Post-primary education and capabilities: insights from young women in rural Uganda

This paper presents findings from the third stage of a longitudinal, qualitative study involving nine female participants from a class cohort in a secondary school in rural Uganda. Since 2004–05, this study has tracked the progress of these young women's lives, and the present aspect of the study explores the ways in which they have found that post-primary education has impacted their adult lives, particularly with respect to employment-related factors. I draw upon the conceptual construct of Amartya Sen's capabilities approach (1999) to interpret and present data. Findings considered in this paper indicate that post-primary education has been crucial to the capabilities development and socioeconomic well-being of the participants’ lives.