Gender discrimination and education in West Africa: strategies for maintaining girls in school (original) (raw)
Related papers
Towards gender equality in education
Towards gender equality in education: the case of Ethiopia Women have multiple roles. At any given time they can be mothers, leaders, students, decision-makers, farmers, workers, voters and much more. In each of these roles, the ability to be educated and healthy, to have voice and influence, and to enjoy opportunities and choices are critical to the attainment of the Goals. Gender equality and women's empowerment are central to achieving the MDGs because without these capabilities and opportunities, women are less able to reach their full potential, live a life of dignity, and be productive citizens. Gender equality helps accelerate achievement of each goal. In addition, there is solid evidence that progress in gender equality in one goal often contributes simultaneously towards progress on a number of other development goals. For example, gender equality in education also makes significant contributions to a nation's economic growth and poverty reduction as well as to reduced malnutrition, fertility, and child mortality. Ethiopia is one of the countries known for gender inequality. The statistical figures of DHS 2005 clearly show this difference. For instance, regarding literacy, sharp disparity is indicated among women and men even though it is low for both sexes. The proportion of illiterate women (who cannot read a whole sentence) was as high as 76.8 % where as for men it was 53.3 %. By contrast men are more than twice as likely to be literate compared to women, 45.1 % and 21.5 % for men and women, respectively. The difference is found to be statistically significant. With regard to educational attainment similar significant inequality is indicated. Educational attainment of women is by far lower than that of men according to the data. The majority of women (65.9%) and 42.9 % of men had no education. During the same year, 19.8 % of men had attained secondary and higher level of education. The percentage was, however, only 11.9% for women. Again the gap is found to be significant. (Ethiopian society of population study, 2005) Education Significant progress has been made in school enrollment, though gender disparities persist. The greatest progress has been made in access to primary education: net primary enrollment rates for girls doubled from 1995 to 2005, from 21 percent to 42 percent. It is notable that efforts to promote higher and more equal access to primary education have benefited lower income
1998
policy to promote girls' and womens' education 3.3.3 Policy design and implementation: strengths and weaknesses 3.3.4 Contradictions in government policy 3.3.5 Organisational and bureaucratic factors and the role of gender advocates 3.3.6 The role played by gender advocates within MOE and MOWCACDSW 3.3.7 Implementation issues 3.3.8 The girl's secondary school scholarship programme 3.4 Donor interventions 3.4.1 Donor support to education 3.4.2 USAID-Gable programme 1991-1998 3.4.3 UNICEF 3.4.4 ODA/DFID 3.4.5 Donor coordination 3.5 Non governmental organisations 3.5.1 The nature of NGO activity 3.5.2 Relationship between women's NGOs and government 3.5.3 NGOs and aid agencies 3.5.4 NGOs and government policy 3.6. Conclusion Chapter 4-Tanzania 4.1. Educational provision: An overview 4.1.1 Primary and secondary education 4.1.2 Post-secondary education and training 4.1.3 Literacy and non-formal education 4.1.4 Education funding Gender and Education: Gender analyses of education were originally undertaken in the countries of the industrial north. By the 1980s, relatively little systematic research on this topic had been done in the developing countries. 5 Most of the early literature on gender and education was concerned with girls' access to schooling and economic outcomes in the labour market (Elliot and Kelly, 1980). 5 See literature reviews in Comparative Education, 1980 and Comparative Education, 1987. Conventional human capital rationales for investing in women have been particularly influential. Research has shown that both the social and private rates of return to girls' primary education are generally high. From the late 1980s, the World Bank sponsored a number of country studies which showed very significant social and economic benefits from investing in the education of females (Floro and Wolf, 1990, Bustillo, 1989, Herz et al, 1991, King and Hill 1993). The level of maternal schooling was found to be especially important in promoting the education prospects of girls (Bustillo, 1989). Other positive outcomes that have been consistently highlighted are increased productivity, reduced fertility, reduced child and maternal mortality, and improving the environment (Herz et al, 1991 and Summers, 1992). According to this paradigm, underinvesting in girls' education is seen as being a 'waste' of human and economic potential. Most research on gender and education to date has concentrated on the access, persistence and attainment, the financing of education-the role of teachers and the curriculum have not be adequately addressed. Numerous gender specific education projects have been tried by governments, donors and NGOs in a variety of combinations in many developing countries. These have included bringing schools closer to communities, improving textbooks, increasing the number of women teachers, scholarship programmes for secondary school girls etc. Research evidence has shown that policy 'packages' are likely to be more effective than single interventions (Swainson, 1996). However, as King and Hill (1993) have pointed out, most gender activities in education have been single interventions. Analyses of gender and education produced by the World Bank and other donors have relied heavily on a simple supply and demand framework. The dominance of economic theory in the World Bank and other donor agencies has resulted in arguments in favour of better educational provision for girls being mainly couched in terms of 'efficiency'. Although World Bank sponsored research has resulted in the development of some useful strategies, it has tended to be too simplistic and economistic. Crucial issues such
Social Gains from Female Education: A Cross-National Study
Economic Development and Cultural Change, 1995
Female secondary education, family planning, and health programs all reduce fertility and infant mortality-but the effect of female secondary education appears to be particularly strong.
2015
section 107). Consistent with fair use as defined in the Copyright Laws, brief quotations from this material are allowed with proper acknowledgment. Use of this material for financial gain without the author's express written permission is not allowed. Abstract Females around the world face many challenges to obtaining an education. While there are many studies that document the benefit to female education as well as a few challenges that females face, there is not yet a study that summarizes major challenges to female education, particularly in modernizing countries, and the recent steps of various international organizations and businesses that address these challenges. This thesis helps to fill that void. It uses specific countries in the developing world, cross section of developing countries, which, in turn, highlight a few major problems that females encounter in pursuit of an education. It finds that the challenges to education, while not true of each country, include pov...
Women and Higher Education: Implication for Sustainable Development
Women and higher education in Nigeria , 2008
The enrolment of children in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions also demonstrates discrimination against females. There are remarkable disparities according to regions and states. However, gender disparities are common in all regions and states. In all the states and regions of Nigeria, women lag behind men in access to education. For instance, only 7.6% of women interviewed in the Northern part of Nigeria had some primary education, whereas, in the Southern part of Nigeria, at least 25.9% received some education. In the case of primary school enrolment, only 12% of female children of school age are registered in the primary schools. In the South, 44.4% of girls are in primary schools. By the time girls reach secondary school age, only about 4.2% of them in Northern Nigeria and 37% in Southern Nigeria are allowed to continue. This shows a sharp discrimination against women at all levels (FOS, 1995). The situation in the rural areas is even worse than that in urban areas. As UNICEF (1990) states, three-quarters of rural women aged 15-24 years are illiterates in Africa, and only half in urban areas are illiterates. FOS
Promoting Gender Equality: Empowering Women through Education.
Gender Equality and Women Empowerment., 2014
Education is important for every individual living on this earth, but it is more significant for women. Education of women plays a crucial role in realizing their energy and creativity and enabling them to meet the complex challenges of the present world. In acknowledging them as potential human resources, investment must be made in developing their capacity in terms of education, skill, development, and technology transfers through technical training. we have chosen to focus particularly on women , because in every society who struggle along the lines of gender which limit the resources and opportunities for improvement , and we know that empowering women is a huge resource for social change and the broader fight against the global poverty. Our goal is to cause policy, institutional and individual changes that will improve the lives of women and girls everywhere. The educational system needs to be made more accessible to women at grass root levels and they need to be revamped to include gender sensitive educational system which prevents sex stereotyping and discrimination.