Do men and women differ in their training patterns and, if so, how do these differences originate? What is the role of (unequal) gender-specific patterns of work division, selective labour market access and company positioning? This dissertation addresses these questions in order to identify possible gender-specific selection mechanisms in non-formal further training. Under the influence of social transformation processes (such as climatic, demographic and technological change), non-formal training is becoming increasingly relevant in order to adapt employees' skills to changing labour and qualification requirements, among other things. The theoretical basis is built on social mechanisms as an explanatory approach to the genesis of social inequalities and concentrates on gender differences. Along a mechanistic chain the gender differentiation and organisation of employment and care work forms the starting point and gender-specific training patterns as a dimension of social inequality the end point of the mechanistic chain. Zero-inflated negative binomial regression models are used with data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) to estimate the participation probabilities (basic participation, number and duration of measures) of men and women within the framework of serial mediation analyses. The descriptive results show that, overall, men participate longer and women (in principle) more often in non-formal training (gender training gap). The multivariate results suggest that women participate less frequently and less intensively in non-formal training as the amount of childcare increases (motherhood training penalty), while this is not the case for men. The results of the mediation analyses also show that the motherhood penalty is primarily mediated by selective access to the labour market and lower positioning in the company wage structure. In summary, women's selective access to the labour market due to caring responsibilities has an impact on their positioning in the company, which negatively influences access to non-formal training and thus leads to gender-specific selection mechanisms in non-formal training.

Autorentext
Marco Seegers, Arbeitsbereich Qualifikation, berufliche Integration und Erwerbstätigkeit im Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BIBB), Bonn