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The Capability Approach and Women’s Economic Security: Access to Higher Education under Welfare Reform

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Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach and Social Justice in Education

Abstract

In modern industrialized nations, the relationship between the two fundamental functions of higher education is both profound and inseparable: for the society, it maintains and transmits culture, values and norms from one generation to another; for the individual, it helps one overcome disadvantage and gain greater control of one’s life. All pathways point to its promise, prospect, and irrefutable importance. And, its importance for women is especially significant as they seek to achieve independence, from both men and the state: education provides them with means to a career, to an escape from patriarchal structures both within and outside the home, to economic, emotional, and familial well-being, and to decision-making over their lives. Education is “the prerequisite for improvement in women’s status” (Tinker 1990, p. 33), and the implications of its worth extend way beyond the immediacy of one’s participation in it.

Education is the single most consistent and powerful instrument for the advancement of an individual and a people.

(Johnnetta B. Cole)

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Authors
  1. Luisa S. Deprez
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  2. Sandra S. Butler
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Nottingham, UK

    Melanie Walker (Professor of Higher Education) (Professor of Higher Education)

  2. Institute of Education, University of London, UK

    Elaine Unterhalter (Reader in Education and International Development) (Reader in Education and International Development)

Copyright information

© 2007 Melanie Walker and Elaine Unterhalter

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Cite this chapter

Deprez, L.S., Butler, S.S. (2007). The Capability Approach and Women’s Economic Security: Access to Higher Education under Welfare Reform. In: Walker, M., Unterhalter, E. (eds) Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach and Social Justice in Education. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230604810_11

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