Dissertation, Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg, 2017

The situation in terms of equality between males and females is substantially determined by the (gendered) opportunities and constraints of a given institutional environment. Denmark is often cited as a prime example of a country which offers its citizens optimal conditions in this regard, and where nowadays gender equality has been fully achieved – including in such important spheres as the worlds of education and work. It is probably for this reason that empirical evidence on the topic is relatively scarce; in particular, there is no in-depth country case study which provides a comprehensive state-of-the-art analysis of Danish men’s and women’s actual educational and professional careers across the life course. To close this gap, the overarching research question pursued by my thesis is: What relevance does gender have for individuals’ educational and occupational life course outcomes within Denmark’s institutional context? For this purpose, Section 1 first of all elaborates on the theoretical underpinnings, the research design, and the information base of this work. Then, by drawing on high-quality longitudinal data from Danish administrative registers, and applying descriptive as well as multivariate methods, a total of three studies are carried out to answer the aforementioned guiding question (Section 2). Here, gender disparities within the following life course stages, spanning from childhood to adulthood, are taken into consideration: First, children’s pathways in tracked Danish post-compulsory education and training; second, young adults’ initial integration into the Danish labor market and their educational achievements and first job outcomes; third, adults’ labor market returns from participation in diverse forms of Danish adult learning. The results, which are again briefly summarized and discussed in Section 3, show that even within Denmark’s specific national setting, strongly committed as it is to guaranteeing everyone equal opportunities in all areas of society, being male or female does indeed play a role in individuals’ educational and occupational life course outcomes. In short: While Danish women have now more than caught up with men when it comes to their level of education and training, already at the time of first labor market entry, both horizontal and vertical gender-based segregation patterns continue to exist (although these are declining over time). As regards the field of adult learning, it appears that females are more likely to engage in such activities than men, and some gender differences can also be observed concerning the economic returns from later-life learning. In conclusion, it can thus be said that, even in Denmark, there is still scope for improvement with respect to the actual realization of gender equality.