Education is an effective way
to improve girls’ self-worth, health, and productivity; however there remains a
gender gap between girls’ and boys’ completion of school. The literature around
factors influencing girls’ decision to stay in school is limited. Seven focus
group discussions took place among 79 girls in forms 2 to 4 at secondary
schools in rural western Kenya, to examine their views on why girls absent
themselves or dropout from school. Data were analysed thematically.
Lack of
resources, sexual relationships with boyfriends, and menstrual care problems
were reported to lead directly to dropout or school absence. These were tied to
girls increased vulnerability to pregnancy, poor performance in school, and
punishments, which further increase school absence and risk of dropout.
Poverty, unmet essential needs, coercive sexual relationships, and an
inequitable school environment collude to counter girls’ resolve to complete
their schooling.
Lack of resources drive girls to have sex with boyfriends or
men who provide them with essentials their family cannot afford, such as
sanitary pads and transport to school. While these improve quality of their
school life, this dynamic increases their exposure to sexual risk, pregnancy,
punishment, and dropout. Evaluation of interventions to ameliorate these
challenges is warranted, including provision of pocket money to address their
needs.
...Poverty was a constant underlying element in girls’
narratives [11],
and responsible either directly or indirectly for the greater proportion of
absenteeism or dropout. Lack of cash for fees or personal needs was noted as a
main factor directly leading to dropout. Although the Kenyan government
extended free education from primary into secondary schools in 2008, girls’
narratives describing ‘school fees’ drove us to examine what comprised ‘fees’
in the area since tuition fees were already paid. Schools provided us with
standard invoices per student; these included PTA / development levies, and
fees for lunch, exams, activities, PE, district evaluation, and ICT
maintenance. Adding further costs for uniforms and books, we estimate around
Ksh 20,000 (~£126) is required per girl each year. A separate study suggested
these additional costs amount to 55% of the average rural households’ annual
per capita expenditure [13].
Should such fees be afforded for a girl (assuming no competing male sibling),
any further personal items required by girls would be beyond the reach of many
families who have a mean wealth index of ~£426 [33].
We noted two-thirds of the annual fees are requested in the first school term.
Girls’ dropout over the year thus occurs after the bulk of fees are paid, with
a lack of smaller sums of money acting as a barrier to completion.
Girls in our study describe many items they need that are
beyond the household budget. Top among these were sanitary pads for menstrual
care. The reporting of menstrual care problems in school was very common in the
present study, with girls discussing this as a main cause of school absence,
and some considering repeated absence resulted in eventual dropout. Teasing and
public humiliation, discomfort from poor quality sanitary items, and poor
engagement due to fear of leakage and odour are well described in the literature
[20,21,34].
Sanitary pads are a frequently cited item girls say they need, but parents’
budgets seldom stretch to provide the quality or amount required. Girls’ narratives
indicate some boyfriends provide pads directly, while other girls request money
from sexual partners to buy pads. In a study among girls and women below 30
years of age in the same area, half said they received commercial pads from a
sexual partner [35].
While sex for money in order to purchase pads was seldom recorded (~3% among
young single females), it was reported among 10% of 15 year olds. It was
significantly higher among girls dependent on family for source of income, and
among girls reporting two or more sexual partners in the past 12 months [35].
Removing menstrual need as a burden for schoolgirls would improve their
dignity, engagement in school, and potentially improve their performance. It
would also reduce one reason for dependence on sexual partners, and could contribute
to reducing their exposure to sexual and reproductive harms, and possible
school dropout.
Along with menstrual items, a variety of relatively low
budget items such as face cream, body oil, panties, sodas, and snacks were also
seen as necessary items for girls to have. Having a boyfriend was considered
essential, as boys (and men) buy them or provide money for these needs. A
strong literature exists on procurement of socially desirable items from sexual
partners in impoverished communities [36–38],
with a particular focus around implications for HIV risk for young females [39,40]...
Full article at:
By:
Kelvin Oruko, Elizabeth Nyothach, John Vulule, Penelope A.
Phillips-Howard
Kenya Medical Research Institute
(KEMRI), Center for Global Health Research, Kisumu, Kenya
Emily Zielinski-Gutierrez, Kayla F. Laserson
Center for Global Health,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, United States of
America
Linda Mason, Kelly Alexander, Penelope A. Phillips-Howard
Department of Clinical Studies,
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom
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