A constant theme in the distance education literature has been the claim that distance systems offer parity of provision for men and women.

In late 1997 the Pennsylvania State University's Distance Education Online Symposium (DEOS) listerv developed a thread on the percentage of women in distance education World-wide.

The Open University of the United Kingdom, for instance, reports 48% men enrolled, and 52% women.

The conclusion of the listerv debate was that in global terms the percentage of women enrolled in distance systems was between 50% and 60%.

A further debate which attempts to ascertain whether these figures applied to electronic based, satellite based, and web-based provision, appeared inconclusive.

The Voctade enquiry accepts as reasonably credible these conclusions that distance systems offer parity of provision for men and women.