The Kenyan education authorities and non governmental organisations (NGOs) are becoming more aware of the need to address unequal access, high drop-out rates and poor quality of education for girls. However, Kenya has missed part of the Millennium Development Goal 3 target – elimination of gender disparities in education by 2005.

Research undertaken by the Elimu Yetu Coalition (EYC), a group of Kenyan agencies promoting education reform, reviewed progress made in girls’ education in Kenya since the World Education Forum in Dakar in 2000. Interviews identified the social and cultural pressures which force Kenyan schoolgirls to underachieve or drop out of school.

For many girls, education is ended by marriage and pregnancy. In rural areas fathers often marry their young daughters to older wealthy men to fetch a good dowry. In Nairobi many girls who become pregnant then drop out of school and seek marriage. Stigma, abuse from teachers and other pupils and lack of child-care facilities prevent teenage mothers from returning to school.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) – widely practised by the Maasai and other communities – causes girls to withdraw early from school. Girls are now circumcised at a younger age, and their subsequent ‘adult’ behaviour includes sexual activity and a lack of interest in schooling.

Many parents attach little value to girls’ education. Some believe that educating a girl simply enriches her husband’s family, while educating a boy is seen as enriching his own family. A girl who has received too much education may either not get a suitable husband or cause difficulties in marriage leading to divorce.

The unequal gender division of labour in households is an added pressure. In informal settlements in Nairobi, both boys and girls reported that girls were overburdened with housework. As the number of AIDS deaths and child-headed households continues rising, the burden of caring for family members primarily falls on girls.

Researchers also found that:

• Many girls lack money to buy sanitary wear and stay away from school during menstrual periods.
• Schoolgirls are often pressured for sexual favours by teachers and male pupils.
• Availability of pornographic films, drugs and beer in urban environments causes girls to be harassed on their way to and from school.
• The practice of forcing under-performing pupils to repeat a school year particularly affects girls, exposing them to ridicule which can force them to abandon education.
• Teachers have low expectations of girls.

NGOs have launched different schemes to promote girl’s education and the Kenyan government is increasingly aware of the scale of discrimination. However, policies are not co-ordinated. EYC calls for:

• making the community aware of the impact of anti-girl cultural beliefs and practices
• wider access to information on children’s rights
• more schemes to encourage girls who have given birth to re-enter schools, better sanitation in schools and the expansion of school feeding programmes
• support for poor parents to earn the income to pay for their daughters’ education
• training teachers in methodologies that are sensitive to gender differences
• ensuring there are more female role models and representation at policy-making and managerial levels.

Source(s):
‘The challenge of educating girls in Kenya’ by the Elimu Yetu Coalition’, chapter five, ‘Beyond access: transforming policy and practice for gender equality in education’, Oxfam GB, edited by Sheila Aikman and Elaine Unterhalter, pp 106-125, 2005 Full document.
‘Beyond access: transforming policy and practice for gender equality in education’, Oxfam GB, edited by Sheila Aikman and Elaine Unterhalter, 2005 Full document.

Funded by: UK Department for International Development (DFID)

id21 Research Highlight: 29 November 2005

Further Information:
Wambua Nzioka - Coordinator
Elimu Yetu Coalition
Church Road, AACC Building, 2nd floor
PO Box 4281400100,
Nairobi, Kenya

Tel: 254 02 4440440/4/9
Fax: +254 02 44445843
Contact the contributor: elimuyetu@actionaidkenya.org

Sheila Aikman
Oxfam GB
Oxfam House
John Smith Drive
Cowley, Oxford OX4 2JY
UK

Tel: +44 (0)1865 472173
Fax: +44 (0)1865 472993
Contact the contributor: saikman@oxfam.org.uk

Oxfam GB

Other related links:
'Benefits of Kenyan school reform'

'Time to close gender gaps in land and schooling'

'Bringing the hardest to reach into the classroom'

'Education boosts income and household well-being in Mozambique'

'Progress to gender equality in education'