Let the African girl go to school – The Mail & Guardian

Despite laws and policies, traditional patriarchal systems across the continent hinder girls’ development

It is exactly 39 years since the Fourth World Conference on Women took place, a crucial turning point for the global agenda for gender equality, which the girl child to the 12 most important areas of focus.

But African girls continue to struggle for even the smallest victories in economic and social equality, hampered by complex problems rooted in cultural, social, economic and institutional practices and norms.

Africa is home to approximately 308 million young women and girls. The challenges they face begin early in life, with limited education.

In sub-Saharan Africa, nine million girls aged six to 11 are out of school, compared with six million boys. And girls in conflict zones are 2.5 times more likely to be out of school than boys, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNICEF) contribution to the African Union’s first Pan-African Conference on Girls’ and Women’s Education, held in July.

“There is no gender parity at any level of education in the region, and disparities persist at primary, lower and upper secondary levels,” UNESCO said at the conference.

This situation is further exacerbated by gender-based violence in schools (SRGBV), one of the most common forms of gender-based violence.

“Unfortunately, SRGBV has very serious negative effects on the lives of female students, such as sadness or depression, low self-esteem, early and unwanted pregnancies, and sexually transmitted infections such as HIV/AIDS,” the AU High-Level Panel on Emerging Technologies said in a 2023 blog post.

Menstruation is another cause of school absence among adolescent girls in South Africa. Seven million girls are reported absent from school each month for not having access to sanitary pads, resulting in 25% of school-aged girls missing, the SA Journal of Child Health noted in 2022.

This situation has significant economic implications. UNESCO research shows that the economic losses to sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP due to girls’ lack of education could amount to $210 billion by 2030.

Child marriage also continues to occur: according to the United Nations Children’s Fund, approximately 41% of girls are married before they turn 18.

The highest incidence of child marriage is in West and Central Africa. Niger, for example, has a long tradition of child marriage.

“Lack of education among Nigerien girls is both a cause and a consequence of child marriage. Girls who marry are often forced out of school due to events such as early childbearing, and those who have not received an education end up with little choice but to marry very young,” wrote Monique Bennett in Good Governance Africa’s (GGA’s) Africa in fact October 2022 edition about the girl.

Teenage pregnancy affects more than 25% of the population in 24 African countries, with rates reaching 48% in Niger, 44% in Chad and 43% in Equatorial Guinea, according to a study by the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, entitled Teenage Pregnancy in Africa: Status, Progress and Challenges (2022).

The complex matrix of barriers faced by African girls is shaped by traditional, patriarchal systems that emphasise girls’ domestic responsibilities over their education, especially in places where resources are limited.

While many African countries have policies aimed at promoting girls’ education and gender equality, enforcement of these laws is often weak and support systems to help girls overcome these barriers are inadequate.

Despite Zimbabwe’s amended Education Act of 2020, which allows pregnant girls and adolescent mothers to return to school, a majority of girls who become pregnant rarely return to school, largely because they are stigmatized by teachers and society, as GGA researcher Sikhululekile Mashingaidze and Mass Public Opinion’s Simangele Moyo-Nyede found during interviews for GGA’s Girls’ Edition

The disempowerment of African women, rooted in the dangers and prejudices they face as children, is a major problem in itself. In his speech on Women’s Day in the Northern Cape last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa highlighted the alarming levels of gender-based violence in South Africa, citing statistics from the Human Sciences Research Council showing that 7% of women aged 18 and over (1.5 million) experience physical or sexual violence each year.

A total of 13% of women had experienced economic abuse by intimate partners, he continued, urging more economic opportunities for women, “so that they are less vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. We must address the huge income inequality between men and women,” he said.

This is underscored in a new Catalytic Strategy gender pay gap report, released last month, which found that 40% of households in South Africa are headed by women with financial responsibility for their families, including extended families. Yet only 14% of women fall into the “top earners” category.

In 2021, UNICEF published the Gender Action Plan (2021–2030), with recommendations on how to address gender inequality. Among other key issues, the plan calls for maternal health and nutrition, including HIV testing, prevention, counselling and care; ending harmful practices (child marriage and female genital mutilation) and violence against girls, boys and women; ensuring girls have access to water, sanitation and hygiene systems, including menstrual health services; and promoting gender-responsive social protection and care, including through law enforcement. This underscores the centrality of gender-responsive education systems, especially when it comes to equal access to education, STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and digital skills for adolescent girls.

The world of employment is another area where women face disempowerment, in the form of the gender and wage gap. The International Labour Organization said that women who want to work face more constraints in finding jobs than men, with the current global labor force participation rate for women just under 47% compared to 72% for men (2022).

To address these issues, coordinated efforts are needed from the public and private sectors, together with NGOs, to improve access to education, create safe and supportive learning environments for girls, and promote gender equality in the workplace, socially and where they live. By being educated and economically active, women help build more stable and fair societies, which improves social cohesion and reduces crime and violence.

The Good Governance Africa (GGA) Girl Child Dialogues, in partnership with Boston City Campus, will focus on career opportunities in the media and publishing sector. Girls in Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria and Zimbabwe will participate virtually through GGA country centres and their partners. The event will take place on 11 October at Boston City Campus. Read the 2022 GGAs Africa in fact edition about the Girl Child, Click here.

Helen Grange is a writer and editor at Good Governance Africa and Sikhululekile Mashingaidze is a researcher at the GGA’s Peace and Security Programme.