Gender-role stereotypes are barriers to women trying to access education, choosing the course they want to study (for example, nursing versus engineering) and participating in lifelong learning. And in the job market, salaries, promotion opportunities and professional development all reflect gender inequalities. In both cases – a professional career and access to education and lifelong learning – reality shows that the personal factors derived from caring for dependent persons and greater family responsibilities are the main causes of the inequalities between men and women. This situation creates an unequal society in which the variable gender must be taken into account together with social class, educational attainment, ethnicity, family responsibilities, and background to get an in-depth picture of the situation of women.

In 2011, the project entitled ‘Social class, gender, participation and lifelong learning’ (GLAS) officially started, platforming the HEFCE initiative of Lifelong Learning Networks in Europe by comparing, developing and disseminating best available practice in supporting the social inclusion and progression of working class individuals and, in particular women, in lifelong learning (see http://www. linkinglondon.ac.uk/europe for further information).

Today, the aim of this special edition of the International Journal of Organizations (Revista RIO) is not only to make the results of the project visible in two articles written by members of the consortium but also to go beyond the objectives of the project itself and provide readers with added value by including three studies that incorporate visions and perspectives in the field of lifelong learning.

One of these studies is written Karsten Krüger, Marti Parellada, Alba Molas, Laureano Jiménez, Mike Osborne and Muir Houston, all members of the THEMP project – Tertiary Higher Education for people in mid-life – whose article is entitled “The relevance of University Adult Education for labour market policies”. This study describes the results of an analysis of adult training programmes from the perspective of understanding lifelong learning as a tool of active labour market policies within the EU, and the importance of not forgetting that the assessment of lifelong learning must include the perspective of social effectiveness. Readers can find further information at the project’s website.

We are glad to make available to PASCAL readers the Special Issue of the Revista Internacional de Organizaciones devoted to GLAS, Gender and LLL, which will be available only in electronic format.

This isssue is featured below and also available online at the RIO website.

Kind regards,

Teresa Torres