Changes in the vocational and technical education (VTE) opportunities available for women in Organisation for Economic Cooperation Development (OECD) member countries in response to changing labor markets and job skill requirements were discussed at a June 1994 meeting of experts. The discussions focused on the following issues: gender differences in pathways in VTE; labor market/skill requirement trends; and developments in VTE structures, their implication, and opportunities for women. VTE policy discussions and activities in OECD countries over the past decades were determined to have been aimed primarily at increasing the participation of girls in technical courses. Although those policies/activities have yielded insight into the barriers that have excluded girls from VTE courses, their impact has remained limited. Although all VTE sectors and courses are "open" to both girls and boys, the following factors have in fact prevented girls and women from participating in VTE: historically constructed images of occupations suitable for each gender, gender-linked expectations and life patterns, actual discrimination, and more subtle exclusion mechanisms in the culture of workplaces and classrooms. The need to conduct VTE policy discussions from a gender perspective was emphasized. (Contains 17 references.) (MN)