An Equal Opportunities Commission report says the government is failing to provide "real opportunity and choice for girls and boys entering work from school and college".

It said the government, employers and educationalists were to blame for not removing barriers "despite the interest of many young people and employers in opening up non-traditional work to the opposite sex".

Last year in England, just 22 women became plumbing apprentices compared to more than 3,000 men. And only 268 men took childcare courses while over 9,000 women opted for the apprenticeship.

The report came as education secretary Ruth Kelly accepted that comprehensive schools had failed to deliver a socially mobile population.