Gender Segregation in Vocational Education: Introduction

This introductory chapter develops the overall research focus and the aim of the present special issue ‘Gender segregation in vocational education’. Against the backdrop of strong horizontal gender segregation in vocational education and training (VET), we ask how institutional arrangements affect gendered (self-)selection into VET, and to what extent the patterns of the latter vary by context and over time. In order to expand our knowledge about the impact of educational offers and policies on gendered educational pathways and gender segregation in the labour market, we have gathered comparative quantitative studies that analyse the relationship between national variations in the organization of VET and cross-national differences in educational and occupational gender segregation from an institutional perspective. Following a review of the core literature within the field of gender segregation in VET, this introduction presents a discussion of education system classifications and institutional level mechanisms based on the contributions made in this volume. We then discuss gendered educational choices at the individual level, with particular emphasis on variation across the life course. Finally, we conclude our introductory chapter by commenting on the main contributions of the volume as a whole, as well as addressing suggestions for further research.

New Myths of OZ: The Australian Beach and the Negotiation of National Belonging by Refugee Background Youth

In this article we consider the Australian beach as a material, imaginary and social arena in which different versions of national belonging are performed and contested. Focusing on two short films produced by young people from refugee backgrounds, we explore the negotiation of national belonging on the beach by people who occupy identity categories that are typically excluded from idealising Australian beach mythologies. We argue that both the production and distribution of these films contribute to a reimagining of the Australian beach that creates new opportunities for people from migrant backgrounds to engage in the co-production of Australian identities in their own terms.

Estimating Intra-Party Preferences: Comparing Speeches to Votes

Well-established methods exist for measuring party positions, but reliable means for estimating intra-party preferences remain underdeveloped. While most efforts focus on estimating the ideal points of individual legislators based on inductive scaling of roll call votes, this data suffers from two problems: selection bias due to unrecorded votes and strong party discipline, which tends to make voting a strategic rather than a sincere indication of preferences. By contrast, legislative speeches are relatively unconstrained, as party leaders are less likely to punish MPs for speaking freely as long as they vote with the party line. Yet, the differences between roll call estimations and text scalings remain essentially unexplored, despite the growing application of statistical analysis of textual data to measure policy preferences. Our paper addresses this lacuna by exploiting a rich feature of the Swiss legislature: on most bills, legislators both vote and speak many times. Using this data, we compare text-based scaling of ideal points to vote-based scaling from a crucial piece of energy legislation. Our findings confirm that text scalings reveal larger intra-party differences than roll calls. Using regression models, we further explain the differences between roll call and text scalings by attributing differences to constituency-level preferences for energy policy.

Reducing women’s lack of fit with leadership? Effects of the wording of job advertisements

Linguistic forms which refer to individuals impact mental representations of these individuals: When masculine generics are used, women tend to be cognitively underrepresented, whereas feminine–masculine word pairs are associated with a higher cognitive inclusion of women. The present research investigates whether linguistic forms affect women’s perceived lack of fit with leadership positions, which is particularly pronounced for high-status leadership positions. In a hiring-simulation experiment (N = 363), we tested the effects of different linguistic forms used in German-language job advertisements: (1) masculine forms (e.g., Geschäftsführer, ‘CEO, masc.’); (2) masculine forms with (m/f) (e.g., Geschäftsführer (m/w), ‘CEO, masc. (m/f)’); and (3) word pairs (e.g., Geschäftsführerin/Geschäftsführer, ‘CEO, fem./CEO, masc.’). The job ads announced either a high- or low-status leadership position. Results showed that female applicants were perceived to fit less well with the high-status position than male applicants when either the masculine or the masculine form with (m/f) was used––even though they were perceived to be equally competent. However, female and male applicants were perceived as fitting the high-status leadership position similarly well when word pairs were used.

Occupational mobility chains and the role of job opportunities for upward, lateral and downward mobility in Switzerland

This paper addresses the rarely studied relationship between job vacancies and inter-firm upward, lateral, and downward status mobility in an occupationally segmented labor market, taking Switzerland as the example. To conceptualize mobility mechanisms in this type of labor market, we introduce the concept of “occupational mobility chains” and test its validity. This concept provides the backdrop for developing time-dependent measures of individual job opportunities based on Swiss Job Monitor data. We link these measures with career data taken from the Swiss Life History Study and employ event history analysis to test different propositions of the ways in which status mobility is contingent on the number and the status of vacant positions. Results support our assumption that in occupationally segmented labor markets vacant positions affect status mobility only to the degree that they are located within workers’ occupational mobility chains.

European summer temperatures since Roman times

The spatial context is critical when assessing present-day climate anomalies, attributing them to potential forcings and making statements regarding their frequency and severity in a long-term perspective. Recent international initiatives have expanded the number of high-quality proxy-records and developed new statistical reconstruction methods. These advances allow more rigorous regional past temperature reconstructions and, in turn, the possibility of evaluating climate models on policy-relevant, spatio-temporal scales. Here we provide a new proxy-based, annually-resolved, spatial reconstruction of the European summer (June–August) temperature fields back to 755 CE based on Bayesian hierarchical modelling (BHM), together with estimates of the European mean temperature variation since 138 BCE based on BHM and composite-plus-scaling (CPS). Our reconstructions compare well with independent instrumental and proxy-based temperature estimates, but suggest a larger amplitude in summer temperature variability than previously reported. Both CPS and BHM reconstructions indicate that the mean 20th century European summer temperature was not significantly different from some earlier centuries, including the 1st, 2nd, 8th and 10th centuries CE. The 1st century (in BHM also the 10th century) may even have been slightly warmer than the 20th century, but the difference is not statistically significant. Comparing each 50 yr period with the 1951–2000 period reveals a similar pattern. Recent summers, however, have been unusually warm in the context of the last two millennia and there are no 30 yr periods in either reconstruction that exceed the mean average European summer temperature of the last 3 decades (1986–2015 CE). A comparison with an ensemble of climate model simulations suggests that the reconstructed European summer temperature variability over the period 850–2000 CE reflects changes in both internal variability and external forcing on multi-decadal time-scales. For pan-European temperatures we find slightly better agreement between the reconstruction and the model simulations with high-end estimates for total solar irradiance. Temperature differences between the medieval period, the recent period and the Little Ice Age are larger in the reconstructions than the simulations. This may indicate inflated variability of the reconstructions, a lack of sensitivity and processes to changes in external forcing on the simulated European climate and/or an underestimation of internal variability on centennial and longer time scales.

The Bulgarian educational system and gender segregation in the labour market

School-to-work transitions are embedded in the institutional structures of educational systems. In particular, vocational education has been linked to greater horizontal gender segregation in employment. Similarly, research on higher education has uncovered how stratification at the tertiary level can promote gender segregation in the labour market. This paper investigates how gender typical employment is conditioned by the institutional features of the educational system in Bulgaria. Despite the post-socialist transformations of Bulgaria's educational system and its labour market, horizontal gender segregation has remained rather moderate from an international perspective. We use data from a 2012 nationally representative survey. We find that the educational system shapes the gendered occupational trajectories for men but it does not hold the same explanatory power for women. Neither vocational nor higher education has a significant effect for women. In contrast, men with vocational education are more likely to work in male-typed occupations and, in line with the literature, higher education steers men toward gender mixed and a-typical occupations. Our study points to the importance of educational institutional factors in shaping gender (a)-typical career paths. The Bulgarian case, in particular, offers insights into the mechanisms that can potentially decrease horizontal gender segregation in the labour market.

Professionalisation of sport federations – A multi-level framework for analysing forms, causes and consequences

Research question: International and national sport federations as well as their member organisations are key actors within the sport system and have a wide range of relationships outside the sport system (e.g. with the state, sponsors, and the media). They are currently facing major challenges such as growing competition in top-level sports, democratisation of sports with ‘sports for all’ and sports as the answer to social problems. In this context, professionalising sport organisations seems to be an appropriate strategy to face these challenges and current problems. We define the professionalisation of sport organisations as an organisational process of transformation leading towards organisational rationalisation, efficiency and business-like management. This has led to a profound organisational change, particularly within sport federations, characterised by the strengthening of institutional management (managerialism) and the implementation of efficiency-based management instruments and paid staff. Research methods: The goal of this article is to review the current international literature and establish a global understanding of and theoretical framework for analysing why and how sport organisations professionalise and what consequences this may have. Results and findings: Our multi-level approach based on the social theory of action integrates the current concepts for analysing professionalisation in sport federations. We specify the framework for the following research perspectives: (1) forms, (2) causes and (3) consequences, and discuss the reciprocal relations between sport federations and their member organisations in this context. Implications: Finally, we work out a research agenda and derive general methodological consequences for the investigation of professionalisation processes in sport organisations.

Sport clubs in Europe. A cross-national comparative perspective

​This book presents an up-to-date portrait of the characteristics of sport clubs in various European countries and their role in society and the national sport system. Furthermore, it offers a cross-national comparative perspective of sport clubs in twenty European countries. Containing both empirical data and information on the political and historical backgrounds of sport clubs, the book is organized in three parts. First, the authors provide an overview of the theoretical approach of the book and a description of the framework used for the country chapters. Second, the country chapters, written by experts within the field, provide a systematic overview of the available information on sport clubs in each country. These chapters are structured to answer the following questions: (1) What is the position of sport clubs within the national sport structure? (2) Which role do they fulfil in policy and society? (3) What are their basic characteristics and what factors influence the development of sport clubs? The book is concluded with a systematic comparison of the participating countries with the purpose of forging a clear link between the functioning of policy systems, observed problems, and possible solutions, and with a future research agenda on sport clubs. In an era of increased collaboration between European states, sport provides a natural vehicle through which to compare changes in culture, economics, and policy across nations. Sport Clubs in Europe will appeal to scholars of nonprofit management, sports management and sports sociology as well as administrators and policy makers in the international sports community.

Development and voluntarism in football clubs

Volunteers are still the most important resource for amateur football clubs. However, stable voluntary engagement can no longer be granted. This difficulty is confirmed by existing research across various European countries. From a club management point of view, a detailed understanding of how to attract volunteers and retain them is becoming a high priority. The purpose of this study is (1) to analyse the influence of individual characteristics and corresponding organisational conditions on volunteering and (2) to examine the decision-making processes in relation to implement effective strategies for recruiting volunteers. To answer these questions, the current state of research is summarised and then a multi-level-framework is developed which is based on the structural-individualistic social theory. The individual and context factors for volunteering are estimated in different multi-level models based on a sample of n=1,434 sport club members from 36 sport clubs in Switzerland. Results indicate that volunteering is not just an outcome of individual characteristics such as lower workloads, higher income, children belonging to the sport club, longer club membership, or a strong commitment to the club. It is also influenced by club-specific structural conditions. Concerning decision-making processes an in-depth analysis of recruitment practices for volunteers was conducted in selected clubs (case study design). based on the garbage can model. The results show that systematically designed decision-making processes with a clear regulation of responsibilities seem to solve personnel problems more purposefully and more quickly. Based on the findings some recommendations for volunteer management in football clubs are worked out.

Professionalisation of sports federations – A multi-level framework for analysing forms, causes and consequences

Introduction: International and national sports federations as well as their member organisations (usually sports clubs) are key actors within the sports system and have a wide range of relationships outside the sports system (e.g. with the state, sponsors, and the media). They are currently facing major challenges such as growing competition in top-­‐level sports, democratisation of sports with “sports for all” and sports as the answer to social problems (integration, education, health, unemployment, etc.). In this context, professionalising sports organisations seems to be an appropriate strategy to face these challenges and solve current problems. This has led to a profound organisational change, particularly within sports federations, characterised by the strengthening of institutional management (managerialism) and the implementation of efficiency-­‐based management instruments and paid staff. In this context the questions arise how sports organisations professionalise and what consequences this may have. Theoretical framework: The goal of our presentation is to review the international literature and develop an appropriate concept of professionalisation in sport federations. Our multi-­‐level approach based on social theory of action integrates the current concepts and perspectives for analysing professionalisation in sports federations. We specify the framework for the following research perspectives: (1) forms, (2) causes and mechanisms, (3) consequences and (4) dynamics, and discuss the reciprocal relations between sports federations and their member organisations in this context. When analysing these different research perspectives, it is important to select or elaborate appropriate theoretical concepts to match the general multi-­‐level framework Discussion: The elaborated multi-­‐level framework for analysing professionalisation in sports federations is able to integrate most of the existing theoretical concepts and therefore, the broad range of endogenous as well as exogenous factors that might influence the professionalisation of sports organisations. Based on the theoretical framework, we can identify several consequences for the methodological design of studies intending to analyse the different perspectives of professionalisation in sports organisations: Data have to be collected on the different levels. Not only the forms of professionalisation and relevant structures of the organisations should be taken into account but also important characteristics of the environment (macro level) as well as members or member organisations, particularly key actors who might play a crucial role in gaining an understanding of professionalisation processes in sports organisations. In order to carry out a complex organisational research design, it seems necessary to focus on case studies – an approach that has become increasingly important in organisational research. Different strategies and methods of data collection have to be used within the case studies (e.g. interviews with experts within the organisations, questionnaire for selected people in the organisation, document analysis). Therefore, qualitative and quantitative research strategies have to be combined.

Can gender-fair language reduce gender stereotyping and discrimination?

Gender-fair language (GFL) aims at reducing gender stereotyping and discrimination. Two principle strategies have been employed to make languages gender-fair and to treat women and men symmetrically: neutralization and feminization. Neutralization is achieved, for example, by replacing male-masculine forms (policeman) with gender-unmarked forms (police officer), whereas feminization relies on the use of feminine forms to make female referents visible (i.e., the applicant… he or she instead of the applicant… he). By integrating research on (1) language structures, (2) language policies, and (3) individual language behavior, we provide a critical review of how GFL contributes to the reduction of gender stereotyping and discrimination. Our review provides a basis for future research and for scientifically based policy-making.

The benefits and pitfalls of language change – The case of gender-fair language use

Gender-fair language (GFL) is a symmetric linguistic treatment of women and men. To create GFL two principle strategies can be deployed. Neutralization means that gender-unmarked forms (police officer) are used to substitute the male-biased (policeman). Feminization, implies that feminine forms of nouns are used systematically to make female referents visible. The results of a comprehensive European research program provide evidence in support of a non-discrimination policy in language, yet identify the potential setbacks preventing linguistic reforms to be effective. In general, studies indicate positive effects of GFL. In an applied context, for example women feel more motivated to apply for the position if a job advertisement is formulated in a GFL. However, negative effects of reformed usage were also reported specifically when GFL is novel. For example, a woman referred to as a chairperson was evaluated lower in occupational status than a woman referred to as a chairman.