Higher Education, Gender, and Empowerment in Afghanistan: A Nation in Conflict

Abstract This dissertation examined the contribution of higher education to the understanding and practice of women�s empowerment, as perceived by adult Afghan men and women living in the city of Kabul who attended universities either in or out of Afghanistan. While studying the concept of women�s empowerment, this work defined empowerment through its core concepts of power, agency, functionality, and capability via the lens of Rowland�s typology of different forms of power, Stromquist�s model of empowerment, and the capability approach. This study investigated women�s empowerment not as a women�s issue, but as a societal issue. I collected data through qualitative methods by conducting interviews with 22 male and female Afghans. The collected data were analyzed by applying a hybrid approach of inductive and deductive coding and theme development. The results showed a shift from a traditional mindset to a gender-equality mindset. Education and knowledge-based empowerment were recognized as contributors to this shift. However, women�s empowerment through higher education is directly related to the cultural structure of the society, family, and the content of the higher education. The results reinforced the two applied theories of Stromquist�s model of women�s empowerment and capability approach with a further modification on the economic empowerment aspect.