Beyond Schools and Jobs: How Education can Empower Women and Girls to ''Become''?

Over the past 75 years, the development agencies in the Global North have been delivering unrequested interventions to empower women and girls in the Global South through various programmes, including education. However, women and girls in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East continue to suffer through vulnerabilities produced by structural uncertainties and dangers created by the same system that delivers these interventions. This is inherently connected to the colonial and neo-colonial projects, which have destroyed the rich philosophical and knowledge structures of the Global South. This thesis critically examines modern philosophies and ancient wisdoms to formulate a framework that can facilitate the empowerment of women and girls by answering the question: do educational experiences empower women in non-Western societies? This thesis critiques the mainstream empowerment and development discourse and relevance of ancient wisdom by addressing the coloniality that persists in development programmes and educational approaches that erroneously assume a deficit of empowerment and prior knowledge. This research adopts a qualitative research approach with a three-method process that includes both mainstream and ancient analytical and theoretical frameworks. The insight generated by this research has contributed to new knowledge in academia, policy, and practice in this field by identifying the interconnected importance of; a) informal education, b) traditional knowledge systems, c) ancient wisdoms, and d) the meaning of empowerment and wellbeing for women through their lived experiences. The key findings indicate an intricate relationship between wellbeing and empowerment. The findings further show women are already empowered. As part of the recommendations of this thesis, a proposed framework grounded in humility, co-creation, and self-governance advocates for an alternative engagement to facilitate the realisation of empowerment. In addition, one can manage the external world with joy through the realisation of inner strengths, which is true empowerment in an uncertain and dangerous world.