Paper short abstract:

This paper examines gender norms and values that affect girls’ chances to complete school. It was found that despite a wider acceptance of the benefits of girls’ education among parents, existing gendered practices and beliefs often prevent girls from accessing and completing secondary schools.

Paper long abstract:

Sierra Leone is one of the poorest countries of the world and has an adult literacy rate of 32% (UNESCO 2018). Since the end of the civil war in 2002, serious efforts have been made to improve access to education and enhance gender equality in schools. However, despite enhanced educational opportunities for girls, equal access to education remains a challenge, especially in rural areas of the country (Galloway & Cannonier, 2019). The literature shows that significant gender disparities in average years of schooling and quality and types of education persist in the country (Menzel, 2019, Schneider, 2019, Ahene et al. 2019), connected with wider patterns of gendered inequality in the society at large. (Schneider, 2019; Coulter 2009). This paper examines contradictory gender norms and values that affect girls’ chances to complete school in rural areas of the country. It was found that despite a wider acceptance of the benefits of girls’ education among parents and teachers, existing gendered practices and beliefs often prevent girls from accessing and completing secondary schools. The paper draws on the qualitative data from a 2 year long longitudinal study conducted in rural Sierra Leone.