'Para Seguir Adelante': Women's empowerment and the Sistema de Aprendizaje Tutorial (SAT) program in Honduras

This dissertation presents findings from a study on how an innovative secondary education program in Honduras, the Sistema de Aprendizaje Tutorial or SAT program, promotes women's empowerment. Using qualitative methods, I investigate the question: "In what ways, if any, does the SAT program promote women's empowerment?"; I present a theoretical framework of why education might empower. This framework is based on my empirical findings, yet it is general enough to apply and test in other settings. Education triggers women's empowerment because it allows them to develop a sense of agency. Women become protagonists in the cause of improving their lives. This happens because women's knowledge, self-confidence, and awareness of gender equality increase. Because of changes in these three domains, women take advantage of new and previously unavailable options to improve their lives.; The results of this study also help to clarify the role education plays in empowering women in the context of their relationships with male partners. I argue that women's empowerment will be constrained unless men also work to improve relationships, changing their attitudes in a way that promotes gender equality. In order for this to happen, educational interventions must target both men and women.; Exposure to education does not guarantee women's empowerment. Education programs may fall short of this goal, particularly if they do not result in increased knowledge, self-confidence, and awareness of gender equality. I hypothesize that there are several features of SAT's design that may foster women's empowerment. For example, the goal of the curriculum is to engage students in a dialogue with each other and with the tutor. This emphasis on dialogue may encourage students to value communication both within the SAT classrooms and in their homes. Through practical activities, students get a chance to apply their academic knowledge in direct ways. They gain concrete skills in agriculture, micro-enterprise, and community health. Both men and women may step outside of their traditional gender roles when conducting these activities. This might influence their thinking about gender roles and cause them to behave differently. Furthermore, specific lessons in the textbooks promote the idea of unity and challenge gender inequality.