE SCHOOL-TO-WORK TRANSITION After completing TVET, young women may need more support than young men to find employment. Often their networks are less well established. Long- term internships and dual vocational-training systems substantially increase school-to-work transition rates for both boys and girls, as employers have time to get to know the apprentices. School-to-work transition is often lengthy in countries that do not have established strong links with employers during VET. Further, apprenticeship and internship programs can be institutionalized through accreditation standards. Therefore, in some countries, public employment services have established projects to support young women’s transition to wage employment and self-employment. In Morocco, the public employment service Anapec, with support from the German international-cooperation agency GIZ, has been implementing measures to support youth employment in rural areas (“promotion de l’emploi des jeunes en milieu rural”). Within this category a new project with financial support from GIZ offers training in e-commerce to self-employed young women aged 15–35. The objective is to help women to sell their handicrafts and agro-food products.115 In Jordan, the Diamond Hands project created more than 2,000 jobs in 2018 and 2019 by helping women develop the skills needed to start their projects from home and creating a special platform for advertising products.116 In Jordan, New Work Opportunities for Women was a pilot project tailored to young female community college graduates to help them find work. It was designed following extensive consultations with local stakeholders including private sector employers, students, and community college graduates.117 It successfully facilitated female-graduate labor market entry.118 Employment initiatives in four selected governorates aim to increase the number of jobs and improve the employability of job seekers. In sectors with particularly high potential to boost women’s employment, the project implements additional targeted labor market measures. This program was evaluated through combining different methods. Employment impacts of the surveyed beneficiaries vary among occupational areas but not by gender, region, and educational level. The highest employment rates of the sampled beneficiaries were identified in the occupational sectors of health (nursing/hospitality services at hospitals, medical laboratory technicians, pharmaceutical technicians) and ICT.119 115 | Aujourd’hui Le Maroc. “Promotion of employment: GIZ trains young rural women in e-commerce”. November, 2022. 116 | ETF, 2021. 117 | Vishwanath and Krishnan, 2010. 118 | ETF, 2022. 119 | GIZ and Ministry of Labor, 2019. 74 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Young Women in the Digital Economy’s flagship report, Solutions for Youth Employment (S4YE), provides recommendations for job interventions to connect young women to the digital economy. The report identifies demand drivers across various categories of digital work and presents lessons to overcome barriers to youth digital employment.120 Drawing on the experiences of 25 coding bootcamps—intensive short-term skills-training programs for the digital economy—and seven digital-skills-training programs, Women WaveMakers provides strategies for recruiting and retaining women in coding bootcamps. A World Bank report presents strategies to recruit women into coding bootcamps and presents approaches to increase women’s participation in technology occupations.121 Boot camps have been used by specialized private employment agencies and have been successful in recruiting and placing women in ICT jobs (for example, in Germany and Sweden).122 Solutions can also come from private sector efforts. Even when private employers actively recruit more women, women can be pushed toward worse jobs than men. In India, 36 percent of employees in the technology industry are women.123 This is more than double their employment rate across sectors. However, several studies that have investigated employment conditions in the ICT sector have revealed the nuanced nature of the gender divide in it. Babu (2013) argues that women in India in IT jobs receive fewer employment benefits and are increasingly pushed to low-end and poorly paid jobs. Women tend to be overrepresented in jobs such as programming and testing and underrepresented in higher-level managerial positions, such as IT architecture, consulting, and project management. For social and family reasons and because of safety issues, women work fewer hours than men. The proportion of female employees steadily declines as one looks up the career ladder. To enhance women’s employment opportunities, a number of IT giants in India, such as TCS, have raised their annual target for hiring female employees. TCS currently employs 400,000 individuals, of whom 35.6 percent are women. TCS provides incentives to female employees, including flexible working hours, the opportunity to work from home, and crèche facilities.124 4.6 MAIN LESSONS FROM THE INTERNATIONAL EXAMPLES 1. The lessons learned from international experiences emphasize the need for a holistic approach. In line with the framework of gender-equity 120 | World Bank, 2020. 121 | World Bank, 2020. 122 | ILO, 2020. 123 | Nasscom.in. 124 | ILO, 2019. 75 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia interventions presented in Section 2, a holistic approach could include a focus on the societal, institutional, and personal levels to enable a supportive environment that promotes gender equity in the TVET sector. 2. Effective awareness-raising activities could involve a wide range of stakeholders, including young people, teachers, parents, and employers. Their collective efforts are essential to address gender stereotypes at the societal, institutional, and personal levels and promote equality in TVET and the labor market. 3. There is a pressing need to overcome gender stereotypes at the societal, institutional, and personal levels. This entails challenging deep-rooted beliefs and biases that hinder the participation of both girls and boys in nontraditional fields. Moreover, breaking gender stereotypes requires a comprehensive approach that begins at an early age and continues throughout one’s working life. It is crucial to introduce activities targeting gender stereotypes in preschool, school, and TVET. Training teachers, revising textbooks, and adapting curricula play vital roles in fostering interest and self-confidence among girls. Additionally, these measures can be used to rectify misconceptions about the quality and reputation of the TVET system. This improvement should be a prerequisite for creating an environment that appeals to young people, including girls, and promotes their engagement in TVET. 4. Efforts could be made to increase the participation of girls and young women in TVET. TVET institutions could strive to catch up with the tertiary education sector, in which young women are more likely to pursue STEM studies. Examples from various regions, such as MENA countries specializing in ICT and European countries focusing on natural sciences and health, as well as global initiatives in ICT and the media, highlight the importance of breaking gender stereotypes and promoting inclusivity in underrepresented fields. 5. Providing gender-sensitive and transformative career guidance is crucial. This involves offering unbiased information about occupations, training paths, career progression, and salaries. Additionally, awareness- raising programs could facilitate internships and job-shadowing 76 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia opportunities for girls in tech sectors and boys in female-dominated trades. Role models and mentoring programs can also fill the gap created by the absence of appropriate role models in the social environment. Support must also be extended to young women who have received TVET, particularly support in finding employment, remaining employed, and reentering the labor market after a career break. Additionally, incorporating entrepreneurship training into TVET studies can contribute to increasing the number of women entrepreneurs, as they are currently underrepresented among entrepreneurs. 6. Overcoming financial, skills, and personal barriers is crucial for young people to enroll in and complete TVET. Support mechanisms could be in place to assist individuals in overcoming these challenges. Financial incentives and quotas to promote gender equality in TVET have yielded promising results. However, changing perceptions and attitudes takes time and requires sustained effort. 7. Finally, the success of implementing gender-sensitive and transformative activities hinges on the commitment and collaboration of various actors. A collective approach that involves governments, educational institutions, employers, and civil society will be instrumental in achieving lasting change and advancing gender equity in the TVET sector. 77 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 05· CONCLUSION: IMPLEMENTING CHANGE IN SAUDI ARABIA 78 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia has made fast progress toward gender equity. Transformational reforms during the past several years include making key legislative and policy changes, dedicating funding across ministries to equity initiatives, and developing a range of interventions and focus areas within ministries to increase female LFP. More specifically, the rapid increase in labor market participation is a direct consequence of a more inclusive Labor Law; policies encouraging better working conditions, welfare, and health for women; initiatives that include providing aftercare for children and arranging transportation for working women; and improved educational offerings to create a more skilled workforce. While such initiatives are vital to advance gender equity, their consequences should be understood. For example, a recent World Bank report argues that the TVET sector in Saudi Arabia can play a central role in supporting the growing need for care workers. As more women enter the workforce, it is likely that increases in national income and economic development will contribute to higher life expectancy and higher demand for childcare, healthcare, and education. This, in turn, will increase the demand for care workers—an area that has been female dominated but in which gender gaps will have to be eradicated to meet the expected need.125 These and the many other efforts mentioned in this report support the strategic vision and economic diversification of the country. Despite the notable progress achieved through the transformational reforms, available data indicate persistent challenges pertaining to the TVET sector that require further efforts. First, the participation of women in the labor market remains significantly lower compared to other OECD countries. Although Saudi Arabia has made notable progress, with a 35 percent participation rate it still lags behind the OECD average of 52 percent. Second, approximately 30 percent of young women are categorized as NEET, highlighting a substantial gap between young men and women, with a difference of 15 percentage points. The LFP gender gap narrows as educational qualifications increase—for example, there is a 23 percentage point gap for those with bachelor’s degrees and a 24 percentage point gap for individuals with other postschool qualifications, indicating a supply-demand gap for women TVET graduates. This gap is confirmed by the slower absorption rate of graduates into the labor market. Another persistent issue is the gender wage gap, with women generally earning less than men across various educational levels. Although wage discrimination is prohibited by law, women still face greater wage penalties, potentially because of a skills mismatch between labor market requirements and their qualifications. Wage penalties tend to be smaller for upper-secondary and short-cycle tertiary education, which points to another opportunity. Beyond understanding gender 125 | Fostier de Moraes, Duell, & Ajwad, 2024. 79 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia gaps in the TVET sector, it is also important to understand that other gender gaps exist at different educational levels and in the workplace. Addressing gender gaps in TVET therefore cannot be done in isolation but has to be done in collaboration with other educational sectors to make a broader impact on advancing women’s participation in the labor market. Women’s vocational choices and participation in TVET depend on a variety of factors at the societal level, the institutional level (in particular in education), and the individual level. Thus, in addition to demand for TVET-trained workers in the private and public sectors, around the world societal norms influence the perception and attractiveness of TVET, and gender stereotypes have a strong influence on occupational choices. The good reputation of, and interest in, ICT majors among girls and young women in Saudi Arabia represents an important opportunity for the Saudi TVET system to attract women to technical and vocational fields and guide them towards a wider range of occupations, skills, competencies, and an understanding of different technologies demanded in the labor market. Offerings of TVET courses for female students are limited, and diversity of TVET options is scant, although recent efforts at diversifying TVET offerings are notable and important efforts have been made to attract more female students to TVET. Other important constraints lie in social norms and insufficient exposure to female TVET role models for students, parents, and the community when making decisions about future education. Women in Saudi Arabia continue to experience barriers in accessing the labor market post-vocational training. These challenges include underdeveloped networks, persistent prejudice, unevenly adapted working conditions, and insufficient institutional support for balancing work and family life. However, recent advances have been made by the Saudi government to improve work-life balance through initiatives like part-time and remote-work arrangements. Last, the shortage of reliable data makes it difficult to inform effective policies and interventions. Existing data primarily concern participation rates in the labor market and in the TVET system. There is, however, a lack of evidence regarding the size and sustainability of the impact of numerous interventions on inclusivity and progress in the labor market. Without in-depth analysis of constraints and opportunities at the societal, institutional, and individual levels regarding attracting women to TVET and related jobs in Saudi Arabia, targeting and designing policies can be hindered. Many of these factors are hidden, and there is little to do about them if they do not come to light. Likewise, without research and data tracking, the success of interventions becomes uncertain. Policy making would, therefore, benefit from evaluating the effectiveness 80 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and success of existing initiatives and policies. This can be achieved through robust monitoring and evaluation activities, complemented by nationwide quantitative surveys and qualitative studies. These efforts could aim to capture the perspectives of TVET students and recent graduates, shedding light on the impact of TVET on their education, career paths, and aspirations. RECOMMENDATIONS Table 4 illustrates how the international examples of interventions provided in Section 4 correspond to the TVET-specific challenges in Saudi Arabia identified in Section 3. While specific interventions can be developed to address particular challenges—for example, implementing a large-scale initiative to improve awareness of potential careers after TVET—a dedicated national strategy, along with appropriate monitoring and evaluation of initiatives, is central to making an all-encompassing impact on the remaining challenges of the TVET sector in Saudi Arabia. Importantly, TVTC has already made much progress in developing and implementing several initiatives that speak either directly or indirectly to the recommendations listed below (and illustrated in Appendix A). However, while there are some good-practice examples of implemented interventions, such interventions need to be multiplied and scaled up and need to be underpinned by a comprehensive strategy that addresses gender challenges at the three levels proposed here. If initiatives are not coordinated, multiplied, and scaled up, they work in isolation and will be unlikely to have the desired impact. 81 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Table 4. Remaining challenges in relation to possible solutions from international examples Remaining challenges Corresponding interventions identified in Saudi TVET that might address challenges Societal • Large numbers of women are NEET • Supporting school-to-work transition National-level strategies / Monitoring and evaluation of interventions • Stereotypes: negative perceptions of TVET level • Stereotypes: male-dominated fields Institutional • Lack of career guidance/awareness • Awareness interventions • Limited course offerings • Career counseling level • Graduate support to enter labor market • Mentorship programs • Limited enrollment of women • Gender-sensitive TVET systems • Incentives to promote enrollments • Supporting school-to-work transition Personal • Effects of stereotypes, lack of policy • Awareness interventions level guidance, lack of career guidance, limited • Career counseling enrollment, and lack of graduate support • Mentorship programs on the beliefs, aspirations, and motivations of individuals, families, and peers TVTC can support women’s equitable participation in the labor market by following these recommendations, which are drawn from the successes and remaining challenges portrayed earlier and are not represented in order of importance but according to the framework introduced in Section 2: 1. Develop an integrated national-level strategy encompassing TVET and the labor market 82 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a. Develop a national approach toward gender equity in TVET with concrete goals that can be tracked and linked to Vision 2030, the Human Capital Development Program, the National Labor Market Strategy, and the National Skills Strategy. The approach could widen the range of occupations trained at the TVET level—including those in STEM, business administration, the care economy, tourism, and other key sectors targeted for economic growth, such as manufacturing, retail, technology, mining, and energy. It could further foreground personal, institutional, and societal challenges that inhibit participation in these fields. TVTC, in collaboration with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development and the Ministry of Education, could contribute significnatly to the development of a national approach to gender equity in education. The Australian approach of mapping challenges and key areas of impact across the spectrum of education-to-career pathways could be a useful first step for TVTC. It would enable TVTC to identify where specific interventions can make the most impact in the education and career pathways of girls and women. These educational pathways could further align with the Human Capital Development Program’s (HCDP’s) and Labor Market Strategy’s emphasis on lifelong learning and enable women to learn at any stage of their lives. b. Create a comprehensive ecosystem that connects all stakeholders, allowing information to be shared between them. The TVET sector cannot work independently from other government institutions. Thus, creating a system that conducts research and tracks progress and guides policies will align practices across sectors. TVTC could consider the Australian approach of instituting an equity monitor to track progress in initiatives. Collaborating with entities such as the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, GASTAT, and the Ministry of Education to generate more detailed information on girls’ and women’s access to education, training, and career information and resources would contribute to a more targeted approach to gender-equity interventions. Further, TVTC can consolidate these resources and information into an accessible online platform. Such an ecosystem will also include fostering relationships with employers to secure collaborative programs and work-integrated learning-placement opportunities. Concrete steps to create and maintain such an ecosystem might include having TVTC take the lead 83 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in taking stock of current available information, identifying information gaps, and engaging with others to start building relationships toward common goals. 2. Engage in public awareness and outreach a. Expand awareness initiatives for TVET opportunities among target groups, including students, youths, and midcareer professionals seeking upskilling or career transition. Provide information to encourage behavioral change and shift the perception of TVET through public-awareness campaigns. Build on existing outreach strategies, such as job fairs, career advising, or strategic marketing, to reach young women. Such communication could also include targeting households to inform parents or guardians about the opportunities available to girls beyond the traditional choices. Awareness campaigns could focus on promoting lifelong learning among women. Making use of female role models who are in specific careers or enrolled in particular TVET courses will contribute to awareness initiatives. b. Promote gender inclusivity through active analytical oversight and strategic awareness initiatives. TVTC could proactively analyze its administrative data to identify and understand gender-based disparities among students and in turn address inequality. Subsequently, the focus could shift to promoting awareness within TVTC and its colleges within these identified areas, emphasizing the importance of female inclusion in emerging occupations and obtaining support within the organizations for related initiatives. Additionally, TVTC could set national-policy-aligned enrollment targets and key performance indicators for training providers. Through the newly established Future of Work Unit, TVTC can shape strategies to raise awareness of new TVET offerings that are in line with the strategic directions of Saudi economic diversification and the Vision 2030 targets. c. Draw on labor market information to identify in-demand programs for better supply-demand alignment. Women are generally not absorbed into the labor market as fast as men, and this is similar to many other countries. In general, stronger alignment between the programs offered and labor market needs will ensure faster absorption for both 84 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia men and women. This implies diversifying the options women have when aiming to enroll in TVET programs, reducing gender segregation, overcoming skills shortages based on local market demands, and establishing strategic linkages and partnerships with private sector employers through internships and postgraduate placements. TVTC could promote the participation of women in what were traditionally male-dominated areas and forward-looking professions, such as in ICT, green jobs, aviation, sports, entertainment, tourism, and hospitality. 3. Render the TVET system gender sensitive a. Regularly review national and institutional policies to ensure equitable opportunities for all. Although there have been significant changes in legislation and policies to support women’s participation in the labor market, inequities such as wage differentiation are still prevalent. Using evidence collected through research to regularly review policies, as well as monitoring and evaluating interventions, is necessary in pursuit of equity. b. Gender policies could focus on the societal, institutional, and personal levels, ensure equal access to TVET, and provide the same opportunities to access decent employment. This includes equal access to all occupations regardless of gender biases, equal access to emerging occupational fields that provide new labor market opportunities for decent jobs, and gender mainstreaming in all aspects of TVET-system development, with a specific focus on development of human resources (promotion of women in managerial positions at TVET governing bodies, intermediary institutions, and providers). Appointing mentors for women who aspire to move into managerial positions could be an important incentive for women to participate in such developmental programs. 4. Design incentives for TVET enrollment a. Enhance programs and initiatives to incentivize gender inclusion in TVET. Incentives for gender inclusion in TVET can be implemented in various forms, such as providing financial incentives for trainees. These 85 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia incentives could form a comprehensive approach, including scholarships that support recipients at all stages of their careers, particularly focusing on scholarships for girls. These incentives can also be extended for continuing TVET programs for professional development, particularly for women working in target fields or looking to reskill. 5. Support the school-to-work transition a. Collaborate with private sector firms to hire more female apprentices and create internships for female TVET trainees to improve workplace- related skills and ease the school-to-work transition. Create more incentives, aimed at either the trainee or the hiring private sector company, for female TVET students to pursue internships during their studies or immediately after completing coursework. Further these efforts by integrating structured internship and apprenticeship opportunities as part of TVET enrollment. 6. Make change sustainable and learn from previous experiences a. Build on existing initiatives that have shown success. The Riyadh Technical College for Girls, which has implemented mandatory internship programs and ensured high employment for women obtaining qualifications, is a good-practice model that can be replicated by other institutions. Research from TVTC focusing on identifying similar examples of TVET colleges and initiatives across the country can result in good-practice models to guide other institutions to implement similar programs. b. Evaluate current initiatives and share Saudi success stories with other countries. Several initiatives and newly designed programs are currently being implemented by TVTC. Evaluating the impact of these initiatives can guide decisions regarding which to scale, replicate, or adjust to speak more directly to the remaining challenges the sector faces. TVTC can develop a measurement framework consisting of key performance indicators regarding women’s inclusion in TVET programs based on inputs and intermediate outcomes, and it can develop outcome indicators measuring the performance of vocational 86 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia programs for women in terms of students’ labor market success. Such evaluation and development of internal TVTC statistics and data enhancements can help guide TVTC development in the country. Examples of successful Saudi developments in the TVET sector could also be shared with other countries and the international community to learn from the country. c. Reposition TVTC as a leader in gender equity in TVET and beyond. Establishing leadership from within TVTC to lead country-level strategies and interministerial initiatives, TVTC can position itself as a driving force in advocating for gender inclusivity in TVET. This approach effectively communicates TVTC’s dedication to advancing women’s opportunities to households, potential and current students, and companies. Through partnerships with other relevant ministries (such as the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development) and private sector companies, TVTC can play an important role in raising awareness to reduce gender discrimination, tackling gender stereotypes in the workplace, and integrating more opportunities for work-based learning among existing employees to achieve the objectives of continued skills improvement and lifelong learning. 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Middle East Journal, 72(4), 587–609. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26933007 94 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Appendix A: Current KSA TVTC Interventions mapped against Recommendations KEY RECOMMENDATIONS DETAILED CURRENT INTERVENTIONS COMMENTS/ROOM RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT 1. Develop an integrated Developing a national approach TVTC has included gender The development of a national level strategy toward gender equity in TVET diversity and advancement comprehensive strategy encompassing TVET with concrete goals that of opportunities for men and (not just a strategic goal) is education and the labor can be tracked and linked to women as key strategic goals, necessary to optimize the market Vision 2030, the HCDP, the resulting in several institutions opportunities for women National Labor Market Strategy dedicated to female TVET to participate fully in TVET (adopted by the Saudi Arabian education. Including 14 programs and related jobs to Government in December international technical ultimately broaden skill sets 2020), and the National Skills colleges for girls , 37 female and advance the economy. Strategy (under design for technical colleges, 3 specialist implementation 2022-2023). digital technical colleges, one industrial institute in prison, and several private training facilities. Public institutions enroll more than 34,000 trainees, with over 180 women in leadership positions.127 Create a comprehensive A comprehensive strategy ecosystem that connects all could include all elements of stakeholders, allowing the an ecosystem that connects sharing of information between stakeholders through policy, them and TVET recipients. strategy, initiatives, and tracking impact. 2. Public-awareness and Expand awareness initiatives The TVTC has implemented The two examples provided outreach for TVET opportunities among exhibitions on a regional here are important to create target groups, including level and a country-wide awareness of TVET offerings students, youth, and mid- competition for both students and how it is relevant to both career professionals seeking and graduates of the TVTC boys and girls. Many more, upskilling or career transition. system, aimed at gathering and scaled interventions innovative ideas in improving are needed to tackle the the TVET system in the challenges of gender inclusivity country. It has also promoted as noted in the framework on social responsibility activities, different levels of society. hosting a “Socialthon” in which trainees, both male and female, compete to 127 | Governor of TVTC Dr. Ahmed Al-Fahaid inaugurates Women Leaderships Forum entitle “Support and Empowerment” 95 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia combine an integration of both technology and solutions to pressing social issues. These competitions and initiatives, whether female-targeted or female-inclusive, not only provide women with an opportunity to showcase their technical capabilities but also encourages them to pursue careers in emerging technologies. TVTC has also launched technical summer clubs. This initiative, launched in the summer of 2023, can carry a significant impact in attracting young boys and girls, especially girls, into the TVET system. The clubs offer free courses in a diverse range of TVET fields across different regions of Saudi Arabia, exposing young minds to the possibilities and opportunities TVET education offers.128 Promote gender inclusivity The International Aviation Initiatives such as training through analytical oversight Technical College at Riyadh female aircraft engineers and strategic awareness announced that it plans to address stereotypes, builds initiatives. enroll its first cohort of female expertise in needed fields, and students sponsored by a new position women as role models airline “Riyadh Air” in January for girls and other women 2024. The objective is to train to follow suit. More such the first cohort of female initiatives at greater scale could Saudi aircraft engineers, be supported. incorporating the college’s mentorship and on-the-job training. 128 | Co-development and innovation (tvtc.gov.sa) 96 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Draw on labor market TVTC conducted a More scaled initiatives are information to identify in- Cybersecurity Capacity needed to advance expertise demand programs for better Building Camp. This initiative (of women) in key economic supply-demand alignment. aimed to bridge the gender sectors. gap in the cybersecurity domain by upskilling and empowering women to become cybersecurity experts. It has also hosted several “Hackathons” in some of its colleges like in Al-Ahsa and Riyadh, featuring competitions to come up with innovative solutions in the fields of health, education, entertainment, and the environment, among others. TVTC offers free training courses for Saudi women, especially in mobile technical and electrical maintenance, with the aim of empowering Saudi women in the labor market.129 3. Rendering TVET system Regularly review national and TVTC conducts studies to This is a good practice that gender-sensitive institutional policies to ensure determine the capacity needs needs to be expanded on equitable opportunities for all. and relevance of female TVET with regular monitoring and offerings. For example, a study evaluation of the effectiveness on the Eastern Region found of expanding and aligning that the capacity of female women’s colleges and offerings technical colleges is limited with the labor market needs. especially at Riyadh and the Eastern provinces because of highly demand for enrolment. The study also found that there are 15 female-fit specializations are not existed which can be directed to female technical colleges. The 129 | https://www.arabnews.com/node/1022896/saudi- 97 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia study discovered that there are six majors that are highly demanded in the Saudi labor market. In light of these results, the study suggests increasing the capacity of the technical colleges for female in Riyadh and the Eastern Region.130 Gender policies could focus on the societal, institutional, and personal levels, ensure equal access to TVET, and provide the same opportunities to access decent employment. 4. Designing incentives for Enhance programs and Providing incentives in the This is a good practice example TVET enrolment initiatives to incentivize gender form of opportunities to of incentives to participate in inclusion in TVET. showcase talent can promote TVET, which there needs to be TVET participation. An example more of and at scale. is the International Invention, Innovation, and Technology Exhibition called “Worldinvent Singapore”, where both male and female TVET students from the KSA participated and won several awards for innovative practices.131 5. Supporting school-to-work Collaborate with private Studies have shown that There needs to be more good transition sector firms to hire more there is collaborative potential practice examples to build on female apprentices and create between universities, TVET that illustrate the collaborative internships for female TVET colleges, and the private sector potential of initiatives between trainees to improve workplace to advance women’s education education and training related skills and ease school- and training. For example, in providers and industry. to-work transition. one study it was found that universities are willing to provide library services and allocation of slots on different courses dedicated for female 130 | https://tvtc.gov.sa/En/MediaCenter/EnterpriseEditions/SaudiTrainingMagazine/Documents/2-en/SJTVT2-en-5.pdf#search=women 131 | https://tvtc.gov.sa/En/MediaCenter/News/Pages/singapore-trophies.aspx 98 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia employees in industries, while the stakeholders from different industries show prospects for accepting female students in internships programs allowing them to complete their final year projects in digital technologies.132 TVTC supports graduates by facilitating job matching. It has announced the availability of several training, administrative and technical positions for men and women in a number of its units around the Kingdom, and its headquarters.133 6. Making change sustainable Build on existing initiatives that The TVTC already has extensive The TVTC, with support from and learning from previous have shown success. partnerships with industry – Sector Skills Coucils, can build experiences many of which can be written on such partnerships to expand up as case studies for others to WiL initiatives that will support learn from. school-to-work transitions in key sectors, particularly for girls. Evaluate current initiatives and sharing Saudi Arabian success stories with other countries. Reposition TVTC as a leader in gender equity in TVET and beyond. 132 | https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation?paperid=113347 133 | https://tvtc.gov.sa/En/MediaCenter/News/Pages/jobs-opening2023.aspx 99 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 100 | Empowering Women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia