Human Resource Services

HRMT406

Assignment 5

Miles C. Weatherall

Student ID 8903846

“Why are gender and difference issues so important in understanding the potential for skills training and work and learning in both Canada and the ‘economic south’?”

April 1, 2013

This paper will discuss the reasons gender and difference issues are so important in understanding the potential for skills training and work and learning in both Canada and the “economic south.” The pace of change is improving very quickly in both developed and third world countries or “economic south.” Despite many developments in this area, there remains the issue of a gender gap that limits the progress of women workers in the paid workforce. This paper discusses the topic of gender differences in OECD countries and how it affects the process of work and learning in both Canada and the economic south.

One of the most significant changes in the labour forces in the past few decades has been the increasing number of adult women in the paid workforce. This feminization of the labour force has been accompanied by a parallel debate regarding the significance of gender in structuring men’s and women’s experience of work. For example, work such as nursing and cleaning is linked closely to what are seen as natural feminine attributes rather than specific technical skills. This gendering of work has significant implications when considering what counts as learning or skill as opposed to natural talent. Not only is this gendering of work a structural disadvantage to women but, more importantly, gendered inequity in access to and experience of opportunities for workplace learning (Probert, 1999).

Some studies analyze the link between the gendered division of family responsibilities and the particular patterns of women’s workforce participation. The rapid growth in part-time employment is a highly gendered development that is often attributed to the...