0973703021998993.pdf

What Prevents Adolescent
Girls from Transitioning from
School to Work in India?
Insights from an Exploratory
Study in Rajasthan
Shireen J. Jejeebhoy1
and A. K. Shiva Kumar2
Abstract
Female labour force participation among young women in India is disturbingly low, and yet little evidence
is available regarding the factors likely to affect the school-to-work transition among the young. Data
from 325 girls aged 15–19 years and in-depth interviews with 10 of these girls and 9 of their mothers in
one block of Jodhpur district, obtained from a mixed-methods study in Rajasthan, explore girls’ aspira-
tions for professional, administrative or technical careers and factors likely constraining or facilitating
their articulation of such aspirations. Findings show that girls who aspired for a professional, administra-
tive or technical career were more likely than others to display better learning outcomes (odds ratio
= 1.31), greater work-related agency and a readiness to overcome community obstacles (odds ratio,
1.28) than those who did not aspire for a professional, administrative or technical career. They were
also more likely to be unmarried or married but residing in the natal home (odds ratio = 2.97) and
have supportive parents (odds ratio = 1.37). In-depth interviews corroborate these obstacles. Findings
underscore the need to empower girls and break down traditional norms held by girls, parents and
communities. On the programme front, it is important to ensure empowerment programmes for girls
and address the quality and girl-friendliness of education and vocational training opportunities.
Keywords
School-to-work, adolescent girls, career aspirations, agency, attitudes, Rajasthan
Introduction
The low and declining female work force participation in India as well as the widening of gender
disparities in labour force participation rates are matters of serious concern. Rates declined from 34.1%
Indian Journal of Human Development
15(1) 30–48, 2021
© 2021 Institute for
Human Development
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DOI: 10.1177/0973703021998993
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1
Aksha Centre for Equity and Wellbeing, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
2
Development Economist and Independent Researcher, New Delhi, India.
Corresponding author:
Shireen J. Jejeebhoy, Aksha Centre for Equity and Wellbeing, 16-A G. Deshmukh Marg, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
E-mail: sjejeebhoy@gmail.com
Article

Jejeebhoy and Kumar 31
in 1999–2000 to 25.6% in 2010 and further to 20.5% in 2019 (World Bank, 2020).1
However, much of
the work that women do is “unpaid family labour” which remains, by and large, invisible and hence is
not captured in the measurement of labour force participation. The irony is that while increasing
proportions of girls are completing secondary school and girls have succeeded in narrowing the gender
gap in educational attainment, they continue to lag in terms of entry into the labour force. Few girls make
the transition from school to a professional, administrative or technical career. In 2018, nearly half (48%)
of girls aged 15–24 years were not in education, employment or training as against far fewer (14%) boys
and young men (International Labour Organization (ILO), 2019). The COVID-19 pandemic raises
additional fears about the further shrinking and marginalisation of women in the workforce. This makes
the situation of girls and young women particularly precarious, given the high risks they face of being
pulled out of school or forced to get married early.
Why are so many girls and young women unlikely to make the transition from school to work?
Drawing on the findings from a small exploratory and mixed-method pilot study in Rajasthan, this article
explores the perspectives of adolescent girls aged 15–19 years—ages during which aspirations for career
are articulated and the school to work transition may be initiated, and those largely in the process of
making the school to work transition—about their aspirations about future careers and their intentions to
work. It also probes individual- family- and community-level factors likely constraining girls from
meeting their career aspirations or facilitating their achievement of these aspirations and identifies
factors distinguishing those with professional, administrative or technical career aspirations. We
acknowledge that while aspirations may not be a good proxy for whether a successful school to work
transition will be made, they give some idea of intentions to transition.
Study Setting and Design
The study was undertaken in one block of Jodhpur district in Rajasthan. Jodhpur district was purposively
selected because, in many ways, it resembles the state of Rajasthan. For example, the proportion of women
who are literate in both Jodhpur and Rajasthan is similar (56%–57%)—around 20 percentage points lower
than those reported by men. Early marriage and childbearing characterise the lives of many women. Nearly
35% of girls aged 20–24 years were married by age 18 in both the district and the state, and 6% of girls in
Rajasthan and 8% in Jodhpur aged 15–19 were already mothers or pregnant at the time of the 2015–2016
National Family Health Survey-4 (International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) and ICF, 2017).
Adherence to patriarchal and hierarchical gender norms is widespread in Jodhpur, as in all of Rajasthan,
and compromises the agency of women and girls, as well as their education and other outcomes.
The study was located in Luni, one of Jodhpur district’s 11 blocks. The block was selected purposively,
as it is located in relatively close proximity to Jodhpur (villages range from 35 to 80 km away), contains
a number of higher secondary schools, as well as one public skill training institution and several private
ones. Moreover, its proximity to Jodhpur makes it easier for girls in the block to have access to higher
education and skilling facilities, and a wider range of economic opportunities than do those in other
blocks of the district. Overall, the study was conducted in nine rural and urban settings, purposively
selected to include variations in terms of population size, percentages of socially disadvantaged groups
(Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes[SC/ST]), literacy levels and work force participation.
The survey conducted in February–March 2020 in these nine settings probed background
characteristics, as well as girls’ schooling, skilling and work profiles, access to the media, future
aspirations, gender role attitudes, self-efficacy, parental interaction and peer networks. In the first step,

32 Indian Journal of Human Development 15(1)
358 households having a girl aged 15–19 years were enumerated, and 329 household interviews were
successfully completed with an adult member of the household, giving a response rate of 92%. From
these households, all girls, married and unmarried, aged 15–19 years (337 in all) were invited for
interview, and 325 girls were successfully interviewed, giving a response rate of 96%.
To supplement the survey, in-depth interviews were conducted with girls and mothers to further
explore perceived challenges and facilitating factors underlying girls’ability to make the school-to-work
transition. In this phase, we interviewed 10 girls (aged 16–19 years) and 9 mothers of girls.We purposively
selected for interview girls who were studying in school and college, respectively, had undergone a
skilling programme, were employed, and were neither in school or college, nor employed nor undergoing
a skills training programme. Of the 10 girls interviewed, 2 were school-going, 5 were college going—of
whom 3 were also undergoing a training programme—and 1 was employed, 1 girl was undergoing full-
time skills training and 2 were not in education, employment or training. Five came from rural areas, and
the other five from urban areas. We also selected mothers based on the activity status of their daughter.
Socio-demographic characteristics of the nine mothers interviewed suggest that they were aged 38–52
years, three had no education, two had completed eight or fewer years of schooling and four had
completed a secondary school education. Six had three surviving children, one had two surviving
children and two had four or more children. Five had school-going daughters, two had college-going
daughters and two had daughters who were neither in school nor college, nor were they working or
undergoing training. Four came from rural areas and five from urban areas.
Our analysis is largely descriptive, relying on bivariate and multivariate techniques as well as insights
from textual data. While the survey deliberately over-sampled girls from urban areas, all findings are
weighted to represent Luni’s rural–urban distribution. We focus on career aspirations and the factors
facilitating or inhibiting the expression of aspirations for a professional, technical or administrative
career. Five key measures have been constructed, summing responses to a number of dichotomous
questions (assigning 0 to a negative response and 1 to a positive response):
1. Learning outcomes, using questions administered in the ASER surveys (ASER Centre, 2019),
summing eight correct responses: read a story fluently, can solve a division problem, can add
money of different denominations, understands weights, can do comparison shopping, knows the
capital of India, knows the name of state of residence and can identify at least one state adjoining
Rajasthan.
2. Awareness about opportunities for training and employment, summing the number of five
programmes, entitlements and opportunities, namely the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), the Rajasthan Skills and Livelihoods Development
scheme, and the National Urban and Rural Livelihoods Missions (NULM and NRLM), vocational
skills training centres and knowledge about employment exchanges and counselling centres, for
which girls are eligible.
3. Positive work-related attitudes for girls, summing positive attitudes on four questions: (a)
girls should be allowed to take up a job, (b) it is all right for a working girl or woman to
decide how to spend earnings, (c) it is all right for a woman to work after marriage even if
her husband is earning well and (d) a girl does not deserve to be beaten if she returns late
from work.
4. Perceptions about personal agency in employment matters, summing positive responses on eight
questions: would be involved in decisions on whether or not to go to work, would be permitted to
go alone to a job that is outside own village/ward, would advise a girl whose parents-in-law refuse
to allow her to accept an office job to take action to convince her in-laws, willing to accept work

outside the village/ward, even if the community speaks badly of her, will be able to travel alone
by public transport to a job, will be able to take a job that is far from home, would not fear teasing/
harassment if using public transport and will continue working when she marries.
5. Ownership and control over bank account, a dichotomous measure, assigned 0 if the girl does not
own or operate a bank account in any way, and 1 if she owns and performs at least one of the
following activities: keeps track of money, has mobility to visit bank, interacts with staff on her
own, and operates an ATM.
6. Parental support, summing positive perceptions about parental support in four matters: discussed
friends with parents, has consulted parents about what she wants to be in future, has told parents
about taking a job in future, and believes that parents consider it important for her to work.
To measure household economic status, we constructed a wealth index (as used in the Population
Council’s UDAYA survey (Santhya et al., 2017) comprising household asset data on the ownership of
selected durable goods, including means of transportation, as well as data on access to a number of
amenities. Households were divided into five quintiles.
Socio-Demographic and Household Characteristics
Almost all of the 325 girls interviewed were Hindu (96%) and 90% belonged to socially disadvantaged
castes and tribes. While almost all girls lived in households that had electricity (98%), fewer had access
to piped water (89%), a flush toilet (76%), or LPG cooking fuel (54%) and owned a television set (80%).
Household economic status was measured using a wealth index constructed from household asset data
on ownership of consumer goods, means of transportation, and also amenities. Index scores ranged from
0 to 22. Households were then ranked according to the index score and divided into quintiles (five
groups), with the wealthiest in the top two quintiles. In all, 33% of households fell into the better-off
quintiles. Adult educational attainment levels were modest: 22% of mothers and 65% of fathers of girls
in the survey had any formal education, and hardly any mothers (4%) and several fathers (23%) had
completed a secondary school education. Almost all girls lived in households that possessed a ration card
(96%), far fewer lived in households in which a member had accessed employment under MGNREGA
(56%) (Figures 1(a) and (b)).
Figure 1a. Household Amenities and Economic Status
Source: The authors.

What Are Girls Doing and What Do They Aspire For?
Overall, more than half of the 325 girls interviewed were pursuing an education (52%), about one in
eight (11%) was working for wages, and one in twenty was attending a skills training course (4%) at the
time of the interview. Some 7% were engaged in more than one activity. At the same time, two in five
girls (40%) were not engaged in any of these activities, that is, they fell into the NEET (not in education,
training or employment) category (Figure 2). Of those who had worked for wages, 89% had been
engaged in agricultural or non-agricultural labour. However, as many as 15% had been engaged in paid
seasonal work, that is, they worked for just a few days at a time not totalling more than two months (not
shown in the figure).
Figure 2. Current Activity Status of Girls
Figure 1b. Socioeconomic Characteristics of the Households

Career aspirations of girls varied. More than one-quarter (27%) did not aspire to engage in economic
activity. Several others (22%) aspired for occupations such as frontline work, tailoring and beauty parlour
activities that are typically low-paying and part time but would allow them flexibility in working hours
and in working from within their future marital home or village. In contrast, half (51%) aspired for
professional, administrative or technical occupations (Figure 3). Almost one quarter aspired to become a
teacher (25%), again a position that could potentially be secured within the marital village. In contrast,
nearly 14% of young girls aspired for a career that called for work outside the home setting, for example,
in the police or armed forces and 11% aspired for other professional roles such as doctors, lawyers,
engineers and administrative work.
In-depth interviews corroborate that, in general, government jobs were highly prized, including
teaching, health care, police, army and administration, and several girls expressed interest in a career that
would raise their image or their family’s image within their community. For example:
In the future, I just want to join the Rajasthan Administrative Service (RAS), and if I get anything else, I won’t
take it. I suppose if the economic situation becomes such, then I will have to compromise and take something
else. My marriage depends on my family. If they say that I have to marry, I will, but I haven’t thought about
this yet. If I join the RAS, I will make my family proud of me. Above all, I want people in my father’s family to
respect me, that’s my dream [Girl, age 18, completed Class 12, pursuing education through correspondence and
training, urban].
Figure 3. Future Career Aspirations

Several mothers also favoured careers for their daughters. For many, however, their ambitions reflected
the traditional patriarchal norms pervasive in this setting. . Like girls, many mothers preferred occupations
that could be undertaken within or in locations in close proximity to the home village or urban area.
Many favoured “female” careers, such as teaching or frontline health work, that would be “respectable”
and could be pursued within their daughter’s marital village.
Challenges to Meeting Career Aspirations
While career aspirations are ambitious, challenges exist, at individual-, parental- and community-levels
that may affect girls’ preparedness and employability. At the individual girl level, these include
compromised schooling and basic schooling grounding, limited access to training, and early marriage, as
well as lack of knowledge of employment programmes and exposure to soft skills, persisting traditional
attitudes, limited agency and perceived inability to overcome obstacles in acquiring and sustaining
employment. Moreover, limited parental engagement and traditional attitudes about opportunities for
girls may adversely influence the trajectory of the lives of girls. Community norms, not directly addressed
here, underlie many of the obstacles girls and parents face in enabling girls a successful transition to
work and to fulfilling career aspirations. Key challenges (Table 1) include the following.
1. Schooling Outcomes Remain a Concern
While many girls aspired for a professional, technical or administrative career, schooling outcomes
suggest that many girls were insufficiently qualified to meet eligibility criteria for market-oriented
skills building programmes or a higher secondary or college education required to enable them to
pursue their career aspirations. For one, considerable proportions had discontinued their education
before they had completed a secondary school education. Second, grade-for-age has not been
achieved. For example, by age 15, girls should have completed Class 9 (or 10) but fewer than three
in four (71%) had completed Class 9 and less than two in five had completed Class 10 (37%).
Third, learning outcomes are poor. Overall, whereas all girls should have completed at least
Class 4, only 70% of girls were able to read a Class 2 text fluently, and just 28% were able to solve
a three-digit long-division problem. Only 67% of girls were able to add up money of different
denominations, 44% were able to add up different weights in kilograms and grams, and 37%
could do comparative shopping. Basic general knowledge was also limited – just 72% knew the
name of the state in which they resided, 61% knew the capital of India, and 28% could identify a
state neighbouring their own. On average, girls responded correctly to four of the eight issues
probed, and one in eight provided correct answers to all eight questions.
2. Access to Skills Training Is Limited and Not Necessarily Linked to Future Employment
Opportunities
Overall, the reach of skills training was limited. Only 4% of girls were undergoing training at the
time of the survey (Figure 3), and 17% had ever undergone training. Of those who had ever
undergone a skill-development programme, one-third learned tailoring and a few (4%) had
learned beauty parlour skills or crafts skills, all of which they intended to use, for the most part,
within the home. In addition, half (51%) had undertaken a course in basic computer literacy,
which may not have immediate employment potential. In contrast, relatively fewer had undertaken
a course for which market demand may be greater, such as comprehensive computer operation
and basic programming (6%) or skilled mechanical work (6%). One quarter cited computer

Table 1. Likely Challenges in Meeting Career Aspirations
Total1
Educational Attainment and Learning Outcomes
Completed class 9 (%) 71.2
Completed class 10 (%) 36.9
Can read a story fluently 69.9
Can solve a division problem 28.1
Can add money of different denominations 66.8
Understands weights 44.0
Can do comparison shopping 36.6
Knows the capital of India 61.4
Knows the name of state of residence 72.0
Can identify at least one state adjoining Rajasthan 28.1
Mean number of correct responses (of 8) on learning outcomes 4.1
Vocational Training Experience (of 60 Girls Who Had Ever Undertaken Training)
Tailoring 32.7
Crafts, beauty parlour, other 3.6
Computer literacy 51.0
Computer operator and programming assistant 5.5
Skilled mechanical work (plumber, AC/fridge repair, diesel mechanic etc) 5.7
Marital Status
Married and co-residing with husband 11.4
Married, gauna not performed 18.2
Unmarried 70.3
Knowledge about Available Government Schemes
Heard about MNREGA 96.6
Heard about the Rajasthan Skill and Livelihoods Development scheme2
71.2
Heard about NULM or NRLM 76.1
Know a vocational skills training centre under the above 29.3
Know about an employment exchange/employment counselling centre 15.2
Mean number of programmes known (0–5) 2.9
Knows what a CV is 49.4
Work Related Attitudes for Girls in General
Girls should be allowed to take up a job 98.9
All right for a working girl/woman to decide how to spend earnings 93.7
All right for a woman to work after marriage if husband is earning well 84.8
Girl does not deserve to be beaten if she returns late from work 94.2
Mean number of attitudes held (of 4) 3.7
Perceptions about Personal Agency about Employment Matters
Willing to accept work outside the village/ward, even if community speaks badly of her 72.3
Would advise a girl whose parents-in-law refuse to allow her to accept an office job to take action
to convince her in-laws
71.6
Will be able to travel alone by public transport to a job 60.3
Will be able to take a job that is far from home 56.5
Is/would be involved in decisions on whether or not to go to work 52.3
Would be permitted to go alone to a job that is outside own village/ward 50.3
Would not fear teasing/harassment if using public transport 47.0
Would continue job when she marries 35.9
Mean number of positive perceptions about work-related agency (0–8) 4.6
(Table 1 continued)

literacy or programming, for most, with an eye to enhance their ability to use smartphones rather
than to secure employment. Only 2% of girls reported a desire to be trained in other skills,
including as an electrician or a nurse’s aide. In comparison to rural girls, urban girls were more
likely to have undertaken market-driven courses, such as computer operations and repair of
appliances (not shown in Table 1). Training is perceived either as a stepping stone or prerequisite
for a government job or a job in the railways, or else as a fallback in case career or higher
education aspirations are not fulfilled.
3. Child and Early Marriage Remain Continue to Deny Girls Their Freedoms to Pursue
Employment Opportunities
Child marriage remains widely prevalent in Rajasthan. Our survey reveals that 11% of girls aged
15–19 were already married and living in the marital home, 18% were married and residing in the
natal home until their gauna2
ceremony is performed and only 70% were unmarried.
The denial of freedom to girls to make marital choices is shocking. Of married girls or those who
were engaged, almost all (97%) had been excluded from decisions relating to the choice of husband or
timing of marriage. Of those unmarried, 78% expected to be excluded from such decisions (not shown
in Table 1). Many girls recognised their exclusion from marriage-related decisions:
I don’t know, I will marry after I am 18, anyway I don’t want to leave my parents. Among us, in this village, no
one asks the girl. They do it according to what they like. No one will ask me. They will make me marry when they
want, after asking the old people in the family. [Girl, age 15, completed Class 9, in school, rural]
As of now, there has been no talk of my marriage. When it starts, we will see. But I will try to first get a
government job and then marry, say when I am 24–25. Yes, they will ask my opinion. It is my marriage: so I will
meet the boy and the boy will meet me and if we both like each other, then only the marriage will happen. In the
old days, this didn’t happen. But now it’s different. Even my uncle’s daughter got married like this. Nowadays
people are educated so they don’t think like before and do the same whether it’s a son or a daughter [Girl, age 18,
completed 2nd year of college, in college and working, urban].
Attitudes about giving daughters a voice in marriage related decisions also varied considerably by education
and residence. Poorly educated and rural mothers’ attitudes were largely traditional. For example:
We will marry her once she is 21, because by then she will be able to take care of her home, and she will have
completed her education. Yes, we will take her opinion, show her the boy’s photo, but we won’t let her marry
Total1
Owns and Controls a Bank Account
Ownership and control of own account (goes to bank unescorted, interacts independently with
bank staff, operates ATM independently)
41.7
Parental Communication
In general, discusses school matters, friends etc with parents 86.6
Has discussed what she wants to be in future with parents 56.8
Has talked to parents about taking a job in future 49.0
Parents consider it important for daughter to work 65.3
Parental support index (0–5 items above) (mean) 2.8
Number of Girls 325
Note:1
weighted to represent Luni’s rural–urban distribution.
(Table 1 continued)

someone of her own choice. For my son, even if he is not working by the age of 22–23, we have to agree if
he wants to marry someone of his own choice. Or else he might threaten to marry her and go away from us.
We have no cares about our son; he is a boy [Mother, age 40, no formal education, daughter completed Class
12, rural].
Yes, she is married, but we are yet to perform her gauna (muklawa). Yes, we told her ‘now you are 17–18, we will
have to perform your marriage,’and she agreed. She said ‘whatever you want.’So we told her about this boy, and
his family, and asked if she would like to marry him. Our family decided on the match, and then we asked my
daughter, and she agreed. We haven’t thought about when to perform our son’s marriage, and haven’t yet found
a suitable girl. We will perform his wedding after he is 21–22. [Mother, age 50, no formal education, daughter
studying in Class 13 from home, rural].
In contrast, better educated and urban mothers were far more likely to express attitudes favouring their
daughters’ involvement in marriage related decisions:
I have just this one thought: that one should not marry a girl till she is standing on her own two feet, say even as
late as 25–26. And she must approve the boy and his family. After all, she has to spend her whole life with him.
For my son too. Although my children are not like that, if my daughter chooses someone herself-and these days,
this is happening - we will allow her to marry him. But we will see that he is a good boy, and is earning well. My
elder daughter married at 20. Her grandfather insisted that he wanted to see her married before he dies. I wanted
to wait till she is 25–26 and can stand on her own feet. But I couldn’t make that decision alone [Mother, age 42,
completed BEd, daughter in Class 11, urban].
4. Knowledge about Opportunities for Training and Employment Opportunities Vary and
Knowledge about CV Preparation Was Limited
A large proportion of girls had heard about various employment and training schemes. For
instance, almost all girls had heard about MNREGA (97%), somewhat fewer (71–76%) had heard
about the Rajasthan Skills and Livelihoods Development scheme and the National Urban and
Rural Livelihoods Missions (NULM and NRLM). However, only 29% knew about vocational
skills training centres and 15% about employment exchanges and counselling centres. On average,
girls were aware of three of these programme opportunities. Moreover, only around half (49%) of
the girls were aware about what a curriculum vita (CV) is.
5. While Many Girls and Even Some Mothers Approved of Employment for Girls, Traditional
Norms Remain Strong: Maintaining the Family Reputation Remains Paramount in Defining
the Freedom Accorded to Girls and Enabling Their Access to Higher Education and
Employment
Girls’ own attitudes and expressions of agency are in flux. An overwhelming majority of girls
held attitudes that supported work for girls in general. Almost all the girls (99%) believed that
girls should be allowed to take up a job, 94% felt that it is acceptable for a working woman or girl
to control her own earnings, 85% agreed that a woman should not have to withdraw from the
workforce if her husband is earning well, and 94% felt that girls should not be punished for
returning late from work.

A majority of girls (72%) was willing to take up employment outside their village or ward,
even if it meant that community members would cast aspersions and tarnish their reputations as
well as that of their family if they opted to go out of the village (or ward) to pursue higher
education, training or a career. A similar proportion reported in a vignette that they would advise
a girl to negotiate with her gatekeepers—parents, older family members, even influential

community members—in overcoming resistance (72%).At the same time, many girls (60%) were
confident that they would be able to accept employment that required them to travel alone by
public transport or take a job that is far from home (57%). Around half (52%) believed that they
would insist on participating in work related decisions or having the freedom of movement to
accept employment outside their own village or urban area (50%). About half (47%) reported that
they did not fear teasing and harassment while on public transport, and just over one-third (36%)
were confident that they would be able to ensure that they continued to work once married. Also,
a reflection of girls’ agency was the finding that 42% of girls owned and controlled their own
bank account.
Mothers also recognised adverse social attitudes and norms and their role in thwarting girls’
further education or career aspirations. A rural mother with no formal education and the well-
educated (BEd) mother of a girl studying in Class 12, respectively, reported similar concerns:
A boy can stay away for many days, and it is no problem. But a girl cannot leave the house for even one day
[Mother, age 40, no formal education, daughter filling forms for Class 13, rural].
Our society is quite “backward.” People still have old fashioned ideas. Their education is limited, so they
say that girls should not be educated much as this will make them change their minds. So it is good to
perform their marriage at a young age and send them to their in-laws’ home. Now, in our society, girls are
made to marry at 17–18 or earlier, and then the gauna ceremony is performed when they are older. Things
have improved to some extent from earlier. Sometimes people say that there will be a problem in getting a
girl married if she is qualified or educated or has a job [Mother, age 39, completed BEd., daughter studying
in Class 12].
Mothers confirm the severe restrictions placed on the mobility of girls vis-a’-vis boys. Whether for
education or careers, access to opportunities for girls was overwhelmingly determined by physical
accessibility, with relatively fewer mothers willing to permit their daughters to travel long distances, use
public transport or accept opportunities away from home. Narratives repeatedly alluded to distance as a
deterrent, whether to colleges, training institutions or employment.
I won’t send her to regular college but will have her do her college education through open university. There
is no point in sending her to regular college. She can study Arts in open university as well. For example, Kota
University is far away. So it’s better to study via open university and then go to Jodhpur just for exams… [Mother
ID2, age 39, completed B.Ed., daughter in Class 11, urban].
My mummy-papa have told me from childhood that I am not allowed to go out: so as if they would send me now.
I have never been out of the house alone, not for work or for anything else. I have never done any work. I just do
housework, and there’s a lot of that. I haven’t thought at all about my future [Girl, age 15, no formal education,
not in education, employment or training (NEET), rural].
It is widely perceived that college-going girls and those pursuing a career have opportunities to mix with
and develop relations with boys. This can make the girls ‘go astray,’ lose their virginity, soil their own
and their family’s izzat or reputation, and reduce chances of a good match. Several girls and mothers
acknowledged this perception. For example:
Some people say that the girl goes out and no one knows where she goes. She should not be allowed to go alone.
She will spoil the honour of her parents. She can be raped, like what happened in Delhi. Even I have seen on
the news about the number of rapes that are happening: so people say that it can happen here. That’s why in

our village we don’t allow girls to go anywhere alone, not even to the shops or a friend’s house. And no one
will marry the girl if she is raped. And news about rape incidents spreads from village to village [Girl, age 18,
completed Class 10, not in education, employment or training (NEET), rural].
Some mothers, typically rural and poorly educated, strongly adhered to this traditional norm and feared
for the reputation of their daughter and the family, even while they permitted their daughter to complete
a secondary education. For example:
If she goes away [for college/work] and is living away and some accident or gadbad [bad incident] like the girl
runs away with a boy, or gets murdered, kidnapped, raped, then what? We should not send girls from our family
out. Times are not good. You can’t send girls out alone. You hear nowadays that girls run away. So one feels a bit
scared. We can’t send her…. If a girl goes off with someone and gets married, we will have to hold our heads in
shame. Our society will keep passing comments. I would be afraid of that. In our area, if a girl runs off with a boy
(galatkaam), she won’t be allowed back home. The family members will kill her. This happens among us. That’s
why we don’t send girls out [Mother, age 40, no formal education, daughter in Class 12, rural].
Even the better educated who were ready to provide their daughter a college education adhered to
traditional norms about girls’ freedom of movement. For example:
We are ready to allow her to study wherever she wants and gets admission. If she wants to go to college, she will
have to go by scooty (a scooter). Going by bus is not possible; it is not safe. We will only send her by scooty, if
college is far from here. If she lives in a hostel, then its okay. Hostels are safe. [Mother, age 52, completed Class
12, daughter in Class 10, urban].
Yes, I will permit her to study in college. But if it is far and she has to live there, then her papa or I, at least one
adult, would have to stay with her. We won’t let her stay alone, at least not till she is married… My son is already
out and living in a hostel. We care (worry) about even what he is doing. [Mother, age 38, completed Class 10,
daughter studying in Class 11, rural].
6. Parental Support Is Critical But It Varies.
Parental support and encouragement of girls’ aspirations vary with some girls and mothers
suggesting that the parent–daughter relationship remains traditional, and others reporting greater
support and encouragement. A majority (87%) of girls had discussed everyday matters, such as
what happened in school or among friends, with one or both parents. However, far fewer had
discussed or had talked with parents about more personal subjects—their career aspirations (57%)
or taking up a job in the future (49%). Just two out of three (65%) believed that their parents
considered it important for them to work.
In general, poorly educated mothers were less willing than their better educated counterparts
to support their daughter to take a job before arranging her marriage. Below are some extreme
views reported by mothers.Afew mothers, poorly educated for the most part, continued to impose
traditional patriarchal restrictions on their daughters. For example:
No: I won’t let her go if she has to live away. My daughter’s upbringing is such that she may not go out alone,
she must stay at home…She can take a course that she can do at home such as singing, playing an instrument,
but not out of the home. This is our tradition….[Mother, age 40, no formal education, daughter filling forms for
Class 13, rural].
In contrast, a few better educated and urban mothers were extremely supportive of their daughters and
had high aspirations for them:

After she finishes college, she dreams of getting a government job, or becoming a lawyer, so that she can help
me. That’s why I will do whatever I can do to fulfil her dream. I will do what I can to encourage her to study
however much she wants to. Whatever I earn goes towards her education [Mother, age 46, completed Class 8,
daughter in Class 12, urban].
Yes: she wants to study fashion design in Bangalore, and she has our full permission if she gets selected. We
will send her there if this is her dream. She could just as easily go to Jodhpur and there is transport for her to
commute. She even knows how to drive a vehicle. Yes, we will bear the expenses. [Mother, age 42, completed
B.Ed., daughter in Class 11, urban].
Factors Shaping Aspirations for a Professional, Technical or
Administrative Career
Findings suggest that several of the likely challenges discussed above do indeed shape girls’aspirations
for a professional, administrative or technical career. A bivariate analysis (Table 2) reveals that
aspirations for a professional, administrative or technical career were expressed by 7% of those with
no formal education or just 1–4 years of schooling, compared to 71%–73% among those with at least
a secondary or higher secondary school education. Such aspirations were also expressed by an
unrealistic 17% of those with poor learning outcomes (who responded correctly to 0–2 questions), to
75% of those who responded correctly to 7–8 questions. Likewise, more girls (63%) who had
Table 2. Associations between Schooling, Training and Marital Status Indicators and Aspirations for a
Professional, Administrative or Technical Career
Aspirations for a Professional, Administrative or
Technical Career (%)
Years of Schooling Completed ***
No formal education or completed 1–4 years 7.0
Completed 5–7 years 27.7
Learning Outcomes(0–8) ***
0–2 17.0
3–4 53.6
5–6 70.4
7–8 74.7
Lifetime Experience of Training *
No 48.7
Yes 63.3
Marital Status ***
Married and co-residing with husband 16.7
Married, gauna not performed 54.2
Unmarried 56.1
Note: Significance levels: ~: 0.10; *: 05; **: 0.01; ***: 0.001.

Table 3. Associations between Knowledge, Attitude, Agency and Support-Related Indicators and Aspirations
for a Professional, Administrative or Technical Career
Aspirations for a Professional,
Administrative or Technical Career (%)
Number of Programmes Known (0–5) ***
0–3 programmes 45.2
4–5 programmes 63.9
Awareness about CV Preparation ***
No 36.3
Yes 66.1
Work-Related Attitudes for Girls in General (0–4) **
0–2 25.0
3 40.0
4 55.1
Perceptions about Personal Agency about Employment Matters (0–8) ***
0–2 14.3
3–4 47.5
5–6 68.9
7–8 70.7
Ownership and Control of Bank Account ***
No 42.8
Yes 63.0
Perceptions about Parental Support ***
0 0.0
1 20.6
2 40.9
3 48.0
4 71.0
undergone a training course than those who had not (49%) expressed career aspirations. Moreover, far
fewer married than unmarried girls, and in particular, those already residing with the marital family—
just 17% compared to 54% of married girls residing in their natal home and 56% of unmarried girls
expressed such aspirations.
Bivariate findings also suggest that awareness and exposure to counselling about available facilities
were significantly associated with girls’ aspirations for a professional, administrative or technical career
(Table 3). For example, while career aspirations were expressed by 64% of those aware of 4–5 available
technical training programmes and opportunities, they were expressed by just 45% of those aware of 0–3
entitlement programmes. Likewise, career aspirations were positively associated with knowledge about
preparing a curriculum vita (66% versus 36%, respectively).
Perceptions about the acceptability of careers for girls, about their own agency about employment
matters and willingness to challenge possible negative reactions to their working outside the village or
ward, and their perceptions about parental support also matter (Table 3). More girls who held positive
attitudes about the acceptability of careers for girls aspired for a professional, administrative or technical
career than girls with more negative attitudes (55% versus 25%). Girls’ perceived agency about

employment matters also counts, as evident from a comparison of those expressing agency in 5 or more
of 8 employment matters and those expressing agency in just 0–2. Those who expressed agency about
employment matters and willingness to challenge possible negative reactions to their working outside
the village or ward (69–71%) were more likely to express career aspirations than those whose agency
was compromised (14%). Ownership and control over bank accounts were also important: while 43% of
those who did not own and control their bank account in any way aspired to these careers, 63% of those
who controlled their account so aspired.
Finally, girls’ perceptions about parental support play an important role in girls’ aspirations for a
professional, administrative or technical career (Table 3). While none of the girls who reported no
parental support so aspired, this percentage increased to 21% among girls who reported support on just
one of the four items probed, and 71% among those who reported support on all four.
Findings of the multivariate logistic analysis show that only a few of the bivariate associations
identified above remained significant after adjusting for other girl-level correlates, and background
factors such as age, household wealth status, mother’s educational attainment level, caste and urban–
rural residence (Table 4).
The odds that a girl aspired for a professional, administrative or technical career were greater among
those who displayed higher learning outcomes (odds ratio, 1.31), and displayed work-related agency and
a readiness to overcome community obstacles (odds ratio, 1.28). Parental support was significant: the
odds that a girl aspired for a professional, administrative or technical career were considerably higher
among those expressing supportive parents than others (odds ratio, 1.37). Marital status is also key.
Compared to those married and cohabiting with their husband, those who were either unmarried or
married and residing in the natal home (whose gauna had not been performed) were more likely to report
career aspirations (odds ratio, 2.97).
Table 4. Odds Ratios (and 95% Confidence Intervals) from Logistic Analysis Assessing Relationship between
Selected Indicators and Career Aspirations
Measure Odds Ratios
Learning outcomes score (0–8) 1.31 (1.14–1.51)***
Ever undergone a training programme 1.11 (0.51–2.42)
Unmarried or married without gauna (R=married) 2.97 (0.96–9.13*
Number of programmes known (0–5) 1.11 (0.83–1.49)
Knowledge about CV 1.25 (0.67–2.32)
Attitude to work (0–4) 1.31 (0.80–2.13)
Agency regarding work (0–8) 1.28 (0.81–2.13)***
Access to and control over bank account 1.26 (0.70–2.27)
Parent support (0–4) 1.37 (1.04–1.81)*
Age 0.85 (0.69–1.05)
Number of completed years of education of mother 1.00 (0.91–1.09)
Wealth status of household (quintile) 0.90 (0.72–1.14)
Caste (R=socially excluded castes SC/ST/OBC) 0.68 (0.27–1.71)
Urban residence (R=rural) 0.58 (0.31–1.11)

Summary
Findings of the survey confirm that whereas Rajasthan society is in transition, adherence to
traditional patriarchal norms continues to set the pace of change in many ways. Contradictions are
apparent and several factors continue to thwart or facilitate girls’ likelihood of holding pro-career
aspirations. On the positive side, education is highly valued, and girls and mothers acknowledge
almost universally the need to educate girls. Moreover, although gendered socialisation continues
to be the norm, several girls are ready to counter traditional curbs on their movement, and perceive
that they have the agency to pursue employment and counter traditional boundaries on where and
what kind of work a girl can do. Yet there are many negatives. Learning outcomes are compromised
for many, raising questions about employability. Marriage continues to take place early, denying
many girls the opportunity to make a successful school-to work transition. Most mothers are not so
clearly in favour of supporting girls to make unhindered school-to-work decisions and pursue an
education or career according to their own preferences, although findings have shown that the role
of parents is an important factor influencing girls’ career choices. Girls with supportive parents,
namely those who encourage girls to consider a career, are significantly more likely than others to
hold aspirations for a professional, administrative or technical career. Finally, persistent patriarchal
community norms continue to deny rights to women and girls. These norms collectively limit girls’
horizons with regard to their futures.
Positive deviants or those who did not conform to traditional norms do, however, exist. Several
girls and mothers were willing to counter societal pressures, staunchly supporting the idea of ensuring
that they or their daughters, respectively, should stand on their own feet. These girls acknowledged
their parents’ support and encouragement, aspired for non-traditional careers in which men also
engage—appliance repair, computer programming, teaching, law, medicine, engineering and even
piloting aircraft. Mothers in turn expressed parents’financial and emotional support for their daughter,
and a willingness to defer their daughter’s marriage until after she had established her career or
completed her education.
Study Limitations
Limitations of this study are important to note. For one, the small sample size for this exploratory
investigation makes insights somewhat tentative. Subgroup analysis also becomes difficult to perform.
Moreover, the survey sampled adolescents aged 15–19 years, and contained very few girls who were
actively pursuing a career path. As a result, the pathways girls take to realise or revise career aspirations
could not be probed. And because no more than a few girls in study areas were engaged in skills training
or were employed, the experiences of these groups could not be probed. Hence, while the study relies on
understanding girls’ aspirations for a professional, administrative or technical career, an obvious
prerequisite on the pathway from school to work, it falls short of assessing girls’ actual achievements in
such careers. In addition, the absence of a male perspective has meant that little can be inferred about
power dynamics and the relative access to resources among boys and girls. Finally, the study took place
in January and February 2020—a couple of months prior to the COVID-19 crisis and the lockdown.
Pandemic related consequences may be far more severe for girls than for boys as the findings of this
study have suggested in pre-COVID-19 times and may result in fewer girls opting for or allowed to opt
for a career, and fewer girls with aspirations achieving them.

A Call to Action
Despite these limitations, findings call for action on several fronts that will encourage more girls to have
career aspirations, and make an informed school to work transition.
First, poor learning outcomes remain a huge impediment deterring girls from even aspiring for
careers, and there is a need to ensure that disadvantaged girls (and boys) get a chance to catch up. School
quality must no doubt be addressed, but at the same time, evidence-informed strategies, such as
supplementary ‘remedial’ coaching delivered by volunteers with little formal training, and school-and
camp-based ‘teaching at the Right Level’ (TaRL) need to be replicated (Banerjee et al., 2007;
Lakshminarayana et al., 2013).
Second, relevant for improving schooling outcomes are cash transfers to keep girls in school and
college. Conditional cash transfers, scholarships and other forms of financial assistance need to be
extended to girls not only to enable poor families to enable the capacity building of their girls, but also
to serve as an incentive to parents who may otherwise be unwilling to invest in the education or training
of their daughters.
Third, as articulated in the recent National Policy on Education 2020 (Ministry of Human Resource
Development, 2020) and supported in several recent studies, job preparation should be incorporated
within secondary schools, colleges and vocational training institutes, by way of career counselling and
employability skills (for promising strategies, see ILO, 2012; Jensen 2012; Nanda et al., 2017;
Stavropoulou, 2018; World Bank, 2016). Girls also need to be informed about financial support
opportunities for which they may be eligible, as well as job search mechanisms aside from the widely
used word-of-mouth approach. And finally, they must be exposed to soft skills—preparing applications
for scholarships, college, training or employment opportunities, preparing a CV, appearing for an
interview, and communication and negotiation skills.
Fourth, vocational skilling options must be more attractive to girls. Access issues must be addressed
and efforts made to bring training opportunities physically as close to home as possible. Arranging
satellite training facilities close to home and providing transportation may be workable strategies. At the
same time, efforts to inform, support and mentor rural girls to think about and opt for new professions
outside the scope of traditionally accepted areas must be pursued. Fears for girls’ safety while using
public transport and fears about poor residential facilities must be overturned. Girls’hostels must become
more widely available, and training institutions may consider courses provided via satellite facilities
established at temporary locations in different sub-block zones.
Fifth, parents and families, as well as communities more generally, should be encouraged and
motivated to be more supportive of girls and their empowerment. They (particularly fathers and men in
the community) must be encouraged to recognise girls’potential and socialise their daughters to exercise
agency and make their own life choices rather than controlling these decisions themselves. Efforts must
be tailored to reaching women and men through forums in which they are known to participate, such as,
Self Help Groups, Anganwadi centres and monthly Village Health and Nutrition Days, farmers’ forums,
saving and loan forums, meetings held by locally elected representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions,
and, of course, parent–teacher meetings and other school-based interactions. Norms opposing delayed
marriage and economic independence for girls must be confronted, and parents must be sensitised to
recognise the importance of educating and skilling daughters and guiding them towards future
employment.Normsaboutfamilyhonourorizzatbeingshapedbygirls’virginity,andtheinappropriateness
of accepting financial resources from a married must be addressed. In the shorter term, parents and
communities must be better informed about laws prohibiting child marriage, not just the minimum legal
age, but rather penalties for violations as well.

Sixth, programmes should publicly recognise positive role models, namely, local girls—and parents
of girls—who have deviated from traditional norms, built a career and are admired by their family and
their community. Such positive role models have been found, anecdotally and in a few studies, to be
successful in empowering other girls to adopt new behaviours and allaying parental fears about their
daughters’ potential loss of reputation.
Finally, more research is needed to identify factors facilitating and inhibiting girls’transitions to work
and their ability to realise aspirations. There is a need to test and evaluate the effectiveness of programmes
intended to support girls in making the school-to-work transition.
These recommendations become all the more necessary to fulfil against the backdrop of the COVID-
19 pandemic. Evidence from previous crises and disasters that have taken place in India and elsewhere,
suggests that consequences of the pandemic for girls’lives will be severe. Not only are learning outcomes
likely to be affected but many girls may also face premature withdrawal from education. As a result,
child, early and forced marriage could increase (see Azevedo et al., 2020; Girls Not Brides, 2018; Plan
International, 2020; The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, 2020; UNFPA 2020).
Moreover, the COVID-19 crisis could exacerbate the huge obstacles that girls already face by way of
strong negative patriarchal norms in making the transition from school to work. Girls may face even
stricter restrictions on expressions of agency and be less likely to aspire for professional, administrative
or technical careers, making less effective the transition from school to work.
The lack of opportunities and freedom faced by adolescent girls in transitioning from school to work
(described in this study) are likely to prevail in other parts of the country as well. The way forward
requires multi-sectoral action, at girl-, parent and family-, community- and system- levels, with actions
forbothpromotinggirls’schooltoworktransitionandcounteringpossiblesetbackstogirls’empowerment.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by Save the Children, India. We thank Sonali Mukherjee and Pranab Kumar Chanda, Save
the Children, India, for supporting all phases of this study and providing helpful comments on earlier drafts. We are
grateful to the following for their valuable support: Mukesh Ravi Raushan, Programme Officer, Dasra, and Ruchi
Sharma and Sai Ankit Parashar for quantitative and textual analysis support; Sarita Deshbhartar, Madhu Gupta,
Shahida Khatoon, Ankit Sai Parashar, Nanda Sahu, Anju Sharma, Ruchi Sharma and Preeti Verma for conducting
field interviews; and Mohammed Asif, Director, Plan India, for help in obtaining permissions to conduct fieldwork.
Above all, we thank the adolescent girls and their mothers for giving us their time and sharing their dreams and
experiences with us.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of
this article.
Funding
For the preparation of this article, authorship and/or publication, Save the Children supported the larger study from
which these data are drawn.
Notes
1. For a discussion on underlying factors, see, for example, Afridi et al. (2016), Chatterjee et al. (2017), Desai and
Joshi (2019), ILO (2019), Mehrotra and Sinha (2017), Oxfam India (2019 and Verrick (2014).
2. Gauna is a northern Indian custom and the ceremony traditionally marking the consummation of marriage, and
the bride’s shift in residence from her natal to marital home.

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