Sex/gender‐blind training maintains and creates inequity

Abstract

As training theory and practice may not sufficiently recognize the role and impact of sex and gender, this study aims to understand to what extent current corporate training practices fulfill expectations of gender equity and inclusion. This qualitative case study is based on three international training programs, in the Netherlands, the USA, and the UK, respectively, designed by a multinational corporation. The methods include an extensive training document analysis and semi‐structured interviews with training participants, organizers, and trainers. The thematic and gender subtext analyses highlight how the discourse of sex/gender‐blindness in training not only risks maintaining the status quo of under‐representation of women but can also produce sex/gender inequity. The results indicate that training organizers and providers may not feel equipped to recognize and address the role of sex/gender. Future training research, theory, and practice should acknowledge and reflect on the impact of sex/gender, and sex/gender equity should be integrated into program design and delivery.

“Sekolah Ibu Program”: Women Resilience Program or Gender Blind Policy?

“…In some decision-making cases, viewing an issue from the perspective of colorblindness is preferable to gender blindness (Koenig, 2021). The higher gender blindness will affect the exclusivity of women (Stoll et al, 2018) Inclusivity in viewing gender issues is necessary to ensure the value of gender equality (Kroese, 2022;Mantouvalou, 2020). In several countries such as China (Leow, 2022), America (Skidmore, 2019), and Scandinavian countries (Aggestam et al, 2018), inclusivity has been adopted in viewing gender (Vossenberg, 2020), especially in the field of public policy (Raj & Kumari, 2022).…”