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International Journal of Inclusive Education
Vol. 12, No. 4, July 2008, pp. 363–379
Gender discrimination and education in
West Africa: strategies for maintaining
girls in school
Theresa Tuwor a* and Marie-Antoinette Sossou b
a College of Education and; b College of Social Work, University of Kentucky, Lexington,
KY, USA
TIED_A_218234.sgm
10.1080/13603110601183115
International 1360-3116 Original Taylor 0000002007 TheresaTuwor
ttuwo2@uky.edu and & Article Francis (print)/1464-5173 Journal Ltd of Inclusive (online) Education
Girls’ enrolment in primary schools has achieved significant increase and parity with male enrolment
in many countries in Africa since the 1960s. Some of these countries include Botswana, Namibia
and Tanzania. However, in most Sub-Saharan African countries, female enrolment still lags behind
male enrolment. This paper examines some of the reasons for the persistent gender gap between
females and males in the three African countries of Ghana, Nigeria and Togo within the West Africa
sub-region. It discusses gender relations, cultural practices such as early marriage, child slavery, and
child fostering/trafficking, poverty and multiple household duties for girls as some of the contributing
factors. It is argued that unless these cultural beliefs and attitudes are changed and mandatory
measures such as holding parents accountable and responsible are put in place, gender parity and
quality education for all, especially for females, will not be achieved in Africa. A number of additional
strategies for improvement in school attendance and retention for females are also discussed.
Introduction
Universal education for all children, for both females and males, was adopted as part
of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. In 1990, the World
Summit for Children identified girls’ education as a development tool, and gender
parity in education has become the backbone of the Millennium Development Goals.
In 2000, 191 heads of state signed the Millennium Declaration with the aim of
achieving gender parity in primary and secondary education in their various countries
by 2005, and total universal primary education by 2015. However, more than
70 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Middle East have failed to reach the
gender parity target in 2005, and it is unlikely the target and the corresponding
universal primary education goal will be achieved by 2015 (Save the Children, 2005).
*Corresponding author. College of Education, University of Kentucky, 335 Dickey Hall, Lexington,
KY 40506-0017, USA. Email: ttuwo2@uky.edu
ISSN 1360–3116 (print)/ISSN 1464–5173 (online)/08/040363–17
© 2008 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/13603110601183115

364 T. Tuwor and M.-A. Sossou
According to UNICEF (2002), girls formed the majority of the 120 million children
who never go to school in the developing world. Basic education for all is a
human right and social development issue that is fundamental to gender equality and
women’s empowerment in all societies. However, girls continue to suffer from
discrimination in access to schooling in most developing countries. According to a
global report, gender parity in education remains a distant prospect in 54 countries
including 16 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (UNESCO, 2004). According to Lassabille
and Gomez (1990), approximately, 125 million children were expected to be in
primary school in sub-Saharan Africa in 2000, but 12% of these children never
enrolled in school.
A number of studies have shown sufficient evidence of problems of school attendance
and dropout rates among girls (Deblé, 1980; Kelly, 1984; Brock & Cammish,
1991; UNESCO, 1991). Other studies have also analysed the economic and social
benefits of female education in addition to the health benefits enjoyed by educated
women (Odaga & Heneveld, 1995; Glick & Sahn, 2000). All these studies indicated
that in most developing countries most females receive less education when
compared with males.
The present paper discusses the issue of girls’ education from gender and sociocultural
perspectives with regards to Ghana, Nigeria and Togo in West Africa. It is
the authors’ argument that the root cause of low retention of girls in school as
compared with boys is due to gender inequality and discrimination against women
in general due to patriarchal systems of social organization and other socio-cultural
practices of early marriage, child slavery, and fostering or trafficking of children,
poverty, and multiple household duties, and a lack of economic and social opportunities.
The authors are of the view that unless there is a critical mass change in attitudes
and mentality of both men and women in terms of the importance of the role of
education of women in nation-building and economic development, attaining gender
parity and the near universal education of children in West Africa would be fraught
with difficulties. The change in attitude could be effected through adult literacy and
mass education of all citizens in the sub-region on the importance of education in
general and that of female education in particular. The mobilization of citizens to
change negative socio-cultural practices and attitudes could eventually lead to
economic, political, and social inclusion, and increased participation of women in all
spheres of their societies.
Historical background on educational policies in Ghana, Nigeria and Togo
Historically, formal education in countries in West Africa was started with the advent
of foreign missionaries and the various colonial governments that colonized the subregion.
Just before independence in Ghana, the British colonial government, in 1951,
established the Accelerated Development Plan to provide a rapid expansion of
infrastructure and increased enrolment of children for basic primary education all
over the country (Graham, 1971; George, 1976; Buah, 1998, Eyiah 2004). After

Gender discrimination and education in West Africa 365
independence in 1957, a new Education Act of 1961 was passed to bring about new
educational reforms in the country. This policy involves the introduction of fee-free
and compulsory elementary education for all children of school-going age from
primary to secondary school levels. In addition, the government subsidised primary
education by providing free textbooks, stationery and furniture for all schools.
Since then, education in Ghana has undergone various policy reforms over a
period of time such as in 1966 and 1974. For example, in 1987, the government
reformed the structure and content of education under the Free Compulsory Universal
Basic Education (FCUBE) with the aim of expanding access, improving equity,
quality, and sustainability in education (Girls’ Education Unit, 2002, p. 2). Again, in
1997, the government took concrete steps to improve the education of girls at the
basic level by establishing the Girls’ Education Unit within the Ministry of Education
to ensure that girls, who lagged behind boys, could have the opportunity to attain the
aims of free and compulsory education. The unit has the responsibility of increasing
girls’ enrolment in schools and reducing the dropout rate for girls from 30 to 20% by
2005.
However, the 2000 Population and Housing Census in Ghana indicates that 54.3%
of female aged 15 years and over have never been to school despite efforts being made
to increase girls’ education in the country. Gender parity between girls and boys has
almost been achieved at the pre-school or early childhood education level. However,
the gap begins to widen from the basic or primary school level to junior high and high
school levels. For example, at the junior secondary school or junior high school level,
the percentages of females and males enrolled in schools were 44.9 and 55.1%,
respectively, during the 1999–2000 school year. But the gender gap widens more at
both high school and post-secondary levels, with females constituting only 33% at
high schools and post-secondary institutions (Ghana Statistical Service, 2002). On
the whole, female enrolment in schools continues to be lower, about 59.7%,
compared with boys’ enrolment of 62.2%. In addition, enrolment is still lower for
females in most the rural communities within the country. Johnson and Kyle (2001)
found that on average 22% of all students dropped out of school, but the females’
dropout rate of 26% was 8 percentage points higher than the dropout rate of 18% for
boys. They indicated that the dropout rate is influenced by different factors including,
most importantly, the female gender (Johnson & Kyle, 2001).
According to Graham (1971), since the introduction of Western education in West
Africa, the goal was to prepare girls and women for their domestic roles as compared
with boys’ education that has the goal of training them to earn a livelihood for themselves
and their families. In all African societies, the aim of females’ education was
generally to make them into good wives and mothers (Graham, 1971). This situation
of low enrolment is still evident in most countries in West Africa despite African
governments’ commitment to the implementation of universal primary education on
the continent.
Nigeria’s first colonial policy on education was introduced in 1925, with the aim of
providing primary, secondary and adult education for the citizens. Since then, a
number of different educational policy reforms have been introduced at different time

366 T. Tuwor and M.-A. Sossou
frames in 1935, 1940 and 1945 in the country (Aladekomo, 2004). However, most
of these educational reforms have not been implemented effectively and efficiently
due to socio-cultural reasons such as rapid population growth, a lack of political good
will, and the poor management of scarce resources. In 1999, the government formally
launched a new Universal Basic Education (UBE) policy to provide free and compulsory
education for all Nigerian children from primary school up to the junior secondary
school levels. The current system of education allows for six years of primary
schooling, three years in junior secondary school, three years in senior secondary
school, and four years of university education (Olujuwon, n.d.).
In 2003, the Nigerian Ministry of Education adopted the African Girls’ Education
Initiative (AGEI) sponsored by UNICEF in an effort to raise national awareness on
girls’ education through public campaigns, rallies, and seminars to help develop girlfriendly
school environments and to assist communities sustain girls’ education by
reviewing existing curricula and teaching materials for gender-inclusive education in
the country (UNICEF, 2003b).
Biriamah (1994) indicates that there is a relationship between class, gender and
societal inequalities in the enrolment of students. Concerns regarding early marriage
and a perceived lack of returns of investments made in daughters’ education often
militate against Nigerian girls’ chances of attending school beyond the primary six
years. According to UNICEF (2003b), the national literacy rate for females is about
60% compared with almost 90% for males, and in certain states female enrolment
and achievement rates are much lower than that of males.
The German missionaries started formal education in the Republic of Togo in
1887. In 1924, the colonial French government introduced a new educational policy,
and instruction and teaching in the French language became the foundation for the
educational system in the country. With this policy, primary schools were established
in most towns and villages. In terms of female education, separate schools were established
for them and the policy behind separate schools for girls was to afford them a
little education along the lines of that given in the primary schools with emphasis on
sewing, washing, ironing, and personal hygiene (Bunche, 1934).
In 1970, the government introduced a six-year basic compulsory and free education
for all children between the ages of 2 and 15 years. By 1996, nearly all primary
school-aged children were attending school compared with only 27% of students
attending secondary school. Currently, the net enrolment of children at the primary
school level is 67.7% for boys and 59.1% for girls. Enrolment at the high school or at
secondary level is 67% for boys and only 33% for girls (UNICEF, 2003a).
In order to accelerate the African Girls’ Education Initiative in Togo, UNICEF
and its local partners have trained voluntary literacy trainers; hired female daycare
centre personnel, and provided materials, equipment, and partial payment of school
fees for about 60% of females and 25% of males to help them stay in school. This
initiative has contributed to an increase of female enrolment and demand for educational
services in the country (UNICEF, 2003a). However, a number of barriers have
still been identified for the retention of girls in schools in Togo. These factors include
the weight of tradition such as early and forced marriages of young girls to elderly

Gender discrimination and education in West Africa 367
men, girls’ low self-esteem, a lack of female role models, and the trafficking of young
girls to work as domestic servants.
Socio-cultural factors contributing to the gender gap
It is evident that girls are most often the ones that do not enrol in school for obvious
socio-cultural reasons. This situation is largely due to gender inequality and discrimination,
which takes its root in patriarchy. According to Cusack (1999), a large factor
in the subordination, oppression and status of women is systemic conditioning, which
originates in the family and in society. Cusack asserts that because society, tradition,
and religion support male authority and superiority, a library of beliefs and myths has
been constructed and evolved into explanations and rationalizations for the way of
things. Morna (1999) asserts that despite all the hue and cry since the first World
Conference on Women in Mexico, blatant discrimination against women continues
to be practised in many countries. According to her, in most African countries
modern legislative reforms exist side by side with customary laws and the sorts of
issues that affect the equality of women invariably occur in the private as opposed to
the public domain.
Ogundipe-Leslie (1994, p. 25) defines culture as the total product of a people’s
‘being’ and ‘consciousness’, which emerges from their grappling with nature and
living with other people in a collective group. Kolawole (1998), asserts that gender
inequity in many African societies is a product of the manipulation of culture, in
which negative images of women derived from traditional conceptualization plays a
central role in women’s internalization of negative values and images. She is of the
view that culture is often used as a sledgehammer of oppression to perpetuate
inequality and gender injustice against women in Africa.
It is evident that one of the causes of the high illiteracy rate of 42% in West Africa
is due to a lack of access to quality formal education and gender inequity in the educational
systems within the sub-region. Dolphyne (2000) attributes girls’ low enrolment
in school to gender and cultural practices that place lesser value on girls’ education
and the apparent irrelevance of formal education to economic prosperity, especially
as evident by illiterate and semi-illiterate market women in urban centres in West
Africa. The Makola market women of Ghana, the Mama Benz market women of
Togo, and the Yoruba market women of Nigeria are examples of uneducated women
who were actively involved in the economic distribution of goods and services in local
markets in West Africa. Despite their economic contributions to the well-being of
their families and societies, their economic efforts have not been acknowledged in any
official capacity.
Gender and child marriage
In Ghana, statistics from the Directorate of Births and Death Registry in the uppereast
region indicate that 3404 teenagers between the ages of 10 and 19 years were
pregnant between 2003 and 2004 (Ghana News Agency, 2006). In Nigeria, about

368 T. Tuwor and M.-A. Sossou
37% of school-age girls who dropped out of school have already begun bearing children
before they reach the age of 18 years (Oyewumi, 1997). In northern Nigeria,
55% of girls aged between 15 and 19 years were pregnant or were mothers already.
In terms of cultural and religious factors, many Nigerian parents, especially in large
families with limited resources, tend to enrol boys in school instead of girls, while
some parents also keep their daughters out of school due to misinterpretation of the
tenets of Islamic religion.
According to Adesina (1982), marriage is not thought to be compatible with
continued school attendance and teenage marriage is often seen as a means of maintaining
chastity. Families are likely to withdraw their daughters from school as they
approach puberty and other parents would more likely refuse to enrol them due to
problems they might face when they stay longer in school. For example, the Nigeria
Demographic and Health Survey (1999) found that 19% of girls cited early marriage
as a reason for dropping out of school.
In Togo, the legal age of marriage is 17 years for girls and 21 years for boys, and
about 27% of girls between the ages of 15 and 19 years have been forced into early
marriage (Monekosso, 2001). Early marriage is predominantly a female problem and
current estimates show that about 82 million girls aged between 10 and 17 years in
developing countries will be married (Bruce, 2002). According to Otoo-Oyortey and
Pobi (2003), early marriage is also associated with low educational levels, poor health,
low self-esteem and social isolation since girls are still of school age when they marry.
These authors assert that this practice violates girls’ rights to a good future and
perpetuates the feminization of poverty, gender inequality and disempowerment.
Gender and religion
Traditional African religion has also been identified as another major socio-cultural
obstacle to girls’ education in West Africa. In Ghana and Togo, the traditional religious
practice of trokosi among the Ewes tribes is another obstacle to girls’ education.
This is a fetish practice in which young virgin girls are sent to fetish shrines as slaves
to atone for the sins and crimes committed by their relatives who in most cases were
already dead. The crimes committed by the dead ancestors ranged from murder to
petty crime such as stealing or sleeping with other people’s wives. This system, which
is based on traditional religious beliefs, is discriminatory against women and children,
and the young girls are mostly denied any chance of formal education, healthcare, and
often are sexually abused and impregnated by the custodial fetish priests in the shrines
(Gadzekpo, 1993; Brooker, 1996).
A study of female access to education in northern Nigeria reveals the strict observance
of the Islamic custom of purdah. This practice refers to the seclusion of women
from the sight of men and interaction with strangers inside and outside the home. The
practice generally applies to married women and girls who have reached puberty.
Although the practice in its fundamental form has declined, it still exists and is being
reintroduced under the Sharia law in various states in Northern Nigeria (UNICEF,
2001). These cultural and religious practices of early and forced marriage, trokosi, and

Gender discrimination and education in West Africa 369
purdah deprive girls of their rights and access to education and other socio-economic
benefits such as effective participation in their societies. Sunal (1998) has projected
that while the enrolment of girls in schools in sub-Saharan Africa may increase with
population gains and other governmental initiatives, the retention rates in school will
decrease over the next few decades due to early marriage and teenage pregnancy.
Gender and poverty
It is striking to note that 30 years ago the average income in sub-Saharan Africa was
twice that of both East and South Asia, respectively (The Commission of Africa,
2005). Despite more than 20 years of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs)
aimed at revitalizing the economies of Sub-Saharan Africa to become competitive in
the global market, the continent has been experiencing a serious crisis of chronic
poverty, lower living standards and lower life expectancy. Women and girls have been
most affected by the negative effects of the structural adjustment programme due to
the rapid decrease in the economic capacity of parents and guardians to meet the
school needs of their children. Poverty and economic hardships contributed to about
70% of the population living below the poverty line, and most often girls are withdrawn
from school to generate income by selling or hawking wares in the markets or
neighbourhoods to supplement family resources (Obasi, 1997).
It is evident that even before the Structural Adjustment Programmes in Africa,
issues of child development and girls education were not of great concern to policymakers
especially during the early years of independence. However, the inadequate
attention paid to gender issues during the implementation of the Structural
Adjustment Programmes has led to a number of social outcomes with particular
economic and social implications for women and children. As a consequence of
economic hardship for low-income families, child fostering and child trafficking has
become a way of livelihood among poor families in Ghana. Traditionally, child fostering
used to be the duty of the well-to-do extended family members’ shared responsibility
toward raising and socializing the children of their less affluent kinsmen’s
children. Currently, child fostering has became a common practice through which
young females are made to shoulder the economic burdens of their families by working
as domestic and housemaids in middle- and upper-class homes for a fee or in
exchange for physical maintenance, clothing, healthcare, and in some cases educational
support.
According to Ardayfio-Schandorf and Amissah (1996), child fostering in Ghana is
a prevalent means of easing the burden of parents who cannot cope with childcare
responsibilities and it is predominant among low-income families. In a study carried
out in three communities in the Greater Accra region, it was found that as many as
40% of children from low-income families were fostered and 61% of the fostered children
were girls, and that economic reasons were paramount to child fostering in
contemporary times (Ardayfio-Schandorf & Amissah, 1996).
In Nigeria, the adoption of the structural adjustment programme has especially,
affected access to education for girls. The decline in oil revenues in addition to free

370 T. Tuwor and M.-A. Sossou
market reform measures, a reduction in government spending, and the privatization
and commercialization of public enterprises have affected the allocation of funds to
education, healthcare and social services for Nigeria’s citizens (Obasi, 1997). Due to
large-scale retrenchment of workers by the government, most parents became unemployed
and could not afford to provide for their children’s educational needs. The
reality of poverty has marginalized and forced many women and children to seek out
other methods of survival, and the trafficking of young women and children to
unknown families has become very common. According to Onibokum and Kumuyi
(1996), Nigerian women experience poverty economically through deprivation;
politically through marginalization; socially through discrimination; and culturally
through ruthlessness and ecologically through vulnerability. They assert that these
experiences are part of Nigerian women and children’s daily lives.
Togo has also experienced its share of poverty and child fostering and trafficking.
Due to a period of severe social, economic and political disruptions in the 1990s, the
country adopted a comprehensive adjustment strategy in 1994 to restore sustained
economic growth. The strategy involves the devaluation of the country’s currency,
restructuring of public enterprises through the sale of government shares, and the
involvement of the private sector. Despite moderate gains, the country’s economic
and financial situation remains fragile and the country continues to have a high
poverty rate, with 75% of the population, particularly in rural areas, having difficulty
meeting basic health, education, nutritional, and housing needs (International
Monetary Fund, 1995).
International debt, political unrest and widespread economic decline had led to
millions of Togolese families living below the poverty line, and many families became
more vulnerable to trafficking their children into present-day slavery, and other forms
of child labour and exploitation. Just as in Ghana and Nigeria, young Togolese girls
are given away to serve as domestic servants and child workers with wealthy relations
and businesswomen in exchange for economic benefits for themselves and their families.
In some instances, these children are supposed to be offered a better future and
educational opportunities as a result of their guardians’ financial positions. However,
these children are used as a source of cheap labour and economic exploitation, and
they are also subjected to physical, sexual and emotional abuses.
According to Tovo (1997), the trafficking of girls in Togo is built on a long tradition
of parents using their daughters as domestic workers rather than sending them
to school. The United Nations Economic and Social Council (2002) estimates that
girls in Togo are 20% less likely than boys to be enrolled in primary school, 25% less
likely to reach high school and more than 50% less likely to enter university. It is
believed that the girls’ incomes as domestic servants help to support the schooling of
their brothers (Tovo, 1997).
According to Gordon et al. (2003), overall poverty is the lack of income and
productive resources to ensure sustainable livelihoods. This poverty leads to hunger
and malnutrition, ill-health, a limited or lack of access to education, and other basic
services. Poverty contributes to homelessness, inadequate housing, an unsafe environment,
and social discrimination and exclusion. The authors assert that women

Gender discrimination and education in West Africa 371
bear a disproportionate burden of poverty, and children growing up in poverty are
often permanently disadvantaged. The United Nations Economic and Social Council
(1998) describes poverty as a denial of choices and opportunities, a violation of
human dignity, insecurity, powerlessness, and the exclusion of individuals, households
and communities.
Gender and household duties
African women in general and West African women in particular have always worked
both inside and outside their homes. For millions of women and female children in
the developing world, life means work. They toil long hours in the fields, tend domestic
livestock and vegetable gardens, pick fruit, gather firewood, draw water, prepare
and cook food, take care of children, and manage household finances (UNFPA,
2002). The failure to reward women’s work is profoundly linked to their gender role
and the cultural association of women with the ‘inside’ or the home. By contrast, men
belong to the ‘outside’ where livelihoods are earned and political and economic
powers are exercised. Several studies have shown that while women are largely
responsible for generating increases in household income, these increases are usually
appropriated by men and put to uses that do not benefit women and children (Manu
1984; Stamp, 1989; Evans, 1991; Oduro, 1992).
Second, motherhood among West African women is another important role and
this is mostly regarded as a natural role. Ironically, these natural motherhood roles of
pregnancy, childbirth, and the nurturing of children do not really qualify as work by
society and even by women themselves. However, these multiple roles of women
account for the failure of most female children to complete their formal education.
Young girls are mostly responsible for helping their mothers at home, on the farms
and in the markets. In some situations, girls may drop out of school due to teenage
pregnancy or forced early marriages. Studies have shown that the performance and
retention of females in school correlate positively with the education of the mother,
but bear little or no relationship to the education of the father (Tansel, 1997).
Strategies for closing the gender gap in Sub-Saharan African schools
According to Heyzer (2002), gender inequalities inhibit a country’s development by
imposing a high cost on a nation’s quality of living standards, hindering productivity
and economic progress. Gender inequality also creates the feminization of poverty,
violence, and distortions in the family as well as economic limitation of women’s
resources, productive activities, and social and political participation. Heyzer states
that any meaningful development requires the removal of major sources of ‘unfreedom’
including institutional arrangements that deny people the means of expanding
their opportunities and increasing their capabilities.
Rowan-Campbell (1999) asserts that developing countries have internalized colonial
norms of sex discrimination in addition to local traditional forms of already existing
prejudices and, for the most part, have situated them as the proper order of things

372 T. Tuwor and M.-A. Sossou
as they became independent states. Kolawole (1998) is of the view that the prejudices
and stereotypes against women are embedded in legends, proverbs, folktales and
other cultural productions that have assumed mythical proportions, resulting in the
internalization of these traditional self-perceptions, which shape and conditions
women’s own beliefs about themselves and their responses and behaviours to change
and development.
Experience has shown that accelerated economic growth does not necessarily lead
to higher levels of well-being for the entire population. It often increases social
inequality and marginalization. It is therefore important to devise new answers based
on an integrated approach that addresses all aspects of development such as growth,
equity, participation and respect for human rights simultaneously. Studies on the
situation of women confirmed that the structural inequality of society persists, as
manifested by the lack of opportunities and of access to employment, basic services,
power and decision-making at higher levels, and by the weakness of mechanisms for
promoting the advancement of women (Gallagher, 1997).
Programmes and policies to improve the situation of women in West Africa must
scrupulously reflect the principle that biological differences should not lead to social
inequalities. Such programmes and policies must reconcile the differences between
economic and social policies and address the various facets of social equity in such a
way as to promote the emergence of democratic and productive societies in the subregion.
This process requires complimentarity between economic and social policies,
educational reforms, the strengthening of health services, and investment in human
resources, the assurance of environmental sustainability, and the recognition of the
rights of women to the full exercise of citizenship.
It is a fact that only if women are actively incorporated into public life can the West
African societies benefit from the important contributions that women can make, not
only to meet their own economic, social and cultural needs, but also to contribute to
the total socio-economic development of their countries in the region. Any attempt at
achieving substantive equality therefore requires highly developed inter-governmental
cooperation, critical analysis of state policies and programmes, and an acceptance
of women’s desire to seek equity and fair treatment.
It is the view of the present authors that in order to achieve compulsory universal
education and complete retention of all children in schools in West Africa, a number
of strategies should be employed and implemented effectively. These strategies include
attitude change, governmental and parental responsibilities, and accountability.
Attitude change
The first strategy involves complete attitude change of the mindset of both women
and men toward the importance of female education in the sub-region. This process
should involve mass adult education programmes and mass dissemination of information
geared toward educating the general West African populations about the
importance and advantages of female education and economic development. As long
as gender discrimination continues to exist in both private and public sectors of life,

Gender discrimination and education in West Africa 373
mere access to education is very important but not sufficient to increase women’s
effective participation in the region.
An integrated approach to both education and training is required and this integrated
approach involves the training and change in negative personal and collective
attitudes of individuals, groups and communities. Attitudes are feelings, beliefs or
opinions of approval or disapproval towards something. Studies have demonstrated
the extensive relationship between attitude and behaviour change and it is likely an
effective campaign on attitude change can equally contribute to the elimination of
gender bias and discrimination (Byrne & Baron, 1997). Attitude and behaviour
change is therefore an essential programme toward gender equality.
This programme must involve change in social and cultural conventions concerning
appropriate roles for men and women in the society. While women are increasingly
taking on male roles, for example in supporting the family economically, men
are rarely reciprocating by taking on female roles, such as sharing childcare or domestic
responsibilities. The respective governments therefore need to embark on media
campaigns and programmes to educate and influence attitudes concerning the importance
of female education, women’s role in the labour market and the division of
labour in the homes. These campaigns should involve all range of people including
teachers, educational personnel, all men, community leaders, employers, politicians,
policy-makers and women themselves.
For example, in Ghana in the late 1950s and early 1960, a mass literacy campaign
was started as part of the overall community development programme in the country.
The primary aim of this mass campaign was to teach adults to read and write in their
own languages as well as in the English language. This extensive nationwide
campaign was under the direction of the then Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare.
Social workers and mass education officers were recruited and trained to conduct
literacy classes for all adults in villages and in towns throughout the country. These
trained social workers and mass education officers had grappled with some intractable
cultural practices in the context of national development with some measures of
success. The workers also used the ‘mass education’ programmes through varied
community development projects to make appreciable contributions toward effecting
social change in some aspects of people’s lives in Ghana. The unique ability and experience
of these workers and other volunteers such as teachers and university students
could be effectively used again by countries in West Africa to penetrate and work with
communities and cultures in addressing the latent and subterranean problem of
gender inequality and discrimination against women and girls in rural and urban
communities.
Positive change in social attitudes will also empower women to take control of their
lives and situations. Batliwala (1993) identifies two essential levels of change within
the empowerment process known as extrinsic and intrinsic changes. She states that
there has to be an extrinsic process where things in the outside environment are
changed and this change is meant to bring about women’s greater control over
resources. The intrinsic change or process involves the change in the ideological environment,
which is embedded in the consciousness of women. This change process

374 T. Tuwor and M.-A. Sossou
involves an increase in women’s self-confidence, self-image of themselves and selfmotivation
and understanding of their situations and capabilities.
Government responsibility
West African governments have to make girls’ education a priority by creating efficient
and well-established government departments and in addition provide resources
specifically for overseeing the enrolment and process of maintaining girls in school.
So far, all the three countries mentioned in the present paper have taken the initiatives
of endorsing the African Girls’ Education Initiatives, and Ghana established a Girls’
Education Unit in 1997 to develop its own policies to promote girls’ education. These
various initiatives have to be accompanied by intensive and supportive learning environments,
qualified, motivated and well-paid teachers, and the availability of instructional
and gender appropriate resources and curricula. The effective implementation
of these programmes could serve as catalysts and positive examples for other African
countries in the region.
The school curriculum is one of the institutionalized forms of creating disparity in
the education of boys and girls. There is evidence that in most West African countries
subjects in schools are gender-biased in terms of the different disciplines studied by
both boys and girls. For example, boys are encouraged and supported by both parents
and teachers to study mathematics, science, and technology, while the girls are
exposed to domestic science and other female-related subjects such as nursing, teaching
or vocational training. In addition, equitable representation of heroic women in
textbooks should be another way of influencing girls to perceive themselves as equally
capable of doing well as their male counterparts. For example, in most textbooks men
are represented as heroes, leaders and as people with prestigious jobs and it is obvious
that boys are most likely going to be inspired by these male heroic representations.
The concept and spreading of sexism takes its root from the negative representation
of women in textbooks as only mothers, wives and low-status workers. The majority
of girls in school internalize these stereotypical female behaviour role models as
depicted in the textbooks and as women they neither question the unequal gender
division of labour at home nor the concept of the so-called gender-appropriate jobs.
The stereotypic representation of women in textbooks as housewives, traders and
low-income workers in government establishments contributes to the high dropout
rate of girls in West African countries (Jayaweera 1999).
The role of teachers is equally important as they are responsible for implementing
all the educational policies and the curricula. High-quality professional development
of teachers will be intricately linked to improved teaching and learning in schools.
Research indicates that teachers who are fully prepared and well trained in both their
subject areas and in education are more successful with students than untrained and
unprepared teachers (Darling-Hammond, 1997).
West African countries have to increase their national budgetary allocations to
support high-quality professional development of teachers in order to ensure responsive
teaching that is relevant for all students. Highly trained teachers will evidently

Gender discrimination and education in West Africa 375
contribute to effective classroom instruction and learning. Intensification of learning
includes the development of rigorous school standards, rich curricula, knowledgeable
and skilled teachers, and meaningful learning experiences (Wheelock, 1998).
Newmann et al. (2001) in a study of students in classrooms in Chicago, Illinois, indicate
that in situations where students were given challenging assignments, the
students showed a one-year learning achievement gain, with higher test results than
the national average over other students whose quality of assignments was low.
In addressing inequality in education, there is the need for governmental provision
of adequate educational facilities and qualified teaching personnel and resources to
meet the needs of disadvantaged school children with learning disabilities and other
social issues. Culturally, children with disabilities do not attract educational opportunities
and this is due to cultural superstitions or parents’ perception of such children
as being incapable of classroom learning. Many families, especially rural families, are
often reluctant to send children with disabilities to school because they are looked
upon as economic liabilities with no significant rewards. They often drop out of
school when they face prejudice, ridicule and discrimination from their colleagues or
from school personnel. According to Grossman (1995), students with disabilities may
act in different ways and one way is to drop out of school, and this situation is prevalent
among girls with both physical and learning disabilities.
To help enrol and retain girls with learning disabilities in school, West African
governments should create the awareness and importance of education for all children
irrespective of their physical and learning disabilities. There should be sufficient
investment in the training of more special education teachers and provision of facilities
and supportive services to aid in the detection of the special educational needs of
the students with learning and physical disabilities. Public schools in the region need
social services such as individual and group therapies provided by trained therapists,
career and guidance counsellors, and school social workers to provide school-based
therapy or counselling services to school children with learning disabilities and other
school-related problems.
Another governmental strategy that can increase the enrolment and maintenance
of girls in school is the proximity of schools to residential areas. Distance to school is
one of the obstacles for girls’ enrolment in developing countries in West Africa. This
problem is prevalent in rural areas where children have to walk long distances to
school, sometimes through forests, ponds or rivers, and in the rain during the rainy
seasons. Distance and safety issues are determining factors that inform the decision
of which child should go to school, and boys are most often preferred to girls under
such circumstances. In addition to long distances, a lack of instructional materials,
good classrooms, recreational and toilet facilities, and food and good drinking water
are major problems faced by rural communities in West Africa. The provision of
daycare centres at places of employment and the provision of public transportation or
school buses would also encourage mothers to send their daughters and their younger
siblings to school. In China, the provision of daycare centres for younger siblings in
some rural areas where girls’ enrolment has been a problem has improved school
attendance (Lockheed & Verspoor, 1991).

376 T. Tuwor and M.-A. Sossou
Parental accountability
The right to education forms part of the 1990 United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child. This convention has been ratified and adopted as part of the
national constitutions of Ghana, Nigeria and Togo. To achieve this goal, parents,
especially illiterate parents in both rural and urban communities, should be held
responsible and accountable for their children’s basic education. Parents must be
held responsible and accountable for their female children’s enrolment and retention
in schools until they complete at least 12 years of basic education. This process
should involve school districts making parents to commit to signing formal agreements
to make sure their children, most especially the female children, stay in school,
and parents should be held accountable for the breach of parental educational
contracts if their children fail to complete their basic primary education.
In Ghana, Nigeria and Togo, for example, the Family Courts, which are responsible
for dealing with cases of child maintenance and other family issues, should be
empowered to hold accountable and responsible any parent who breaches his or her
formal agreement for not retaining their children in school. There is also the need for
partnership-building and active participation of both parents and teachers in decision-making
and the sharing of information concerning performance and progress of
children in schools.
Conclusions
Despite the urgent priority and commitment accorded female education in terms of
removing every obstacle that hampers girls’ education by West African governments,
recent reports worldwide indicate that there are more than 121 million primary
school-age children who have dropped out of school or who were never enrolled in
the first place (UNICEF, 2004). Discrimination against girls based on gender still
persists and this situation perpetuates the educational gap between males and
females in West Africa. Ghana, Nigeria and Togo have ratified the Convention on
the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the
African Charter on Human Rights and People’s Rights and the African Charter on
the Rights and Welfare of the Child.
Educational development in the West Africa sub-region is potentially a key factor
in reducing the high incidence of poverty and ignorance and the high illiteracy rate
among citizens. Education will improve economic growth and quality of life and
empower the people, especially girls and women, to make informed decisions across
a wide range of activities, such as issues concerning reproductive and fertility rates
and the rights of women, the education and health of children, and the improved
nutritional health of their children.
Studies show that girls who complete even primary education become adults who
are healthier, more economically productive, and raise children who tend to stay
longer in school. In addition, there is a strong relationship between mothers’ educational
attainment, individual household earnings, and the economic, social and overall

Gender discrimination and education in West Africa 377
well-being of their family members. West African governments must place more
emphasis not only on getting girls to school, but also on retaining them in schools by
making provisions such as increased public funding for basic education and mobilizing
the needed educational resources to assist teachers, parents and children, and in addition
recognize quality education as the right of every child.
West African governments still have the responsibility of dismantling cultural and
institutional obstacles and barriers that diminish opportunities or prevent children
from enjoying their right to education. Although almost all governments in the region
are signatories to various United Nations, African Union, and other international
conventions for the general welfare and education of their children, meaningful and
effective programmes and policies to address the issues of all children in the region
are still woefully inadequate and appalling.
No nation in West Africa can reach its full social, economic and political development
by ignoring or marginalizing half of its human population through a lack of
education. The long-term social benefits of girls’ education include increased family
incomes, better nourished and healthier children and families, greater opportunities
and life choices for women, and greater political participation and an all-inclusive
society.
Notes on contributors
Theresa Tuwor is a doctoral student at the College of Education, University of
Kentucky. Marie-Antoinette Sossou is Assistant Professor at the College of
Social Work, University of Kentucky. Both authors are interested in gender and
women issues from multidisciplinary perspectives.
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