Question

why is Female illiteracy rates in sub-Saharan Africa are significantly higher than those for men.

Answer 1

Sub-Saharan African countries, the provision of education for boys and girls is uneven, and biased through gender, location, class and region- resulting to high illiteracy rates for girls and women. The political instability and violence, poverty and economical challenges, negative cultural values, female genital mutilation, early marriage, and sexual harassment are some of the leading contributors to gender inequality in education. Other factors that exacerbate gender inequality are lack of gender responsiveness among the teachers, ineffective teaching, and lack of learning materials, poor learning environment, and impact of HIV/AIDS.As stated above, formal education, especially primary schooling is the chief avenue through which the majority of people in developing countries acquire literacy. Historically, one of the major obstacles to the acquisition of literacy among women lies in the education system itself. It is a well-known fact that the advent of western literacy in Africa is largely attributed to the spread of Christianity and colonial domination in the region. Both the colonialists and the missionaries considered education as an essential tool in achieving their agendas, namely sustenance of their regimes and propagation of Christian doctrines.However, women and men were not given equal access to education: Unfortunately education systems introduced by the colonialists tended to accentuate various forms of gender related discrimination and were modelled on male-only institute of higher learning that had developed in medieval.the colonial era were further exacerbated by the introduction of western style capitalist economies, which emphasised the monetisation of goods and services as well as the focus on individual pursuits and accumulation of wealth. This system shifted the pre-colonial African view of the family as a collective primary unit of production. Emphasis was now on wage labour outside the household. The introduction of a cash-based economy disadvantaged women even more. Colonial administrators encouraged men to engage in cash crop production, an area that had previously been controlled by women.Early marriages and pregnancies is another obstacle to literacy acquisition among women in Sub-Saharan Africa. Among the Yao, forced marriages are common. Girls marry in their teens or soon after they have been initiated . Initiation ceremonies are seen as a rite of passage into the adult world where young men and women are expected to start families and assume the responsibilities of family life. Research has shown that absenteeism at school is high among Yao pupils once they have been initiated . Boys and girls once initiated are treated as though they were adults, inculcating in them an attitude of responsibility to fend for their needs and not to rely on parental support. This leaves the girl child with no option but to succumb to marriage so that the husband can take over the responsibility of fending for her needs. Sometimes the girls themselves see marriage as the best option in life and, therefore see, no reason why they should delay the inevitable. Stigmatisation also contributes to early marriages. Girls who remain unmarried beyond their early twenties are stigmatised, forcing some girls to marry as early as in their teens even though the may not have finished their school education by that time.On the other hand, marriages are seen as economic liabilities. Some ethnic groups demand payment of dowry from the prospective husband or his kinsmen when daughters get married. The Tumbuka demand several cattle or an equivalent sum Stella O. Kachiwanda 30 of money when a daughter gets married. Some parents then force their daughters to get married early so that they can get the cattle which are in turn used as dowry when their sons marry2 . Unfortunately for those enrolled in school, early marriages mean dropping out of school, resulting in a vicious circle of illiteracy among women.According to the UNESCO, sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rates of exclusion from education in the world. On top of that, the quality of education leaves a lot to be desired. And the situation for girls’ and women’s education is particularly critical.In this part of the world, the situation of girls’ and women’s education is particularly critical. In fact, 9 million girls between 6 and 11 will never go to school, 36% of adolescent girls are out of school, and the literacy rate of women does not exceed 50% or even 20% in some countries in the region. This has a direct impact on these women and girls, but also on the schooling of their children and, especially,one major challenge of underdeveloped nations and countries within the Sub-Saharan Africa region (SSA) is increasing population that outruns resources necessary to cater to the people. Following this, a low fertility rates has been advocated as a measure of population control. In SSA, some socio-economic factors that have been identified to alter demographic behaviour, especially fertility, include educational attainment, religious conviction, rate of contraceptive usage, level of abortion, effect of immigration, adolescent fertility, child labor, female involvement in labor force and state policies. In addition to these, Eloundou, Stokes and Cornell (2000) further identified female education to be an important factor.Despite the use of some of these control measures, fertility rates are relatively high in countries within the Sub Saharan region when compared to countries outside the region and developed countries as well. Although, a decline has been recorded over the years which has been sustained with huge long-term demographic significance, this has not nullified the drawbacks in SSA countries when compared with advanced countries of the world. This decline in fertility results from rising levels of urbanization and education, changes in the economy, and declining mortality among others.

Several factors influence the extent to which female counterparts are willing to sacrifice their lifetime in acquiring knowledge. While some would just stop at secondary education, others are ready to enroll into tertiary institution to acquire more knowledge. Some factors that influence this decision include societal customs and tradition, family background, government policies among others. It was found that the level of education attained also determines the extent to which fertility is being reduced. This implies that women acquire more education (say proceed from secondary to tertiary level), the probability exists that fertility rate will reduce more.Based on the availability of data, some countries were selected within the sub-division of the Sub-Saharan Africa countries to pinpoint this assertion. Taking the average values of fertility and level of education attained over a period of five years interval between 1981 and 2015, it is seen that countries with higher level of education among females have lower fertility rates. More specifically, Botswana records the lowest fertility rate and highest level of female enrolment