Social Norms and Girls’ Education in Sierra Leone

by Aika Janet Matemu Dalberg Design

This article is a part of the Invest with Women: Strategies to Accelerate Progress series.

Dalberg Design conducted a community-based youth-led study on social norms and girls’ education in Sierra Leone. The results showed that around 61% of Sierra Leone’s population has attended school; however, there is a significant gender disparity in literacy rates, with 52% being male and 48% being female. As of 2019, 15.3% of girls aged 6–9 had never attended school, with even lower chances of completing secondary education or pursuing higher learning.

Despite the relative success achieved by government and non-governmental organizations in sensitizing communities on the importance of girls’ education, these initiatives have not yet succeeded in drilling further down and addressing the underlying beliefs about girls’ and women’s role in society. Persistent cultural norms that allocate care work and household work to girls (and not boys), combined with financial barriers and school-related gender-based violence, continue to keep girls from thriving in school and reaching their full potential. Community initiatives established by NGOs and governmental organizations often fail in the face of harmful but deeply entrenched cultural norms and do not sufficiently explain the need to focus on girls.

In recent years, Sierra Leone has made significant progress in enhancing girls’ access to and participation in education including the introduction of progressive policies like government-funded education and the National Policy on Radical Inclusion in Schools which allows pregnant girls and adolescent mothers to attend school without restriction. Dalberg Design, alongside community partners, identified positive deviants who have managed to challenge traditional gender norms and forge a different path from the conventional paths in their communities.

Looking forward, recommended approaches to address social norms include implementing localized community dialogue to shift harmful perceptions around gender roles and girls’ education, providing quality teacher training to address gender norms in the classroom, promoting respect for pregnant girls and adolescent mothers in schools, increasing access to female role models, and generalizing quality comprehensive sexuality education to teach respectful relationships, consent, and informed decision-making.

“Deep-seated harmful social norms continue to be the underlying cause of the limited educational opportunities available to girls. Breaking the cycle of prevailing perceptions regarding gender roles and the significance of girls’ education requires a systemic approach starting with promoting community-level sensitization efforts.”

Aika Janet Matemu
Partner, Dalberg Design

Contact: aika.matemu@dalberg.com