The National Women's Law Center claims that in the area of vocational and technical education, Title IX has been ignored and sex segregation is pervasive. The automotive repair industry needs qualified female employees to help lower its employment deficit, and we should not lose these potential employees due to outdated stereotypes.

Estimate the projected deficit in technicians within the automotive repair industry over the next 10 years. Does around 50,000 employees sound right? How about 100,000? Not even close. Over the next 10 years the projected deficit in automotive repair technicians is a whopping 418,000, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Outlook Handbook.

The automotive repair industry can no longer be stereotyped merely physical labor and dirty hands. It now calls for extensive knowledge in mathematics, electronics, chemistry, physics and computers. The increasing sophistication of automotive technology now requires workers who can “use computerized shop equipment and work with electronic components, while maintaining their skills with traditional hand tools,” as described in the handbook. These qualifications would allow for a multitude of opportunities in trade and technical careers for either sex, however, the automotive industry is a male-dominated one where few women seem compelled to venture.

Women account for nearly half of today's work force. Why, in an industry desperately in need of qualified employees, are there so few female automotive repair technicians? The National Women's Law Center appears to have found the answer.

A report released by the center June 6 examines sex bias in high school vocational and technical programs, a violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

Title IX is a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in any federally funded education program or activity. The National Women's Law Center claims that in the area of vocational and technical education, Title IX has been ignored and sex segregation is pervasive. The report states that because of such factors as incomplete information provided to students on possible career choices and the consequences of their career choices, biased counseling, and sexual harassment toward girls enrolled in non-traditional classes, female students continue to be placed in stereotypical female programs. These programs prepare young women for careers that traditionally earn lower wages than technical careers. Because the majority of female vocational students are not receiving technical education, they are not receiving the skills necessary for higher-wage careers.

The center's investigation into this matter led to a collection of data from every state and the District of Columbia, with comprehensive investigations of 12 states. Each of these 12 states represents a region where the Department of Education has a civil rights enforcement office. The report contains evaluated data on the enrollment patterns in vocational education in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina and Washington. Through these examinations, the center discovered national patterns of sex segregation in selected vocational and technical courses. Women were prevalent in jobs such as cosmetology, child care and health care, while men dominated the fields of plumbing, electricians and welding. Based on data from the 12 regions, 92 percent of students enrolled in automotive programs are men; the remaining meager 8 percent are women. In Florida and Maryland, 95 percent are men and 5 percent are women; and in Missouri and Michigan, 96 percent are men and 4 percent are women.

Segregation within the automotive repair industry used to be attributable to the fact that the work was mainly physical labor, socially deeming it a man's job. With the integration of computers and increasingly sophisticated automotive parts and systems, this is no longer the case. Segregation now comes from lack of information. Women can do the job, however, they do not receive the proper education and are not always informed of their options. In its report, the center claims that not only are female students enrolled in traditionally female courses such as cosmetology and childcare, but that the instruction they receive in these programs is substandard.

The report cites New York as an example, focusing on Cisco Networking Academies, a curriculum that focuses on preparing students for the future of computer technology by teaching them to design, create and sustain computer networks. Of the five vocational schools in which the New York City Board of Education has applied Cisco, all are more than 55 percent male and three are more than 70 percent male.

Despite fewer opportunities to take non-traditional female classes and inferior instruction in those classes, young women rarely hear about possible opportunities in traditionally male fields. They are steered away from mathematics and technological programs by guidance counselors, teachers and other students. The center has determined that discriminatory patterns in vocational programs can be monitored by Title IX coordinators, who make sure states comply with the regulations and responsibilities listed in Title IX.

The absence of a Title IX coordinator is a violation of the law. According to the center's report, the following currently lack Title IX coordinators: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Idaho, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia.

June 6, in response to its report findings, the National Women's Law Center filed 12 petitions for compliance review of high school vocational and technical programs. The petitions, filed in each regional office of the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR), asks the OCR to acknowledge, examine and resolve the matter.

The center is calling on the OCR to investigate two main issues. First, whether the counselors of students considering technical career options are nondiscriminatory and provide students with important information, as opposed to steering students into traditional training based on gender roles and stereotypes. Second, the center is requesting an investigation into the recruitment practices for technical and vocational programs to see if women are welcome to enter non-traditional programs and courses.

The National Women's Law Center also calls on states violating Title IX with the absence of a Title IX coordinator to assign a coordinator so as not to affect equal opportunity in vocational education. In the report, the center called on the support of school districts and local education agencies to afford more attention to discrimination. The business community was also addressed to create partnerships with schools in their vocational and technical programs to ensure non-traditional training for women. Businesses are asked to make sure their contributions to schools are not focused entirely on the male students, but female students as well.

The discrimination and sex segregation present in today's vocational and technical programs affects opportunities for young women in terms of education and economic projection. The automotive repair industry could use qualified female employees. With pervasive sex segregation in vocational schools and lack of information afforded by counselors, how can young women meet the qualifications needed to make it in the automotive world? How can they know of the opportunities waiting for them in a myriad of trades and technical fields? How can the automotive service industry expect to lower its employment deficit if almost 50 percent of the work force is being steered away from the industry because of outdated stereotypes?

Bob Redding is the Automotive Service Association's Washington, D.C., representative. He is a member of several federal and state advisory committees involved in the automotive industry. For more information about the legislative activities of ASA, visit www.TakingTheHill.com.

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