Family responsibilities create gender inequalities in adult education participation

Family responsibilities create gender inequalities in adult education participation – a new study

A recent article by Pöyliö and McMullin “Participation in formal adult education and family life—a gendered story” published in European Sociological Review examines gender equality in formal adult education (AE) participation in Finland and Great Britain. By analysing how various family situations influence the likelihood of enrolment differently among men and women in these two countries, the research article sheds light to unequal chances to obtain further skills through AE.

While previous literature on adult education has focused on various aspects of social inequalities, and although many acknowledge the critical role of gender, the mechanisms influencing gender differences in participation are rarely to the fore. Specifically, women report family responsibilities as the main reason for not enrolling in AE. This article examines whether family responsibilities, measured as the age and number of children, act as motivators or barriers to formal AE participation differently among men and women with varying time and monetary resources, that is, partnership status and relative income, in two societies with high formal AE enrolment rates; Finland and Great Britain.

The results from Finnish registers and Understanding Society for 1998–2019 demonstrate clearly that family responsibilities related to having young children in the household restrict women from participating in formal AE to a greater extent than men in both countries. Further, while Finnish society enables individuals who traditionally have fewer resources to attend formal AE, that is, single parents and larger families, in Britain, formal AE is mainly taken up by individuals without children or those in stable family situations. The results highlight the importance of institutions in providing equal access to further educational qualifications.

The policy implications of the article’s findings in relation to family policies and gender equality are discussed in Population Europe’s Policy Insight: Strong family services are needed to allow mothers to participate in adult education and in relation to the recent adult education reform in Finland on INVEST blog: Mothers miss out – Limited adult education opportunities in the context of scarce public support.

Article: Pöyliö, H & McMullin, P. (2024). Participation in formal adult education and family life—a gendered story, European Sociological Review, jcae032, https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcae032