Changes in the U.S. economy have increased the number of 25 to 54 year old women in the work force to about 74 percent. However, most of these women are segregated in low-wage jobs. Women often fall into those jobs because of sex-stereotyped vocational education enrollment and gender-related barriers in education and in their family and socioeconomic lives. Vocational education can make a difference in helping women to achieve better-paying jobs by supplying support for nontraditional enrollees, such as role models, job placement services, information on dealing with discrimination and harassment, staff training on gender bias, screening for health concerns that conflict with occupation, and encouragement to continue training and upgrading skills. The 1990 Perkins Act provides that states must use 7 percent of their basic state grant to do the following for single parents, displaced homemakers, and single pregnant women: (1) provide, subsidize, reimburse, or pay for preparatory services, including basic academic and occupational skills and materials in preparation for vocational education and training that will furnish them with marketable skills; (2) make grants to eligible recipients for expanding preparatory services and vocational education services to increase their marketable skills; (3) make grants to community-based organizations for providing preparatory and vocational education services to them; (4) make preparatory services and vocational education and training more accessible to them by assisting with dependent care, transportation, supplies, and more flexible scheduling; and (5) provide information to inform them of vocational education programs, related support services, and career counseling. Three percent of the 1990 Perkins state grants must be used to promote sex equity by providing programs, services, and comprehensive career guidance, support services, and preparatory services for girls and women. (Contains 42 references.) (KC)