Barriers for Access to Education for Women and Girls

According to The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, UNICEF, as of 2013 approximately 31 million girls of primary school age and 32 million of lower secondary were out of school. In Sub- Saharan Africa only 2 out of 35 countries have equal literacy rates among males and females. In Niger, where I currently live, the literacy rate for men is 42.9% while for women it is 15.1% and 28.7% overall. Niger is ranked as the 4th least literate country in the world according to care2. The main barriers to education for girls are often due to lack of supplies or ability to pay fees, negative social norms, inadequate sanitation facilities in schools that do not allow for privacy or support of menstruation to allow women to be in school. In some environments girls face violence and exploitation, sometimes even corporal punishment. Often the largest barrier for adolescent girls is their cultural obligation to marry and bear children or they are forced into working labor. Violence against women and genital mutilation are also a barrier for young women to attend school out of fear for their safety and well-being. Well known terrorist organizations such as Boko Haram and ISIS have made headlines about recruiting and kidnapping young girls. According to The Guardian, these are the extremes, and organizations such as Save The Children, UNICEF and OXFAM are working to raise the money to begin re- educating some 500,000 displaced children in refugees camps around Syria. Equitable education for all children is a global problem we face and it does not just exist in Sub- Saharan Africa, or only for girls, however they are the largest demographic facing hurdles to equitable access to education.

Organizations such as UNICEF and UNESCO have common objectives to achieve a safe, healthy environment and collaborate with the community to ensure comprehensive support for girls and young women to not only attend school, but stay in school. According to UNESCO, often the biggest challenge in developing countries is not getting girls into school, it's keeping them there. In order for longer term success the schools need community partnership, and this is one of the key factors for success. The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization or UNESCO lists other key factors, many of them include promoting gender equality in national educational laws, policies and plans, monitoring progress and achievement, helping countries to develop their educational systems and train teachers on "gender sensitive approaches," advocating for girls and women’s education, and helping countries to address gender- based violence in education to see they are an obstacle to learning.

According to UNICEF, In Niger a project was launched operating in Maradi, Niger to build a girls friendly school with community involvement and support brining girls into a safe learning environment. With successful support of the community the project has been largely successful for over 5 years. Finding funding to continue sustaining it is the major challenge and long term success is never guaranteed without sustained financial guarantee.

Take a look at the school here in Niger:

Getting a project running like the example here in Maradi is an ideal scenario in West Africa. The girls have safe drinking water, a community that embraces, supports and protects them, and access to school supplies and simple but clean facilities. Think for a moment what this same scenario looks like for girls who live in places where the community does not give them this kind of support and often they cannot go to school due to personal safety. A report that came out in 2014 from USAID cited an article by Heyzer, Noeleen. 2003. “Enlisting African Women to Fight AIDS.” The Washington Post, July 8. Stating that:

 " She argues that, first, that first, women lack the power in relationships to refuse sex or negotiate protected sex in many societies, especially in child marriages, forced marriages, and through the threat of violence. Second, she writes that poverty and economic dependence severely compromise a woman’s capacity to refuse sexual relations that she perceives are dangerous. Third, poverty facing women in Africa is all the more severe because as they assume the burden of care, women have dropped out of the productive sector, and they are “pulling their daughters out of schools, leading to further intergenerational poverty and lost potential.”

Without education and change beyond just the community level these barriers and abuses will continue. In order for NGO's to sustain their projects and create safe environments we have to go back to the policy makers, governments, law enforcement, and protection of women and their rights within a society. This is a much more comprehensive issue then just getting girls into school and buying those pens, papers and book. It's an issue of the societies and the reality of the world we live in. We can write as many initiatives as we like, but as long as these barriers still exist, women will continue to be unable to attend school in a safe environment in many places in the world without support and empowerment from the ground up, allowing the disparity between the sexes in education to continue.

Citations:

Lee, M. (2015, August 9). Retrieved September 25, 2015, from http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/aug/19/syria-refugee-crisis-education-teaching-lost-generation-children

Girls' education and gender equality. (2015, July 23). Retrieved September 22, 2015, from http://www.unicef.org/education/bege_70640.html

Chew, K. (2013, September 8). The Global Development Cause. Retrieved September 22, 2015, from http://www.care2.com/causes/10-countries-with-the-worst-literacy-rates-in-the-world.html

Stefanik, L. (2015, August 25). What Are Social Norms, and How Can Understanding Them Help Us Prevent Gender-Based Violence? Retrieved September 22, 2015, from http://www.ungei.org/index_6056.html


Prévost, N. (2013, October 23). Schools in the Niger try a new approach to bring more girls into classrooms. Retrieved September 22, 2015, from http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/niger_70664.html

Unsafe Schools: A Literature Review of School-Related Gender-Based Violence in Developing Countries. (2013). USAID. Retrieved September 22, 2015.