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SCHOOL TO WORK OR SCHOOL TO HOME? AN ASSESSMENT OF GIRLS’

VOCATIONAL SECONDARY EDUCATION IN TURKEY

Fatoş Gökşen, Ayşe Alnıaçık, Deniz Yükseker (Koç University)

Abstract

In Turkey, vocational education for women has become a significant social policy issue in

recent years as it stands at the intersection of two critical gender policy debates: increasing

girls’ secondary school enrolment and women’s employment. Both domains present a gloomy

picture regarding gender equality in Turkey, which is evident in low rates of secondary school

enrolment and labour force participation.

This paper attempts to demonstrate how new policies giving priority to vocational education

as a means to increase girls’ secondary school enrolment and labour force participation might

have some adverse outcomes in reinforcing gender inequalities. Based on qualitative

fieldwork (focus group discussions) with students and graduates of girls’ vocational and

technical high schools in four cities, we conduct a three-tiered analysis. Firstly we unpack the

issue of “choice” and gender tracking. Our findings suggest that more so than being

adolescents’ own choices, school and program preferences reflect and reproduce prevailing

patterns of gender norms, gender segregation and gender division of labour in the society and

the labour market. Secondly, we focus on transitions from school to work. We argue that

gendered investments in education might not remove but may even reinforce the gender

division of labour in the labour market as well as at home. Thirdly, we discuss the failures in

the school to work transition and analyse the dynamics through which this transition

transforms into a “school to home” transition whereby discouraged graduates return to

housewifery.

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Introduction

In Turkey, vocational education for women has become a significant social policy issue in

recent years as it stands at the intersection of two critical gender policy debates: increasing

girls’ secondary school enrolment and women’s employment. Both domains present a gloomy

picture regarding gender equality in Turkey, which is evident in very low secondary school

enrolment rates for girls at 64 per cent as opposed to 75 per cent for boys, and significantly

low labour force participation rates for women at 29 per cent. In policy documents, Girls’

Vocational and Technical High Schools (GTVHSs) are recommended as the most viable

means to solve these pressing problems. However, this policy orientation fails to acknowledge

the questionable quality of education in these schools, the problematic link between

vocational education and the labour market, and more importantly, their role in reproducing a

gender-segregated labour force and the traditional family structure. Moreover, it ignores the

role of vocational education (separation between general and vocational education) in

strengthening the connection between schooling and social stratification.

Turkey presents an interesting social policy case for the fact that it is governed by a

conservative political party whose ideology is based on preserving women’s role in the family

as mothers and wives but at the same time making legislative changes securing women’s

status as independent citizens. In this context, the social policy framework is one ridden with

contradictions: while targeting increasing rates of education and employment for women, it

also encourages them to remain homemakers and caretakers. Vocational education for girls is

a good vantage point to analyse these contradictions.

This paper attempts to demonstrate how new policies giving priority to vocational education

as a means to increase girls’ secondary school enrolment and labour force participation might

have some adverse outcomes in reinforcing gender inequalities. Based on qualitative

2


fieldwork (focus group discussions) with students and graduates of GTVHSs conducted in

four cities, we make a three-tiered analysis. Firstly we unpack the issue of “choice” and

gender tracking. Our findings suggest that more so than being adolescents’ own choices,

school and program preferences reflect and reproduce prevailing patterns of gender norms,

gender segregation and gender division of labour in the society and the labour market.

Secondly, we focus on transitions from school to work. We argue that gendered investments

in education might not remove but may even reinforce the gender division of labour in the

labour market as well as at home.

Following from the above question, thirdly, we discuss the failures in the school to work

transition and analyse the dynamics through which this transition transforms into a “school to

home” transition. We focus on the critical location of GTVHSs in social policies which are

based on familial ideologies such that women become likely to opt out of the labour force

back into homemaking and child caring roles after completing vocational training.

Women’s Employment, Education and Social Policies

While Turkey is debating vocational education for men and women for various reasons,

Europe has also returned to vocationalism debates due to labour market challenges and rising

youth unemployment. The agenda of the Europe 2020 Strategy refers to both education and

employment as a means to fight against poverty and social exclusion. Recent debates point at

“investing in youth as a key priority” and call for a “new impetus” for vocational education

and training (European Commission, 2010). Increasing women’s and men’s labor force

participation rate to 75 percent is set as the target of Europe 2020. Eliminating gender

stereotypes and promoting gender equality at all levels of education and combating gender

segregation are also among the components of this strategy.

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The return to employment as the solution of poverty and social exclusion in the social policy

orientations is noteworthy with its emphasis on maintaining the “employability” of excluded

groups. Regarding the emphasis on education and employment through skills upgrading and

activation policies, Daly (2012: 283) states that “involvement in a less regulated and poorer

quality labour market” is proposed as the main solution to poverty and social exclusion

problems.

The literature on the evolution of social policies in Europe has long debated the implications

of this pro-workfare policy orientation on gender inequalities. Many authors stress the

transformation of families from the male breadwinner/female carer model to “adult worker

model” even in the countries where conservative welfare regimes prevail (Lewis, 2006; Lewis

et al. 2008; Orloff, 2011). However, this turn does not necessarily result in gender equality in

employment patterns, as gender segregation in occupations, different working time

arrangements, wage penalties, and the limits of parity between men and women in terms of

paid and unpaid care work persist. Various explanations are proposed to explain this lasting

problem. The “maintenance and reinforcement of difference” between men and women in

employment patterns were discussed when the prevalence of part-time work and interrupted

careers among women are considered (Daly, 2000). The fact that the policy of “universal

caregiver model,” which requires both institutional and ideational change, is weaker in

comparison to the adult worker model is another explanation of lasting inequalities (Orloff,

2002; Lewis, 2006). The argument that welfare states themselves might condition the lasting

inequalities in women’s employment is found in more crystallized manner in Mandel and

Semyonov (2006) and Estévez-Abe (2005). Directly focusing on the welfare state itself in its

role as the implementer of family policies and as an employer, Mandel and Semyonov (2006:

iv) argue that through “adjusting the demands of employment to women’s home duties or

allowing working mothers reduced working hours and long leaves from work” the welfare

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state “preserve women’s dominant roles as mothers and wives” which in turn, “impede

women’s abilities to compete successfully with men for powerful and lucrative occupational

positions.” Similarly, Estévez-Abe (2005) argues that there might be unintended gendered

consequences of women friendly social policies such as employment protection as these

contribute to the persistence of horizontal and vertical segregation in occupations. She also

stresses the role played by educational institutions and policies on the lasting gender

differences in the patterns of labour market participation in European welfare states.

Although there are different trajectories of the debates in Turkey and Europe, the place of

women in welfare and employment policies in Turkey is also very tenuous. Turkish

government’s on-going efforts to reform social policy present a paradox. On the one hand

there are projects to increase women’s labour force participation while on the other, there is

growing emphasis on family values, the family as the primary care provider, and on

increasing fertility rates. Whereas employment policies are piecemeal and of questionable

effectiveness, familialism and pronatalism are well on the way of being institutionalized in

legislative and policy reforms. For instance, the primary goal of the Ministry of Family and

Social Policy, established in June 2011, is stated as strengthening the family, neglecting the

contrast between the idealized image and the lived experience of family (Yazici, 2012). The

ruling Justice and Development Party (JDP) has declared a goal of raising women’s labour

force participation from 29 per cent in 2011 to only 35 per cent in 2023 (ASPB, 2012). This is

not an ambitious goal, given that women’s labour force participation rate had already risen by

5.5 per cent in the last six years without a policy target! (TURKSTAT, 2012). Besides, there

are concerns about the quality of new employment creation for women (Kılıç 2008; Buğra

and Yakut-Çakar, 2010; Dedeoğlu, 2012). Kılıç (2008) says that increasing incentives for

home-based work by women as the preferred path for women’s labour force participation.

Dedeoğlu (2012) argues that support for women’s employment has been left to market-

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oriented measures, such as tax-reduction and flexible work, adding that the lack of

work/family life reconciliation policies, especially public child care facilities and parental

leave schemes. Buğra and Yakut-Çakar (2010: 534) argue that there is “little reason to be

optimistic” about the employment policies’ impact on the socio-economic status of women.

Especially critical of policies to boost women’s self-employment, they underline that the

government neglects the statistical evidence on the significance of poverty rates among self-

employed women. In fact, women’s self-employment is 90 per cent informal and these

women constitute the bottom level of the Turkish labour market just above the unpaid family

workers in agriculture (Ercan, 2011).

Meanwhile, there is a clear turn towards vocationalism in education, as the government is

ambitious to increase the rate of vocational education at the secondary level to 65 per cent

from its current 44 per cent (MEB, 2011).

Despite differing labour market conditions and women’s activity in the labour force, the

foregoing discussion shows the parallels between Turkish and EU policy debates about

policies to attain gender equality in employment. Both the literature based on Turkey’s social

policy regime and recent debates in Europe clearly show that gender regimes operate as

gatekeepers, favouring policies compatible with culturally transmitted assumptions and tenets

about gender roles. Following from these debates, in the next section, we will discuss the

literature which theorizes the gendered landscape of vocational education, and its

consequences on labour market and gender relations.

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Evaluating Girls’ Vocational Education: Approaches and Concepts

Research on vocational education either focuses on the school to work transition or treats it as

a process of socialization and reproduction of inequalities. In either case, the way in which

gender is integrated into vocational education is an important subject of analysis.

Many studies that focus on the school to work transition compare academic (general) and

vocational education in terms of employment outcomes, with conflicting conclusions

regarding the meaning of “success.” If success in the school to work transition is identified

with the lower risk of unemployment during the initial employment transition, vocational

education is argued to be more beneficial than general education. Arum and Shavit (1995:

187) name this initial positive effect of vocational education on employment as a “safety net”

effect that “reduces the risk of falling to the bottom of the labor queue.” However, when

success is defined in terms of higher occupational status, vocational education fails to fulfil

this goal since it “diverts” students from higher education and its higher returns on the labour

market (Shavit and Müller, 2000; Müller, 2005). Summarizing the literature on the safety net

and diversion effects of vocational education, Iannelli and Raffe (2007: 50) argue that

“vocational education is [not] consistently associated with better labour-market outcomes.” If

the success in the employment outcomes is analysed over the life course, the benefits during

the initial employment transition might get lost. Accordingly, Korpi et al. (2003) argue that

once an individual becomes unemployed, general education degrees might be more beneficial

for reemployment. Similarly, Estevez-Abe (2005) argues that the success associated with

specific skills education is sustainable in the countries where employment protection is strong.

However, Estevez-Abe also emphasizes that this positive effect is not reliable for women,

since their careers are interrupted due to childbearing responsibilities and women face skill

depreciation more frequently, even if their employment is protected.

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In school to work transition studies, the effect of vocational education is found to vary across

countries and by gender within countries. The degree of track differentiation, occupational

specificity of the curriculum, linkages between education and the labour market, welfare

regime characteristics, thus the level of social protection and family structure define the

variation in the employment outcomes of vocational education between countries (Estevez-

Abe et al., 1999; Müller, 2005; Walther, 2006; Ianellli and Raffe, 2007; Andersen and van de

Werfhorst, 2010).

In terms of gender inequalities in vocational education, some research focuses on

occupational segregation by sex. Charles et al. (2001) argue that, in education systems

emphasizing vocational training and gender-typed educational investments, the degree of

occupational segregation by sex increases and becomes persistent over the life course. Charles

et al. (2001: 384) add that vocational tracking in secondary school level is inevitably gender

tracked. Through vocational education, “adolescents’ earliest gendered choices are effectively

locked in, and prevailing patterns of sex segregation in the labour market are incorporated into

the educational system” (see also Smyth, 2005).

The literature on Germany, with its long history of vocational education, demonstrates how

gender is integrated into vocational education. Gundert and Mayer (2012) argue that gender

segregation in vocational training and fields of study has conditioned the difference in the

occupational destinations of women and men. While women have been underrepresented in

the upper service sector and among the skilled manual workers, they were overrepresented in

non-manual routine job positions. Kraus also emphasizes the inequalities between girls and

boys in vocational education such that girls are concentrated on relatively less diverse

branches that are predominantly defined as female occupations and earn lower wages in the

apprenticeship stage and in full-time employment (Kraus, 2006). The foregoing suggests that

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the present inequality indicator is not lower educational attainment for women, but

educational choices and occupational destinations which continue to be typed by gender.

The literature on vocational education as a socialization and/or reproduction process focuses

on how the ends of vocational education are actually incorporated in the school context. The

issue of choice and the process of socialization into gendered and classed subjectivities are

emphasized. Gaskell (1985) questions the “issue of choice” by asking why and how students

believe that they themselves choose their curriculum track, although the hierarchical

organization of schooling seems to be consistently sorting students into tracks according to

their unequal positions. She argues that girls assess the opportunity structure in the gender

segregated labour market and prospective family responsibilities, and try to “resolve

dilemmas that arose out of the structure of schooling, femininity, and work” (1985: 52).

Gaskell emphasizes that students have agency; yet, her analysis shows that structural

inequalities penetrate into the decision-making process (Gaskell, 1985). Bates emphasizes the

role of vocational education on the development of female occupational aspirations and

argues that vocational training “both serve[s] to reinforce links between class, gender and

occupational destinations and reinforce[s] the control of labour within occupations” (Bates,

1991: 225; also Colley et al, 2003). Studying transition to higher education, Smyth and Banks

(2012: 263) argue that different factors integrate with the agency of the students, and post-

school planning reflects three sets of processes: “individual (and familial) habitus – that is, the

young person’s dispositions and orientations,; the institutional habitus of the school; and

‘agency’, the conscious way in which young people assess and choose among different post-

school options.” Yet, in all accounts, it is unusual that the choice will contradict with the

dominant gendered and classed pathways since although women’s employment decisions are

a matter of choice, they still take place within a structure of constraint (McCall and Orloff,

2005).

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Studies that focus on the process of socialization and reproduction in schools are also critical

of the official arguments that consider vocational education as a process of skill acquisition

and qualification. The hidden curriculum argument dominates the conceptual frameworks in

these studies. For Frykholm and Nitzler (1993) “vocational teaching is characterized more by

socialization than by qualification, i.e. ... it is more a question of transmitting dispositions and

attitudes than of giving the knowledge and skills required for specific tasks” (Quoted in

Colley et al, 2003: 475, see also Bates, 1991). Education process “filters out” those students

who are unable to socialize into the labour market. Skeggs (1988) points out this “filtering

out” effect of vocational education clearly in the case of caring education where

unemployment and welfare state cuts condition the entry into the labour market. She argues

that the “ideal caring standards” covered in the courses “prioritize exclusive, familial forms

of care over and above occupational roles” and accordingly, students “socialize themselves

out of the labour market and establish familial responsibilities” (Skeggs, 1988: 131).

Girls’ Vocational Education in Turkey

The history of girls’ vocational education in Turkey dates earlier than the proclamation of the

republic in 1923. Initially established as girls’ industrial schools in 1865 with the goal of

preparing girls for employment, they were transformed into girls’ institutes in 1927. The

education in these institutes aimed at raising prospective housewives and mothers as a

complement to nationwide pronatalist policies and education programs for mothers on

hygiene, childcare and scientific motherhood (Akşit, 2004; Öztamur, 2004; Yenal, 2000;

Cindioğlu and Toktaş, 2006). As part of the developmentalist policies adopted after 1960, the

function of these schools were transformed back into training skilled women for the labour

force, and the name was changed into girls vocational high schools in 1974. However, the

match between the quality and content of vocational training and actual skills demands in the

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labour market always remained an issue of contention (KSGM, 2000). A government

commissioned report (KGSM, 2000) argues that the graduates of these schools are

disadvantageous in terms of transitions from school to work or higher education in

comparison to the girls enrolled in other vocational schools. Yet, this concern in the late

1990s with the disparity between GTVHSs and other co-educational vocational schools

disappeared after the JDP came to power in 2002.

In the last decade, the debate on vocational education has focused on improving the quality of

skills training through modernizing technology and strengthening linkages between skills

offered at these schools and employer needs (Barabasch and Petrick, 2012). In 2006, all girls-

only vocational schools were merged under the name of Girls Vocational and Technical High

Schools. Since the JDP government started to emphasize vocationalism the proportion of girls

who go into (especially girls-only) vocational education has started to rise.

The Method of the Study and Sampling

We conducted focused groups interviews separately with current students and graduates of

GTVHS in four different cities (Istanbul, Kayseri, Mersin and Denizli). The cities were

selected on the basis of the number of GTVHSs in their vicinity, variety of the programs they

offer, and their female labour force participation rates. In these cities, with the exception of

Kayseri which is traditionally a rather conservative city, women’s labour force participation is

higher than the average in Turkey due to the fact that they have strong urban economies and

manufacturing and agriculture-based industries. Denizli, for example, had very high number

of GTVHSs with wide range of programs. Female labour force participation (especially in

textile industry) in Denizli is the highest in Turkey with 39.9 per cent. Unlike Denizli, Kayseri

has a few GTVHSs with very limited program alternatives mostly concentrated around child

development, handcrafts, and food technology. Female labour force participation is only 21

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per cent with 43 per cent unemployment. Istanbul, Turkey’s largest metropolis and its

economic capital, offers a limited number GTVHSs with a variety of programs. Female labour

force participation is 34 per cent in Istanbul, which is lower than two other cities in the

sample. With these criteria we aimed to detect the relationships between vocational education

and demand of the labour market and the impact of the macro-social processes on the girls’

perception of possibilities and constraints regarding their futures.

During the focus group interviews participants were asked to especially discuss reasons for

preferring GTVHSs; quality of education in GTVHSs; perceptions regarding the relationship

between gender and vocations (employment); perceptions on the school-to-work transition;

and the gendered learning environment. Eight focus group discussions were conducted with a

total of 35 current students (age range between 16 and 19) and 32 graduates (age range

between 18 and 36). The distribution of programs in which the interviewees were enrolled is

more or less representative of the distribution in Turkey. Out of the 67 participants the

majority (26) were in child development, 13 in clothing and fashion, eight in IT, eight in food

technology, and the rest were enrolled in handcrafts, graphic design, and textile technology.

An Analysis of Gendered Vocational Education in Turkey

In this part of the paper, we will assess the findings of our focus group interviews in light of

the literature discussed above. We will focus on three main issues: how students “choose” the

GTVHSs and programs within these schools; the process of school-to-work transition of

GTVHS graduates; and what we call the school to home transition that stems from the failure

of the former transition in a highly gendered process.

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Choosing Girls’ Vocational Schools: A “Golden Bracelet”?

A cursory look at the enrolment breakdowns shows a strong indication of a gendered choice

of these schools and certain fields within them. Among students enrolled in high schools in

2010, 44 per cent were in some vocational high school. Overall, the proportion of girls who

go to vocational and technical high schools among all females enrolled in secondary

education is 41 per cent. And within this, 36 per cent are in girls’ vocational and technical

high schools (MEB, 2011).

This shows GTVHSs’ significance for girls’ schooling at the secondary level, compared to the

rest of vocational high schools and as well as general high schools, which are all co-

educational. Of more significance is students’ preferences among different vocational

programs within GTVHSs. Although there are 37 different tracks on offer in GTVHSs across

the country, 60 per cent of all students are concentrated in four fields. 36 per cent of them are

enrolled in child development and education, 13 per cent are in information technologies, 12

per cent are in clothing production technologies, and another 12 per cent in food and beverage

services. Despite the fact that IT is a relatively new field of study in GTVHSs, it is not

gender-neutral since it is often associated with secretarial work and office administration.

Our focus group interviews with students and graduates corroborate that this concentration in

certain fields is not accidental, but a result of gendered choices. Overall, it appears that both

current students and graduates in the focus groups were influenced by their families, relatives

and friends in choosing these schools, although they themselves had a say in this decision.

When asked why they preferred vocational secondary education, the majority emphasized that

they wanted to “have a vocation/craft” or “to be skilled”. This was often expressed in the

Turkish phrase to have a “golden bracelet” (altın bilezik), a term that alludes to the perception

that a skill is a store of value that would always help an individual to find a job.

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When probed further about why they chose to enrol in a GTVHS rather than another school,

gender-specific aspects of choice came up. Several graduates and students mentioned

conservative families’ preference of a school for their daughters where there are no or very

few male students. But more interviewees in all four cities emphasized that the programs of

study they preferred were only offered in GTVHSs. Child education was a favourite choice

partly because of the perception that there would be increasing job opportunities in this field:

the government has been expanding kindergarten education for pre-schoolers, raising

expectations that graduates of child development programs may be employed as teachers or

assistant teachers.

A noteworthy rationale behind this choice was expressed by many interviewees in all cities as

“at least I would become a good mother.” In Denizli, a city which boasts a high share of

Turkish textile exports, students and graduates said they had expected to easily find jobs in

the textile industry, and they also considered this program to be appropriate for women.

When I first started this high school, I thought that I would at least have a vocational skill. But my opinions changed completely afterwards, especially after I joined the child development program. When I finish high school, I would at least become a good mother. Even if I cannot have a vocation, I can be a conscious mother (Kayseri, student).

I chose my program myself. And the first reason is to become a good mother (Istanbul, student).

I wouldn’t want weaving [which is offered in industrial vocational high schools]. That is men’s job, it is difficult. It was better for me to go to GTVHS.... Clothing program was better for me so I chose that.... Weaving is hard work, men prefer that (Denizli, graduate).

But focus group discussions also gave an idea about the frustrations students suffered once

enrolled in these schools. There is high demand for programs such as child development but

not enough places in individual schools therefore only students with higher GPAs are

admitted. An issue that came up in the interviews is that teachers channel students to certain

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programs based on their perceptions of a student’s ability. Only by the eleventh grade do the

students get a real idea of what the education in that particular vocation entails, and focus

group interviews showed that many students were disappointed with the choices they made,

yet had no chance to change them.

Our teachers told us that this program [fine arts] has a future, that we could become teachers. For instance I thought when I chose this program that I would get a university education in teaching… But it has come to nothing. We were misguided (Denizli, graduate).

This quotation not only exemplifies the frustration with a wrong choice, but also gives us a

clue about another reason why GTVHSs are preferred: the hope that graduates would be able

to go on to university more easily than graduates of regular high schools, since the existing

university entrance exam system gives additional scores to vocational school graduates who

want to go continue in their field (such as preschool teachers’ BA program for child

development graduates). In fact, this choice reveals another gendered aspect of our

interviewees’ perceptions of an appropriate vocation (meslek) for women. It is something

beyond what their high school diplomas could give them; especially in the provincial cities,

an appropriate meslek for a woman was repeatedly defined as becoming a teacher or a

government employee. So, their notion was closer to acquiring a profession, which the

Turkish word meslek also connotes.

These findings of the focus group interviews present parallels with studies on women’s

vocational education elsewhere. For instance, Turkish students of GTVHSs consider

themselves to have made a choice on their own as Gaskell (1985) emphasizes, however their

preferences are not independent of predominant gender roles and gendered expectations. As

Charles et al. (2001) argue, the “choice” that is enforced in adolescence is bound with norms

of gendered appropriate behaviours. These expectations in turn mould students’ choices

15


within a “structure of constraint” (McCall and Orloff, 2005). So, what was initially intended

as the acquisition of a “golden bracelet” might turn into something that locks graduates of

these schools into unintended and undesirable outcomes. Girls’ vocational education in

Turkey becomes a form of gendered tracking, which might curtail opportunities, rather than

opening them up, in terms of school achievement, university education and gainful

employment. The next section will give a better idea about the constraints in employment

opportunities.

School to Work Transitions

Studies and statistics indicate that there is a link between higher levels of education and

women’s labour force participation in Turkey (e.g. World Bank, 2009). For instance, whereas

only 12.6 per cent of urban women with five years’ schooling were active in 2011, almost 30

per cent of urban women with high school education and 38.6 per cent of urban women with a

(girls’ and co-ed) vocational high school (girls’ and co-ed) degree were active. Among

university graduates, activity rate rose to 71 per cent (TURKSTAT, 2011). Therefore, gender-

specific vocational education could also be expected play a role in increasing employment.1

Yet, our qualitative research findings indicate that the relation between education in GTVHSs

and employment outcomes are not strong. There are several reasons of this weak link, which

we will discuss in this section. First of all, there is a mismatch between the skills learned in

GTVHSs and the skills demanded in the labour market. Secondly, gendered notions of

appropriate jobs for women that are held by students’ families and communities constrain

opportunities in the labour market. Thirdly, graduates are discouraged in the labour market

since available jobs are often low paid, low status and have undesirable working conditions.

1 The vocational high school figure includes all schools in this category ranging from healthcare, commerce, industry and tourism to schools for imams, all of which are co-educational. Unfortunately, TURKSTAT labor force statistics do not provide breakdowns for GTVHSs (see Gökşen et al. 2011).

16


Some interviewees complained about the quality and content of the vocational education they

received in GTVHSs. For example, IT programs offered courses on computer programs that

were no longer in use. Food and beverage students in both Kayseri and Mersin complained

about making dumplings at school, a skill that housewives are expected to have anyways.

Clothing production programs taught tailoring to students, which is not demanded by garment

or textile factories where they might find work. In programs that required tools (sewing

machines, etc.) for proper training, many mentioned a shortage in their schools compared to

the number of students. More significantly, focus group interviews pointed to the

shortcomings of the vocational internships that GTVHS students undertake in the eleventh

and twelfth grades. For instance, child development students in Kayseri reported having

internships in private day care centres where they were given cleaning tasks rather than

childcare tasks. Food and beverage production students said they had spent their internship

washing dishes in restaurants. The examples can be multiplied, but two important issues are

raised here: first of all, neither the vocational training nor the internships provided the

students we interviewed with relevant and sought after skills in the labour market, secondly,

during internships, students often got a first glimpse of the future jobs they were being trained

for, and were disappointed.

Perhaps of more concern is the fact that the gender division of labour in society and gendered

norms of behaviour and expectations from women channel GTVHS graduates into a few

“acceptable” and appropriate forms of employment and sectors. As we mentioned in the

previous section, families’ and students’ ideal of respectable meslek (vocation or profession)

for women is government service, and particularly teaching.2 The below words of a student

whose family migrated from south-eastern Turkey to the Mediterranean city of Mersin

2 Women comprise 46 per cent of “education employment” in Turkey (TURKSTAT, 2011). Although high compared to women’s share in many other sectors, this proportion is still low compared to many European countries where teaching is “gender segregated” because of the predominance of women.

17


indicates how her conservative parents sought to strike a balance between her getting a

secondary education and prospect of working outside the home on the one hand, and

protecting her respectability in the community on the other.

It is not really possible for women to work unless the job has some connection to the state. For instance, if the proprietor of a workplace is a man, what if something happens [to you]? There is a notion that you cannot work there. But if the job has some connection to the state, then that is sound, nothing would happen. [Question: What if you cannot become a government employee?] Then [my parents] would not let me work (Mersin, student).

But often, a diploma from a vocational high school is not sufficient to achieve the most

respectable working environment for a woman, becoming a school teacher. Getting a four-

year BA degree is required for teaching in primary and secondary education as well as for

preschool teachers. However, the content and quality of the education in GTVHSs do not

prepare students well for the nationally competitive university entrance exams in which math,

science, literature and other skills are important. Statistics on university placements of

GTVHS graduates demonstrate this in an alarming way. In 2010, around 4 per cent of

GTVHS graduates were admitted into four-year university programs, whereas around 32 per

cent of general high school graduates did so (the national ratio of placements was 24.2 per

cent) (MEB, 2011). In fact, all focus groups interviews showed that the biggest complaint

about the quality of education in GTVHSs was about the content and amount of what the

students called “culture courses” (kültür dersleri), which referred to those courses in the

general high school curriculum. But this did not keep them from aspiring to enter university,

as the most desirable path to employment. The following quotation exemplifies the difficulty

of getting a BA degree in teaching for a student whose chances for continuing university

education in her vocational field of hairdressing have also been foreclosed.

Until eleventh grade I had a dream that I could become a teacher. Then last year, they closed it down [the BA program for hairdressing teachers].... My friends went on to two-year colleges. But when they graduate they won’t be able to find employment as teachers. They will end up working in hairdressers’ salons. I am in the worst

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situation.... My parents gave me a last chance to prepare for the university entrance exams this year. They won’t let me have a nine-to-five job in a hair salon.... They won’t let me work except as a teacher (Kayseri, graduate).

It is not only parents who hold certain views about the types of jobs women can do. Teachers

may also be bearers of traditional gender norms and inculcate these in the students.

Furthermore, prejudice against women in the job market may create additional hurdles. The

following observations of two graduates in Mersin demonstrate perceptions of the prejudice

that emanates from the school, the workplace and the broader society.

In Mersin, the catering sector revolves around tourist groups. But they wouldn’t let a woman manage it. In a restaurant, only those who wash the dishes are women. I have never seen a restaurant or café with a female cook. Why are great cooks always men? “Because,” [our teachers] used to say, “you cannot cook food in those giant pots with your weak arms.” They always belittled us at school (Mersin, graduate).

…. In hairdressing, you cannot earn money unless you own your own salon. Besides, it is a man’s job, because female customers prefer male hairdressers. ….. And a manicurist woman cannot work in a hair salon for men in Mersin…. If people were to see a female manicurist in a men’s salon, they would immediate create a bad reputation for her, saying, “oh look, she does manicure for men!” (Mersin, graduate).

Finally, GTVHS graduates face precarious conditions in the labour market for available jobs.

Child development graduates’ situation demonstrates this point well. Since government plans

to expand kindergarten education across the country have not yet materialized and since they

can only become teachers’ assistants, graduates of child development seek jobs in privately

owned day care centres. Our interviewees in Istanbul, Kayseri and Mersin reported receiving

less than the minimum wage, having no social security and being fired at will in day care

centres. Another case in point is the labour market experiences of the graduates of clothing

production. In Istanbul and Denizli, both with significant textile sectors, graduates reported

that in factories they had to work on the assembly line for minimum wage. They competed

against men and women with primary education to get these jobs. Graduates perceive

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assembly line jobs in textile factories to be below their skill level, but admit that there is no

industrial demand for their tailoring skills, either. They also complain about the hard

conditions of work in this sector.

These experiences actually stem from broader problems in Turkish labour markets.

Informality, low pay and long working hours are endemic in sectors such as garment

production, catering and childcare. On one hand, vocational schools raise the expectations of

young women who want to work, but once they graduate, the available jobs understandably

fall below their expectations. On the other hand, they don’t qualify for the more prestigious

jobs that require university degrees.

What are the consequences of the unfulfilled expectations, the gender norms, the prejudice

and the mismatch of skills that we discussed in this section for GTVHS graduates’ prospects

of employment? Out of 32 graduates only three were working during data collection, and two

had jobs unrelated to their vocational training. Five participants were enrolled in university,

six participants were taking university exam preparatory classes, and eight participants were

unemployed, several of whom had stopped looking for work. While these numbers are not

representative for GTVHS graduates across Turkey, they give a glimpse of the processes

whereby they are discouraged from participating in the labour force. In the next section, we

consider the particular gendered aspects of dropping out or never entering the labour force.

Reproduction of Familialism: School-to-Home?

Students enter GTVHSs with strong norms about the proper role of women in the family and

society. Gender-specific vocational education has never shed the societal perception that it

prepares young women for marriage and childrearing (Cindioğlu and Toktaş, 2006). This

perception, shared by students, families and communities alike, helps “socialize students out

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of the labour market,” as Skeggs (1988) has put it in the case of British students of vocational

caring courses.

In Kayseri, a conservative city as mentioned above, interviewees’ views about the importance

of women’s domestic roles were more accentuated. Education in a GTVHS was a plus in the

marriage market for a young woman (presumably as a good prospective housewife and

mother), but older women who sought to arrange marriages for their sons did not think highly

of already employed women or university students who were more likely to insist on working

in the future. GTVHS graduates’ perceptions about work were shaped in this context, as the

following quotations demonstrate.

In our vocation [child development] one does not have to work outside the home. You can also do it at home…. You can take care of children at home (Kayseri, graduate).

I am not saying that working at home is better. But one does not have another opportunity, if she does not want to jeopardize her marriage, then it is better to work at home, because before your husband comes home, you will have finished all your work. You will have taken care of your child, cooked your meals and completed all your tasks (Kayseri, student).

Maybe in Kayseri it seems that women don’t work. But I see many women around me who sell Avon or Amway products or other things. Or they stitch something and sell it in neighbours’ homes. Or they make dumplings (mantı) and sell them (Kayseri, student).

Husbands and mothers-in-law do not object to working at home…. For instance, my sister-in-law crochets. She takes orders from people, makes doilies and sells them…. This is called working, but there is no freedom. One’s perspective on the world becomes narrow like this. Work just becomes making something and receiving money for it (Kayseri, graduate).

The contrast between the last two quotations is worth mentioning. The former woman

considers selling beauty and cleaning products as gainful work, a view that was echoed by

several students and graduates in Kayseri. The latter woman, however, resistant to dominant

gendered norms and critical of the GTVHS curriculum, considers piecework at home as lack

of freedom for a woman, a perspective that clearly attributes a value to employment status.

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While there is ambivalence towards working outside the home because of the premium put on

homemaking, labour market conditions may also discourage women and turn them to

housewifery. The skills gained at GTVHSs may actually help facilitate such return to the

home, as exemplified in the following quotation.

I started working in a day care centre. You start working at a very early hour. But then I did not have enough time for my own child. Since I left home very early and came back very late, I was told that my child kept asking for me. Then my husband said, “instead of depriving our child of yourself, sit at home and take care of your own child.” Therefore I preferred to stay home and look after my child (Mersin, graduate).

What is noteworthy in these remarks is that this graduate of child development and her family

see working outside as competing with her childcare responsibilities, at the same time that her

vocational training is used to justify her sitting at home. The low wages and long working

hours, then, help tip the balance in favour of the traditional gender role. Thus, familial ideals

subordinate the goal of employment, as Skeggs argues (1988).

Conclusion

In this paper our goal was to evaluate gender social policies in Turkey through the specifics of

girls’ vocational schools. Particularly, we were interested in understanding the ways in which

the degree of track differentiation and occupational specificity of the curriculum reflect on

education and labour market linkages and result in the reproduction of gender inequality.

Based on the above analysis of our qualitative research findings, we might surmise that

gender-specific vocational education that is offered in the GTVHSs poorly prepares young

women for the labour market, both in terms marketable vocational skills and basic academic

skills that would help carry them on to higher education. More importantly, the gender

socialization and gendered norms and expectations at school and home as well as the

prejudice (and perhaps discrimination) against women in the labour market seem to interact

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with each other to impediment gainful employment for these women. Overall, GTVHSs fail

young women during their transition to adult life as educated and employable individuals.

Thus, girls-only vocational education in Turkey becomes a form of gendered tracking, which

might curtail opportunities, rather than opening them up, resulting in an adverse school to

home transition.

What do these findings suggest in terms of existing social policies towards women in Turkey

and possible policy proposals? First of all, although statistically not representative, our

research indicates that general academic high schools rather than vocational schools might

give more opportunities to young graduates in terms of making choices regarding higher

education and employment. Secondly, gendered investment in secondary education seems to

have low returns in terms of improving women’s labour force participation rates and incomes.

Besides, it is likely to reinforce gender segregation in occupations. Thirdly, there is an urgent

need to create linkages between labour market demands and the quality and content of

vocational training. When the first and third observations are brought together, moving

vocational training outside the secondary education system and offering it on a gender-neutral

basis as a post-secondary certificate degree might be a noteworthy option to be studied by

policymakers.

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