Germany and the Scandinavian countries, where formal apprenticeship training is well developed, are thus thought to offer better protection to women seeking re-employment than, for example, the United Kingdom or the United States where training and skills formation tend to be informal. Access to education and vocational training School and post-secondary enrolment rates for girls and women have risen in almost all countries in recent decades, though important disparities persist. But in Africa, South Asia and a few countries in other regions, very high rates of illiteracy among women still prevail. Gender discrimination at work is largely predetermined by education and training. Evidence even suggests that some training systems may actually reinforce discrimination.
Employers tend to regard decisions relating to internal training systems as their own prerogative.
Whatever the reasons and rationalizations, women are much less likely to receive employer-funded training than men. The problem is compounded in some countries because of cultural attitudes making it virtually taboo for women to be apprenticed to male workers. Women likewise do not have equal access to lifelong learning programmes developed in response to rapid technological change. In some, the sector is in fact becoming increasingly male-dominated. Providing child-care and other services overcomes disincentives to training for women in the workplace by lowering turnover and allowing women more easily to allocate their time and energy to skill development.