SEATTLE, Washington — The U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) lists quality education and improving gender equality as goals numbers four and five. Improving access to education for women and girls would seem to kill two birds with one stone, progressing education while at the same time working to correct gender imbalances. This is particularly relevant in areas such as sub-Saharan Africa where there are significant gender inequalities and the quality of education is generally poor. Women’s organization, WHEPSA, has been working to advance women’s education in the sub-Saharan African country of Senegal.
The Statistics
Across sub-Saharan Africa, more than 49 million girls are not attending primary or secondary school. Increasing the level of women’s education is vitally important to solving social and economic problems in the region. Indeed, Ann Cotton, co-chair of the U.N. Girls Education Initiative, writes that “For over a decade, education for girls has been identified as one of the best solutions to reversing the relentless trend of poverty and disease devastating large portions of sub-Saharan Africa.”
Although the African Union as well as governments across the continent have signed on to the U.N. SDGs, women hoping to attend school can still face a host of problems, particularly women from poorer and more rural areas.
Women’s Education in Senegal
One sub-Saharan country that has made significant progress in advancing the cause of women’s education is Senegal. Senegal has made enormous strides in its education system, with primary school enrollment rates increasing nearly 30% since 1994. In that time, Senegal has almost reached gender parity in terms of primary school enrollment, with 77.3% of girls enrolled as compared to 80% of boys.
There are many different actors that deserve credit for Senegal’s continuing progress in women’s education. From the U.N. to the government, to a host of local and international NGOs, thousands of people are working to advance the cause of women’s education in Senegal.
WHEPSA for Women’s Development
While the government and the U.N. have done important work in this area, there are many local and international NGOs whose roles deserve highlighting. One such local organization that is doing excellent work in advancing women’s education in Senegal is the Women’s Health Education and Prevention Strategies Alliance (WHEPSA). This organization is based in Dakar, Senegal, and has activities all over the country. Dr. Viola M. Vaughn founded WHEPSA in 1999 and has worked in the area of women’s education in Senegal for decades. WHEPSA has an international Board of Directors, with members drawn from the ranks of Senegalese and American educational and entrepreneurial professionals.
Thanks to organizations like WHEPSA, Senegal has made great strides in its push to increase women’s access to education. However, women’s education in Senegal still has a long way to go. Parity in enrollment is a laudable goal and an enormous achievement, however, Senegalese women continue to struggle after enrollment. One of the biggest challenges facing women’s education in Senegal is the fact that women are often forced to drop out of school long before men. Familial economic concerns, meaning only one child (usually male) can attend school long-term, the combination of early marriage, pregnancy and safety concerns, combine to create immense pressure on women in Senegal to abandon dreams of completing school. This explains that while enrollment in primary school may be at gender parity, the literacy rate of men is 62% while the rate for women is 39%.
The 10,000 Girls Program
WHEPSA is involved in a variety of different programs and initiatives, mainly focused in the south-eastern Kedougou region. However, the centerpiece of its efforts is the 10, 000 Girls Educational Support Program. This program seeks to address some of the latent issues still harming the cause of women’s education in Senegal. The 10, 000 Girls program operates under the principle that “Every girl who has the opportunity to be trained with basic or even advanced knowledge, is able to become an active, contributing member of the economy, to their families and to society.” In order to make this goal a reality, WHEPSA works with educators to create a “gender-responsive dialogue” that is inclusive of all girls, regardless of their academic performance. This dialogue manifests itself through the myriad of programs and schools sponsored by and associated with WHEPSA.
The 10,000 Girls program does not necessarily seek to boost enrollment as that cause has already been taken up by many others. Rather, this program focuses on girls after enrollment has already occurred. The program identifies four types of girls: those currently failing in school, those who have already failed, those who have never had a chance at school and younger girls who are at risk of failing. WHEPSA then helps those girls through a variety of afterschool and entrepreneurial programs.
The Future
Gender parity in enrollment on its own is insufficient to achieve true gender parity in education. Women need support throughout their academic careers. While seeking to enroll more girls in school is a laudable goal, organizations such as WHEPSA, which support these girls during their academic careers and keep them from falling out of the educational system, play a vital role. This role is all too often overlooked in favor of simple and easy-to-count enrollment figures. Hopefully, WHEPSA will inspire other organizations to not only look towards raising female enrollment figures, but also focus efforts on keeping females in school through to completion.
– Franklin Nossiter
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