From aspirations to actions? Rethinking career support for young women

Researchers at CMI are studying how targeted career guidance can help young women in India turn their educational aspirations into action. One year into the process, what have we learned?

Despite rising education levels and rapid urbanisation, India still has one of the lowest shares of women in the workforce worldwide. Restrictive gender norms, mobility constraints, and limited career guidance often hinder the advancement of young women. Many complete secondary school but do not pursue further studies or skill development, frequently because they lack information about available options or feel pressure to prioritise family expectations.

To explore ways to bridge this gap between aspirations and outcomes, researchers Ankush Asri and Viola Asri at CMI, in collaboration with Anke Hoeffler at the University of Konstanz, evaluated the Career Exploration Programme developed by Alohomora Education Foundation. The programme supports students, primarily young women in their final year of secondary school, through guided sessions on self-assessment, identifying strengths and interests, exploring career options, and developing action plans. Facilitators, often women from similar backgrounds, help students connect ambitions with realistic steps forward. Participants also gained access to virtual learning resources and peer discussion groups, both in-person and remotely, using WhatsApp.

Research results recently published in the Journal of Development Economics indicate a clear difference between short-term and medium-term impacts of the programme. In the short term, right after the intervention, the programme had a positive impact on the students’ plans to continue their education.

“We found that students exposed to the program, and particularly those who participated regularly in the sessions, were more likely to plan for an entrance exam, often required for college and course enrolment in India. They were also more likely to consider their interests when choosing a career path, to know which occupation they wanted to have in the future, and to feel confident about their objectives”, says Viola Asri.

However, one year later, these intentions had not translated into measurable behavioural changes. A follow-up survey conducted over the phone reveals that treated students were no more likely to pursue further education or skill development than their peers who did not receive the program. Although treated students spent slightly less time on household work, these changes did not translate into measurable gains in further education.

“Structured career exploration can change how students think about their futures,” says Ankush Asri, “but social and structural barriers, financial limitations, parental expectations, and gender norms, continue to shape what’s possible for many young women.”

The study highlights an important lesson: inspiring ambition to empower is only the first step. To turn aspirations into action, we must also build environments that enable real empowerment for young women to follow through on their plans. For more information about the study and the results, see the open-access article here.

Inclusion Economics India Centre and the Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality” at the University of Konstanz provided crucial support in planning, designing, and executing the project. The authors gratefully acknowledge funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG - German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy — EXC-2035/1 — 390681379, from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and from the Thurgau Institute of Economics.

The project would not have been possible without the support of the co-founders of Alohomora Education Foundation, Parinita Jain and Divakar Sankhla.