“…Women often face more of a barrier to participation than men due to having children and other relatives to care for (Frazer and Ward 1988) and are, in consequence, unable to travel as far to institutions. On the other hand, women are more likely to gain an NVQ via government programmes (Shackleton and Walsh 1997), and a recent report suggests that, in fact, women and men train equally often, but that women' s episodes are briefer (DfEE 1997b).…”