Young women’s (mother’s) needs and expectations regarding the development of professional competences – A comparative analysis of research results from Poland, Lithuania, Spain and Cyprus

Abstract

Over the last two decades, there has been a significant improvement in the participation of women in education and the labour market in the European Union. Nevertheless, there are still many challenges to improving the situation of women. The excessive burden of household duties is a major barrier to the educational and professional activity of women, especially young women with small children. Apart from the inability to balance work and personal life, other factors limiting women’s professional activity include the mismatch between their education and the challenges of the modern labour market. Although the majority of people with higher education are women, when planning their careers, they tend to choose less attractive courses of study which are not linked to the professions of the future. The text presents the results of an analysis of research on the needs and expectations of young women (mothers) regarding the development of professional competences. The results show in which types of activities raising competences the surveyed women participate; how they evaluate the effectiveness of activities raising their competences in the professional area; what factors influence the decision of women to participate in the selected form of training; what are the attitudes of the external environment of the surveyed women towards their participation in training; what problems the surveyed women encounter in connection with participation in training raising their professional competences. The focus was on similarities and differences in statements of young women (mothers) from Poland, Lithuania, Spain and Cyprus who participating in the international project Mommypreneurs.