Designing Apprenticeships that Work for Young Women
Gain insights into the importance of apprenticeship programmes, how to structure them to meet young women’s needs, and how you can get involved in supporting this work.
Youth in flux
The global workforce is undergoing an unprecedented transformation, driven largely by rapid technological advancement, demographic changes, and climate disruptions. Emerging technologies, automation, and digital innovation are reshaping industries and creating new jobs while simultaneously redefining traditional tasks.
This shift has compounded the already pressing challenge of youth who are not in employment, education or training (NEET). A staggering one in four young people globally (261 million) are NEET, with young women (175 million) twice as likely as young men (92 million) to be NEET. These young people are particularly vulnerable to the risk of long-term unemployment and social exclusion. This figure includes 67 million young people who are unemployed or underemployed i.e. those who are looking for jobs, but aren’t finding one. For many years policymakers have anticipated a demographic dividend1 in low- and lower-middle income countries. To date, however, the potential of this emerging generation is being stifled before it can be realised.
This phenomenon doesn’t just impact young people. Employers are also being affected. By 2030, over 85 million jobs may remain vacant due to a shortage of workers with the right skills, at wage levels employers can afford and are willing to offer. In many countries, high youth unemployment coexists with labour shortages, particularly in technical sectors.
A McKinsey survey across nine countries revealed that 40% of employers see skills gaps as the primary reason for entry-level job vacancies. At the same time, graduates are shocked between their salary expectations and what the market has to offer. This indicates that a lack of alignment between the skills being taught to young people and the demands of the labour force, as well as unmet aspirations of young people in terms of wages and working conditions, are being compounded by employers’ hesitancy to hire young people who do not have any practical hands-on experience in a workplace.
The skills to job mismatch, unmet aspirations of young people, and employers’ hesitancy to hire young people is stifling young people's ability to transition from education to employment, while also constraining employers’ ability to operate at full capacity. Within this context, apprenticeships show great potential in helping young people bridge the learning to earning transition, whilst supporting employers to build their workforce with young, dynamic, and highly skilled young people.
Quality Apprenticeships for Equitable Human and Economic Development
The ILO Quality Apprenticeship Recommendation, 2023 (No. 208) establishes a global framework for advancing quality apprenticeships and ensuring adequate protection of apprentices. It defines apprenticeships as a form of education and training governed by an apprenticeship agreement, through which individuals acquire occupational competencies via structured, remunerated on-the-job and off-the-job learning leading to a recognized qualification.
Quality apprenticeships offer a powerful return on investment for both youth and economies, affirming their importance in workforce development. ILO School-to-Work Transition Surveys showed that youth with education or training alone take significantly longer, up to 20.1 months, to secure stable employment compared to those exposed to work during training, who average 1.9 months. For young women, particularly, apprenticeships play an important role in supporting their transition into the workforce, specifically by reducing financial barriers to entry that hinder their participation.
Apprenticeships produce consistently strong returns on investment. In the UK, apprentices raised business productivity by £214 per week, leading to higher profits, improved products, and better wages. In India, a study on SMEs surfaced that benefits have shown to outweigh programme costs, especially when apprentices are retained. In the US, $1 of public investment in apprenticeships yields more than $27 in returns through higher earnings, reduced unemployment, and social benefits. Countries with apprenticeship systems report lower unemployment, greater job.
To date, women remain significantly underrepresented in apprenticeships around the world. Structural barriers (access, awareness) and cultural barriers (gender norms) continue to limit participation rates for women, especially in high-return and promising roles in STEM fields. Even when they do enter apprenticeships, they tend to cluster in lower-paying sectors with fewer prospects for advancement, and less earning and growth potential, reinforcing “occupational segregation.”
Addressing Gender Gaps
Addressing these challenges requires a deliberate effort from governments, employers, workers, and funders to design quality apprenticeship pathways that are inclusive, responsive to women’s needs, and supportive of their career progression. Growing global recognition of apprenticeship’s ability to develop future ready skills creates an opportunity to expand women’s access to high-quality apprenticeships.
One Million Opportunities (1MiO) is a public–private–youth partnership (PPYP) launched by GenU in Brazil to connect vulnerable young people (ages 14–29) to skills-programmes, internships, apprenticeships, and job opportunities. The ecosystem includes 220 large companies, 86 social organizations, more than 1,800 municipalities, and four state governments. Amongst other programmes, 1MiO leverages Brazil’s national apprenticeship framework, which requires firms to fill 5-15% of their roles with apprentices, to convert commitments into formal paid apprenticeship contracts and on-the-job training. By matching young people to vetted employers, aligning technical coursework with work placements, and using the law’s quota as leverage, 1MiO has facilitated more than 220,000 apprenticeship placements. This shows how legal incentives, employer networks, digital matching, and youth-focused support combine to drive scalable quality apprenticeships.
Private sector leadership also plays a key role in driving inclusion, showing how high-quality and inclusive apprenticeship approaches can be adapted across country and cultural contexts. GAN Global Board members Nestlé S.A. and the Bühler Group's apprenticeship programmes in India are great examples.
Bühler, a GAN Global board member, has increased female participation in Mechatronics, a male-dominated field, through targeted interventions such as adapting facilities for women, dedicated women trainers and officers, mentorships, and flexibility to accommodate familial responsibilities. One success story is Vijayalakshmi, a young woman from a rural village in Karnataka who, after completing her Industrial Training Institute (ITI) certification in Electrical Engineering, relocated to Bengaluru for Bühler Academy’s Electrician apprenticeship. Today, Vijayalakshmi mentors new female apprentices, advocating for greater inclusivity in technical roles. Her pathway has inspired young women from her village to pursue similar opportunities, gradually shifting community.
The Digital Economy: Opportunities and Pitfalls for Apprenticeships
The rapid integration of technological advances, such as AI, into the global labor landscape presents a double-edged sword for women. Automation threatens to disproportionately impact women, as high at-risk jobs make up 9.6% of female employment as opposed to 3.5% for men. Nonetheless, innovative apprenticeship pathways and initiatives have been launched to combat this.
The ILO's Skills Innovation Challenge in India in partnership with UNICEF YuWaah, exemplifies gender-sensitive responses to this gap by supporting the upgrade of informal apprenticeships through digital transformation and job creation. It focused on expanding access to apprenticeships for workers in the informal economy and young people in rural areas, especially young women. Four hybrid apprenticeship models were tested, combining in-person support with online learning. More than 400 young people, mostly women, received training in areas such as digital marketing, customer service, digital literacy, and e-commerce. The pilots also introduced micro-certifications and digital badges to enhance the visibility of learners’ competencies in the labour market. Lessons learned informed national policy dialogue and supported reforms in India’s apprenticeship systems including more flexible and inclusive models tailored to the informal economy.
Recommendations for collective action
By investing in gender-sensitive apprenticeship models, we can ensure that more women gain access to the full spectrum of job opportunities created by the ongoing technological revolution. Apprenticeship programmes tailored to women help improve their economic independence, and contribute to breaking down gender stereotypes. This encourages women to pursue careers in high-demand and high-growth sectors such as technology and manufacturing. Opportunities to improve young women’s access to and participation in quality apprenticeships include:
- Embed gender targets in apprenticeship programmes and ensure they are met at recruitment stage, during training, after assessment and certification, and during transitions within the labour market.
- Target female participation in apprenticeships in flexible, high-growth sectors, relying on the guidance provided by employers’ and workers' organizations to integrate gender perspectives.
- Address structural barriers (e.g.: affordable childcare, mentorship, anti-bias hiring) as well as cultural barriers and perceptions that limit women’s participation in the labour market.
- Catalyse platforms that enable collective action and bring together key stakeholders to design and deploy apprenticeship programmes. This can facilitate public, private and youth actors to work collaboratively to raise the profile and relevance of apprenticeships.
- Engage young women in programme design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. Participatory action research and evaluation with young women can increase relevance to youth.
- Develop targeted campaigns and mentorship models that rebrand apprenticeships as aspirational, skill-building career pathways—especially highlighting success stories of young women.
Partnering for Impact – Join us!
Public-private-youth partnerships can bring together the strengths of government, business, and young people themselves — enabling co-creation of apprenticeship programmes that are market-relevant, responsive to local barriers, and equitable in design. When young women are included as full partners, these collaborations can address constraints, ensuring that quality apprenticeships translate into sustainable earning opportunities for all.
The GAN, GenU, and the ILO are committed to working together to promote inclusive, future-ready apprenticeship systems. In recognizing the urgent need for multi-sectoral collaboration, we have initiated the Enabling Quality Apprenticeships and Livelihoods for Youth (EQALY) initiative, that aims to pilot innovative and inclusive apprenticeship pathways, strength national ecosystems to ensure systemic adoption and sustained impact and advocate for quality apprenticeships. EQALY is being initiated in India, with a focus on young women.
Join us in co-creating scaling and advocating for quality apprenticeships that empower young women to transition from skills to meaningful careers.
1. Express your interest in joining this transformative initiative by engaging in discussions about the specific areas where you and your organization can have the most impact.
2. Commit funding to support the pilot phase, ensuring the successful launch of innovative apprenticeship pathways, evaluation of intervention and building scalable models.
3. Co-create flexible funding mechanisms, such as through pooled funding from multiple partners or joint fundraising efforts.
4. Offer Apprenticeship opportunities with your organization/organizations in your network; co-create apprenticeship pathways for industry.
5. Scale-up Apprenticeship programming for women by facilitating expansion of EQALY to other countries.
6. Amplify awareness on apprenticeships by driving communications and advocacy efforts, using mixed media mediums and channels.
7. Provide funding to support the scaling of successful models and system-strengthening efforts.
As noted by Executive Director of GAN Global, Kathryn Rowan, “When designed with equity at their core, apprenticeships not only create pathways to decent work for women, they strengthen communities and companies by building a more resilient, adaptable, and diverse talent pipeline.”
Speaking to the power of partnerships in driving large scale outcomes for young women, Deputy Director - Programmes of GenU, Urmila Sarkar shares “Public-private youth partnerships are essential to turning apprenticeships into powerful bridges from learning to earning. By centering the voices of young women, we can design programmes that respond to their unique challenges and unlock their full potential.”
Noting the efforts of ILO in advancing quality apprenticeships for all, Senior Skills and Lifelong Learning Specialist at ILO, Patrick Daru stated, "Quality apprenticeships unlock potential - giving women and men the competencies to thrive, businesses the talent to grow, and inclusive societies the foundations to flourish."
Bringing the youth perspective on apprenticeships, Amania Algoni from Central African Republic, and a Member of GenU's Young People's Action Team shared, “Investing in quality apprenticeships for young women, particularly in the digital field, means investing in a future where their skills and leadership can drive innovation and social change.”
*UNICEF does not endorse any brand, company, product or service.
Reference
1 Demographic dividend refers to the accelerated economic growth spurred by changes in demographic structure, corresponding to a period in a country’s demographic transition when the proportion of working age population compared to the number of dependents increases rapidly.
