SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS INFLUENCING THE EDUCATION OF THE GIRL CHILD IN ZOMBA, MALAWI

Year 2019, Volume: 11 Issue: 2, 20 - 38, 01.07.2019

Hannah Dunga Chengedzai Mafini

Abstract

Dealing with poverty and economic hardships in developing countries has been a
primary theme for many international organisations. There have been calls to
apply greater attention towards girl child education to ensure that future
generations do not experience the traditional gender disparities in which males
have been regarded as better than females in almost all aspects of life. In
developing countries such as Malawi, indications are that girls still lag behind
boys, despite the implementation of several interventions to reverse this trend.
This study examined the socio-economic factors that influence the participation of
the girl child in educational activities in Zomba, Malawi. The focus was mainly
on household and school-related factors such as distance to school and the
availability of resources at school level. The study used descriptive analyses, cross
tabulations and binary logistic regression to examine the gender disparities that
exist between girls and boys in education. The results showed that a higher
percentage of girls, unlike boys, were out of school and that there was a higher
percentage of girls that dropped out of school. In the regression results, distance to
school as well as water points, and a host of other household characteristics
including household income emerged as significant determinants of girls’
education participation.

Keywords

household poverty, girl education, participation, success, inequalities

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