A literature review was conducted to determine the impact of secondary vocational education on females. Literature on the following topics was reviewed: women in the labor market (wages and occupations, the role of women's wages in family income, and the future labor market); the vocational education system (issues and problems in vocational education, occupational skills training, services to special groups, goals, and the 1990 Perkins Act amendments); and other proposals for a more formalized apprenticeship system for noncollege-bound youth and further integration of vocational-technical training in state and regional economic development efforts. Despite some evidence of declines in gender discrimination and despite the fact that women's wages have come to represent a larger proportion of total family income, established patterns of discrimination against women persist in the form of job segregation and wage discrimination. Although vocational education programs have had an impact on the employment and earnings of females, they have not succeeded in moving young women out of traditionally female occupations. Changes in this situation will depend largely on states' commitment to be more inclusive of women and minorities in vocational education (particularly in more technologically oriented fields). (MN)