Kenya studies its schools to identify obstacles for girls. Education and gender

Popul Briefs. 1997 Summer;3(3):6.

Abstract

PIP: Interviews were conducted with almost 800 adolescents and their parents in 3 districts representing the range of school experience in Kenya. Researchers also visited 36 primary schools attended by more than 80% of the adolescents sampled, holding interviews with teachers and students, documenting facilities, observing interactions, and compiling measures of performance. Boys were seen bullying girls outside of classrooms, teasing them and blocking their movements. In focus group discussions, boys and girls reported that boys routinely grab girls' breasts, while teachers ignore the abuse. Teachers described girls as stupid and lazy, with both male and female teachers who expressed a preference for teaching one sex or the other preferring boys. The teachers more often allocated menial chores to girls and teaching tasks to boys. Even in schools in which girls performed almost as well as boys on exams, teachers awarded twice as many prizes to boys. The teachers created a context in which girls perform poorly. When the girls do in fact fail to achieve, teachers' prejudices are simply reinforced. On the other hand, schools at which girls performed better on exams had more female teachers who presumably served as role models. Also, girls in schools with more female students scored higher on the final, nationwide exam.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent*
  • Africa
  • Africa South of the Sahara
  • Africa, Eastern
  • Age Factors
  • Attitude*
  • Behavior
  • Crime
  • Demography
  • Developing Countries
  • Education*
  • Faculty*
  • Interpersonal Relations*
  • Kenya
  • Organization and Administration
  • Population
  • Population Characteristics
  • Prejudice*
  • Psychology
  • Schools*
  • Sex Offenses*
  • Social Problems
  • Students*
  • Violence*