Gender Differentials in Education: Exploring the Capabilities Approach

Motivation and freedom of choice are mediated through the institutions of caste and religion, which restrict freedom, particularly of women. This paper discusses whether the capabilities approach provides any advantage in addressing questions of inequality that may be also mediated through such institutions. With the help of e pirical data, the capabilities approach is used to identify "conversion factors'' that are not typically addressed in the utility approach. A comparison is made between knowledge generated through the use of traditional data sources to measure access and