Equal Opportunities and the European Social Fund: Discourse and practice

This paper explores the implications of the discourse of equal opportunities upon the training policies of the European Social Fund (ESF). Drawing on research findings, the paper focuses on the structures and processes by which the discourse of equal opportunities specifically influences the ESF's Objective 3 vocational training policies for unemployed women. The gender exclusivity of the discourse and lack of class or race analysis leads to the ESF's persistent emphasis on training unemployed working-class women in non-traditional manual skills. The paper has particular implications for those involved in ESF funded training who might, like the women in the case study, be experiencing feelings of unease and self-doubt concerning the achievable outcomes. The argument presented in this paper is that the discourse of equal opportunities itself mitgates against anything more than tokenistic success in terms of training related employment.