An important focus of FairPlusService is to support the training and further education of low-skilled and unskilled women, as these employees have had little access to educational opportunities. "Equality between women and men in all areas of professional, family and private life has not yet been achieved," says FairPlusService project manager Bettina Behr. When it comes to further education, women who are disadvantaged in terms of education are often not addressed enough or encouraged to participate. In an interview, the expert provides answers to the most burning questions.
What are the reasons for educational disadvantage?
Bettina Behr: Often women are not directly addressed by conventional educational opportunities or they cannot afford further training. They are often confronted with issues of compatibility and family resistance that prevent them from participating. An additional hurdle is negative learning experiences from school, such as fear of exam situations or similar, which cannot simply be overcome in adulthood.
How can women without formal training be encouraged to take further training courses?
On the one hand, it is necessary to win over companies as key development partners for women. The trust and support of company management and HR managers are extremely important factors in this. On the other hand, advisory and further training offers must be planned and implemented methodically and didactically for both companies and employees according to the principles of the cross-cutting issues of equality, equal opportunities, gender mainstreaming and diversity management.
What is the difference between gender mainstreaming and diversity management?
Gender mainstreaming aims to create structures that enable equal participation of women and men in all areas of life. Diversity management focuses on the differences and diversity of people. The aim here is to perceive diversity positively, to value it and to see it as a potential for innovation and further development.
I understand. But what exactly does it take for qualification to be successful?
As already mentioned, an important prerequisite for the professional development and higher qualification of women in low-wage sectors is to win over company management and HR managers to our analysis and consulting services. This can raise awareness and open up opportunities for structural changes to the corporate culture. In order to recruit and integrate female employees, it is essential to look at and reflect on their life situations and conditions from different perspectives. Consulting and further training offers for employees must be designed in such a way that the individual needs of women and possible (learning) barriers are taken into account. It is also important that the desire to learn is (re)strengthened together with the participants. They are encouraged in their development and learning skills and positive learning experiences are created. The concept of lifelong or lifelong learning - learning and further developing key skills and consistently expanding knowledge - is continuously conveyed both in the companies and to the women employed.
What if the women concerned do not want the support and even see it as a punishment?
A key prerequisite is voluntary participation in consulting and coaching services. Support from the company is needed to stimulate and encourage interest in learning new things. The desire to develop further is also an important motivation for the participants. Learning to learn also requires clearly defined, gradually achievable and quickly successful goals. These must be developed together with the companies and the women and supported in a process-oriented manner. The goals achieved must also be continuously reviewed and adjusted if necessary. Experience with the target group of educationally disadvantaged women shows that low-threshold methodological and didactic approaches must be used for consulting and further training services and are then gladly taken up.
Does this mean, among other things, that the participants are actively involved?
Exactly. For example, during preparation, we choose topics that reflect the participants' life situations and make a connection to their everyday professional lives. The women can then build on these and contribute their own experiences. We also pay attention to accessibility in language, which means that our learning materials have also been created in simple, easy-to-understand language. We use images and/or pictograms to try to make it easier for the women taking part to start learning and to be successful. The participants are met where they are at the moment, and their individual needs are taken into account. The aim is for the benefits of what they have learned to be usable both in the professional context and for personal and company development; this is simply more motivating. The duration and intensity of the courses is designed in such a way that structural and individual framework conditions are taken into account, and stress limits are recognized as a benchmark.
What framework conditions must companies create?
Structural framework conditions, such as the implementation of the offers in the workplace, during working hours and adaptation to the working hours of the employees, are important prerequisites. This means that the women are comprehensively addressed and motivated and can take further important steps towards development and career planning. The mobility of the target group must also be taken into account. Many women who work in low-paid jobs are dependent on public transport. For many, it is a major obstacle to participating in advice or further training measures if they have to come to the company location or another training location before or after working hours in order to be able to participate. It therefore seems important to also carry out coaching and workshops in the workplace (e.g. in the cleaning industry at customers' locations). This naturally requires clarification and agreement with the company and the customers in advance. If suitable premises can be made available for this, that is ideal.
What are FairPlusService’s standards when implementing its consulting services?
In our advice to companies and employees, in workshops, coaching and training, and in our materials, we make sure to use gender-appropriate language and imagery to make women and their contributions visible. This is in line with our project goals of raising awareness and the goal of our public relations work to make women's achievements visible. In addition, we want to demonstrate diversity and potential and focus on the indispensable and system-relevant contributions of companies and women in sectors such as tourism, trade, cleaning, health and social services, or goods production. Gender-stereotypical descriptions and images as well as generalizations are to be avoided. This allows us to show a variety of perspectives. The content addresses the real life and interests of the participants. We also pursue an inclusive approach, which means that low-threshold access and participation in the offers should be made possible. Stereotypical images and attributions, for example gender-specific role models in the sectors addressed, are continuously reflected upon and subsequently deconstructed. Our approach, which takes diversity into account, perceives it positively and uses it as a potential, helps to make stereotypical attributions less effective.
What else can help build self-esteem and self-confidence?
The inclusion of role models and the success stories of companies and women, of role models from the professional field, is an important didactic means of encouragement. In a climate of openness, security and acceptance, the effects of traditional role models can be addressed or discussed and new role models for women can be developed. Clichéd self-attributions of existing or missing skills, such as the statements "I can only do this..." or "I can't do that..." are reflected on, checked and, if necessary, adapted to reality. Failures and mistakes can also be perceived as part of a learning process and as learning experiences. The experiences from these are very often the basis for positive skill expansion.
Bettina Behr (Mag.a Dr.in) FairPlusService project manager, has been developing and managing social and cultural projects for more than twenty years with a focus on women's employment policy, equal opportunities, consulting and public relations work and was head of the ESF pilot project FairPlusCleaning from 2017 to 2019.
The interview was conducted by Andrea Burchhart (Mag.a), public relations FairPlusService.
