Towards Gender Inclusive Skill Development in Rural India: Factors that Inhibit and Facilitate Skill Women’s Enrolment in Vocational Training

Abstract

Women in rural India are the country's most underserved population regarding access to skill development opportunities. Despite rhetoric at the national and international policy levels acknowledging the dearth of female participation in vocational training and subsequently skilled labour in India, female enrolment remains low. A greater understanding of factors that facilitate and hinder women's enrolment in skill development programs, particularly in the current era of pro-skill development, where vocational training is highly subsidized, if not free of cost, is required to design effective interventions that are inclusive of this perpetually side-lined population. Towards developing this improved understanding, an exploratory qualitative study was conducted in the rural Indian village of Juna Khatiwada, Madhya Pradesh, where vocational training programs for women have been made available and accessible, free of cost. Semi-structured interviews and focused group discussions were conducted with 16 women of Juna Khatiwada. In addition to identifying factors that facilitate and inhibit enrolment among the target population, the study also revealed that women who did enrol and complete vocational training courses reported better coping with domestic economic challenges. Findings from this study serve to provide recommendations on the way forward in terms of skill development policy and practice that are more inclusive of women in rural Indian. Keywords: Education and Training; Employment; Technical Vocational Rural India; Women eISSN: 2398-4287© 2021. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v6iSI4.3032