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Paper short abstract

This study adopts an Inequality of Opportunity perspective to explore how capital constraints and normative expectations shape preparatory skill accumulation and aspirations, producing anticipatory inequality in AI-related skilling before labour market entry among female undergraduates in Pakistan.

Paper long abstract

Inequalities in opportunity are emerging even before individuals enter the labour market as artificial intelligence adoption accelerates. While much of the existing research focuses on up- and re-skilling as adaptation strategies in response to automation and job displacement, employability uncertainty is also reshaping aspirations and impacting preparatory skill accumulation. Before entering the workplace, universities are serving as sites of adaptation. However, the opportunities to prepare for an uncertain and dynamic world of work are not distributed evenly among students. This proposed paper examines how capital constraints and normative expectations influence student preparatory capacity and shift aspirations among female undergraduate students in Lahore, Pakistan. The Inequality of Opportunity framework (Roemer, 1998) shall underpin the analysis, wherein AI-related skilling opportunities are conceptualized as outcomes determined by circumstances beyond individual control that constrain agency. Taking perceived adequacy of the ongoing formal degree programmes as a point of departure, access to informal learning opportunities, such as self-learning micro-credentialing, shaped by economic means, information exposure, peer effects, gendered narratives and responsibilities shall be explored through qualitative analysis. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews will be conducted with 22-24 students from two different universities, one co-educational and one women only, to map opportunity sets associated aspirational shifts. This paper contributes to debates on skill gaps and aspirations in an AI-driven world by foregrounding anticipatory inequality formation in a developing country context. It further provides the foundation for further research on aspiration-opportunity alignment and higher education’s approach to employability skills pathways in Pakistan.