Sierra Leone endured social, economic, and political changes that impacted its educational system. Stymied development contributed to a persistent gender gap in schooling. Given changes over the decades, the chapter explores gender differences in educational enrollment and attainment at all levels—primary, secondary, and tertiary—using a 2017 Sierra Leone census cluster sample. The authors found that although educational disparities exist between girls and boys across the districts, there was no statistical difference in schooling between the groups in this sample. This suggests that Sierra Leone closed the educational parity gender gap. With political advancements, the authors situate findings within the context of a modernizing country that aims to reach primary and secondary education for all.
TopIntroduction
An important indicator of national development is gender equality in education. Reaching educational goals, such as gender parity in literacy rates, enrollment, and educational attainment remains a challenge for United Nations-identified Least Developed Countries (LDCs), especially those in Subsaharan Africa. In 2015, the UN launched the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and Goal 4 “Quality Education” aims to reach inclusive and equitable education—including eliminating gender disparities and ensuring equal access to all levels of education—so that all young people have free, equitable, and effective primary and secondary schooling (United Nations, 2020b).
Located on the West African Guinean Coast, Sierra Leone is one of forty-six LDCs, and it has made progress in terms of overall educational achievements. As Figure 1 and Figure 2 show, by 2010 Sierra Leone’s populace’s enrollment in primary schooling for both girls and boys had converged; yet females had lower enrollment in secondary and tertiary school as well as educational attainment as compared to their male counterparts (Barro & Lee, 2013, 2015). Sierra Leone has confronted impediments to sustained development in its education sector such that gender differences persist.
Figure 1. Sierra Leone’s educational enrollment ratio by sex, 1950 to 2010
Figure 2. Sierra Leone’s educational attainment by sex for persons 15 years and older, 1950 to 2010
The purpose of this chapter was to explore Sierra Leone’s gender parity via two interrelated outcomes, educational enrollment and attainment. Specifically, the authors make several contributions by considering how socio-political disruptions in Sierra Leone impact equal outcomes for these measures. First, in the following section, the authors outline the tumultuous history of education from the country’s independence from Britain in 1961 through its civil war, which ended in 2002. The authors reflect how school closures, lack of teacher support, and shifts in political attitudes toward education contributed to gender-related educational disparities in the pre- and post-civil war eras. Second, in section three, the authors examined gender differences in current educational enrollment and attainment at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels using a 2017 Sierra Leone household cluster survey. The authors then assessed how the findings align with the UN’s education development goals. To conclude, the authors discuss how current events, such as the 2014 Ebola outbreak and anti-corruption efforts in the 2018 elections, have contributed to moving forward gender parity in educational outcomes across Sierra Leone. The authors speculate that it is possible to expect positive results for the upcoming 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.