Eritrea was born from a revolutionary struggle in which women played a prominent part. For Eritrea’s leaders education is a weapon to fight ‘backwardness’ and promote ‘modernity’, a key element of which is gender equality. However, the ambitions of Eritrean secondary schoolgirls remain shaped by the state’s expectations and by tradition.

An article from the University of Manchester looks at the personal experiences of young women in Eritrean secondary schools.

During the 30-year liberation struggle the Eritrean Peoples’ Liberation Front (EPLF) provided education for girls and women for the first time in historically disadvantaged areas. The EPLF developed a new curriculum and created a group of skilled women to act as role models both inside the movement and within the general population. Now in power, the EPLF is trying to maintain the gender equality which existed within the liberation movement and transport it into wider Eritrean society via education.

The author’s analysis of education and social reconstruction in Eritrea is shaped by the concepts of ‘gender resistance’ – opposing traditional gender expectations in support of the modernist state ideology – and ‘gender accommodation’ – accepting traditional gender expectations.

Most teachers outwardly express support for the need to engage girls to build up their confidence. However, the majority of teachers at secondary level are male and share the perception that older girls will not have a future in education and are primarily interested in marriage. So, they ask themselves, why bother to help them?

Interviews with schoolgirls and observations of classes showed:

• the strength of cultural expectations of female ‘shyness’
• widespread realisation that it will take generations before young women can find economic security through employment: it may therefore make more sense to seek a wealthy husband, preferably one with prospects of living abroad
• few older schoolgirls ever raise their hands in response to teachers’ questions and their voices are rarely heard in group participation
• male students treat female classmates as less able academically
• few schoolgirls protest, accepting stereotyping as inevitable
• most girls dream of going to university, however unrealistic these hopes may be.

Ambitions often lead to frustrations among young women in a political environment where the personal is expected to take second place behind the national interest. To have ambition does not necessarily mean seeking a life beyond the traditional: it could equally well encompass striving for an arranged marriage to a wealthy husband, raising children and living comfortably – but there seems little room for such ambitions within the Eritrean revolution.

Education authorities need to realise that:

• there is no clear division between traditional ‘backwardness’ and ‘modernity’
• getting married can be a rational choice when weighing the options for the future as it allows exemption from compulsory military service and escape from a future of poorly-paid civil service employment
• Eritrea has much to do to put theory into practice: there has been little progress in increasing the number of female secondary students, secondary teachers and university students.

Source(s):
‘Education for Social Change: Girls’ Secondary Schooling in Eritrea’, Development and Change 37(2), pages 353–373, by Tanja R. Müller, 2006

Funded by: Leverhulme Trust

id21 Research Highlight: 28 November 2006

Further Information:
Tanja R. Müller
Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM)
University of Manchester
Room Number: 8.32. Harold Hankins Building
Precinct Centre
Booth Street West
Manchester, M13 9QH, UK

Tel: +44 (0) 161 2750413
Fax: +44 (0) 161 2738829
Contact the contributor: tanja.mueller@manchester.ac.uk

Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM), UK

Other related links:
'Educating girls as a ‘social vaccine’ against HIV'

'Girls’ education in Guinea under the microscope'

'How can universities challenge gender discrimination?'

'Focusing on gender differences can help countries respond to climate change'

'Learning about HIV/AIDS and gender stereotypes in schools in southern Africa'