Findings from IWPR Research on Unemployment Insurance and Job Training

*Barriers to Participation Women's workforce attachment is becoming increasingly similar to men's, with rising labor force participation rates and overall occupational diversification. However, many factors impede women's ability to achieve the same employment-based economic security that men experience. Although gender-neutral on their face, public policies reinforce obstacles to women's success in achieving economic self-sufficiency in these two areas: the Unemployment Insurance (UI) system and job training for low-income women. The eligibility criteria incorporated into states ' UI programs create barriers for employed caregivers and workers with low earnings, and job training programs may reflect and reinforce the occupational sex-stereotyping that impedes women's access to higher-wage jobs. Until women's experiences are legitimated and defined as one norm for "ideal workers, " programs such as these will not offer the workforce security that women need and have earned through their waged work. (Contains 34 references and 14 charts.) (Author/YLB) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Promoting Women's Workforce Security