Informal Education and Learning Pathways: Supporting Livelihood Trajectories of Indian Women in an Urban Slum

Abstract

How does a school dropout navigate livelihood alternatives? Does transition for an early-school dropout vary from that of a high-school dropout? Recent research in these scenarios of post-school transition to employment has highlighted the influences of extraneous factors like socio-economic status (SES) and influences of the local labour market area (LMA). However, the labour market effects that condition livelihood options may not be the same in the context of a developing country like India, where the proportion of unorganized employment sector is relatively higher with the social context as well as basic education achievement particularly challenging for women. This chapter examines a unique case study located in an urban slum environment in India that traces the trajectories/pathways adopted by poor urban slum-dwelling women to navigate various livelihood alternatives that are outside the mainstream school education. It further highlights the leadership roles these women assume to traverse these pathways. It traces the gender-related opportunities and constraints, as well as a reliance on life skills, calling into question interventional strategies of education for livelihood outcomes.