Unlocking young women’s minds at scale? Evidence from a career exploration program
In contexts with rigid gender norms and low female labor force participation, young women lack information on many career options, have limited awareness of their strengths and interests, and lack professional role models. While students from affluent families can access career counseling in school or privately, students from socio-economically weaker groups lack this type of guidance. We examine whether and how a 10-hour long career guidance program that encourages secondary school students in 15 sessions to explore their strengths, interests, and career options can influence their choices regarding the continuation of skill formation and education after finishing school to facilitate their labor market entry in the future. Working with 12th graders from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds in 45 secondary schools (n≈6000), we will use a clustered randomized controlled trial with school-level treatment assignment to assess the impact up to 14 months after the intervention on students’ career choices.
