Women will dominate many educational programmes on the post-upper secondary level traditionally dominated by men up until the year 2030. However, the number of men in the so-called female educational programmes is not increasing to the same degree.
Previously we spoke of traditionally "female" and "male" educational programmes. That is, educational programmes that are chosen by mainly women or mainly men. Today this assumption seems to be less relevant concerning post-upper secondary educational programmes. Women are now clearly represented in many long post-upper secondary educational programmes such as architecture, dentistry and veterinary science.
Above all, the level of education for women rose between 1990 and 2007. If today's pattern remains, it is assumed that 50 percent of women have a post-upper secondary education in 2030, compared to 39 percent in 2007. The corresponding figures for men are 36 percent in 2030 against 31 percent in 2007.
In turn, men retain and even strengthen their position among the technical industrial educational programmes at the upper secondary level. At the post-upper secondary level, male dominance will grow in computer programming and systems analysis.
Sex structure of occupations changes more slowly
The changed composition of educational programmes is also beginning to show on the labour market. A shift in genders is clearly seen for many occupations that require post-upper secondary competence. Today men are in the majority in the older age groups while women dominate in the younger brackets. This is observed for occupations such as agronomists, economists, jurists and doctors.