Vocational education and training in Switzerland: A gender perspective. From socialisation to resistance

In Switzerland, dual vocational education and training (VET), which alternates learning at school and training in a host-company, is the most common educational pathway followed by young people after compulsory school. The active involvement of companies in the system provides a strong tie with the labour market and its logics. Consequently, VET functions as its antechamber by preparing young people for gender segregation and discrimination as they are experienced in everyday working life. Based on a qualitative analysis from 46 interviews, this paper analyses VET as a place of occupational, but also of gender socialisation. During their first experience in VET, young people are confronted with the sexual division of labour and the hierarchy between the sexes. In parallel, they learn gender norms related to a specific occupation in a segregated context. At the working place, in relation to co-workers, socialisation can be quite rough for these young people. Finally, the paper will highlight how the apprentices renegotiate the norms and codes and how they resist these assignations, in particular using gender strategies such as defensive virility or muliebrity.