Empowerment Post-Education: Women’s Resources, Agency and Achievements following School Dropout in Livingstone, Zambia

Abstract

School completion is frequently positioned as a linear pathway to empowerment, commonly equated with economic gains and productivity. This dominant narrative in development discourse tends to marginalize women who leave school early by implicitly framing them as disempowered. In Zambia, where dropout rates among young women remain high, the lived experiences of these women challenge this assumption. Their stories reveal that empowerment can manifest beyond completed education and in ways that are not solely economically driven. Yet, such experiences are largely absent in mainstream development discourse, as they deviate from the conventional education-empowerment trajectory. This study addresses this empirical gap by exploring the forms of empowerment present in the lives of women who did not complete their education, and by examining how their educational background influences their lives today. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with seven women connected to an educational organization in Livingstone, Zambia. Using qualitative content analysis and Naila Kabeer’s (1999) framework of resources, agency and achievements, the findings reveal both instrumental and intrinsic forms of empowerment that extend beyond formal educational attainment. Even incomplete or low-quality education had a lasting impact on how these women navigate their careers and personal lives. Empowerment was expressed through income generation, practical skills, social relationships, self-reliance, future aspirations and contributions to household stability. Three forms of empowerment were thus identified: economic, aspirational and relational. The study underscores the need for development actors to adopt more context-sensitive approaches that recognize and validate diverse, non-linear pathways to women's empowerment.