Effects of Globalisation

UNESCO Global Partnership for Girls’ and Women’s Education - One Year On

Kenya

Basic Data

Source: EFA Global Monitoring Report statistical tables (school year ending in 2009).

Girls’ education Over the last decade, Kenya has made significant progress in education, achieving gender parity in primary education enrollment and near parity at secondary level. However, as the above data show, gender parity does not mean that universal access to primary education has been achieved and enrolment in secondary education remains low for both boys (51%) and girls (48%). This is of a particular concern for girls, as the data imply, over half of secondary school-age girls are not enrolled in secondary education. Women’s literacy Women’s literacy rate has significantly increased as a result of positive government policies and strategies. However, despite progress in education as a whole, gender disparity remains a challenge as 16% of women in Kenya still lack basic literacy skills, compared with 9% of men. The failure to promote and retain girls in secondary education is probably one factor negatively affecting the slow progress in women’s literacy.

Challenges and Issues

One of the main reasons for the low enrollment of girls in secondary education is the persistent high level of poverty, especially in urban slums and rural areas. Most families are unable to cover the cost of their children’s education and opportunity costs for sending children to school are high. Furthermore, as socio-cultural norms based on patriarchy prevail, families tend to give priority to boys' education when faced with financial constraints. In addition, factors such as lack of adequate infrastructure, inadequate guidelines for policy implementation, as well as prevalence of HIV and AIDS, have prevented girls from accessing education. Along with the need to rapidly expand the provision of secondary education, the quality of education at

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The gender parity index (GPI) is the ratio of...