Girls’ Education in Burkina Faso

Just wanted to share this with you. This is one of my favorite parts of being a PCV, conversations like this. I worked with the English teacher to do informal conversations to help the students work on their English oral abilities. We’ve discussed lots of interesting topics like forced marriage, goal setting, the role of women, and girls’ education. I’m also writing with a high school class in the States and below is what I shared with them when we discussed girls’ education at the school here. I hope this conversation was the beginning of more conversations and a way to start looking at the questions from different perspectives for the students because it is definitely an integral part to the development of Burkina Faso.  Thought others might enjoy as well.

Background: Promoting girls’ education is an important goal in Burkina Faso. In a culture where men precede women in the social hierarchy, there are many opportunities that girls do not have compared to their boy counterparts. Whether it is her father or her husband, girls and women tend to take direction from the males in their families. Traditional attitudes still present among some groups. Some include: wives should always obey their husbands, education isn’t as necessary for girls, and women’s role is in the household and with the children. In a family, if they only have the money for one child to go to school, it will usually be the boy. While cultural attitudes are certainly changing, it takes time and rural areas (such as where I live) tend to be less progressive than urban areas. Women are underrepresented in many fields of work, including education. In my village, only 2 of the 6 primary school teachers are female and none of the 8 teachers at the high school are female. Both principals are males. There are many programs and organizations working to increase girls’ access to education, encourage girls pursuing education, and promote women’s advancement and equality. In fact, there are Peace Corps Volunteers in Burkina Faso whose job is based on promoting girls’ education. In our English Club last week, we talked about the importance of girls’ education. These are some of the student responses.

Question: Why is it important to educate girls?

Student Responses:

· Education will prepare girls for their future

· Educated girls will respect their elders and husbands*

· Educated girls can work and contribute to the development of the country

· Educating girls will decrease excision, forced marriage, and early marriage

· Educated girls are more aware of health issues and are more likely to practice healthy behaviors, such as family planning

· Educated girls can educate their children

*I found this comment interesting – it was said twice, once by a female student and once by a male student. The week before, I had the students debate the prompt “A wife should always obey her husband, even if she does not agree or it puts her at risk.” The idea that women should always obey is very ingrained in their views on marriage in both male and female students.

Question: How can we encourage girls’ education?

Student Responses:

· Send girls to school

· Raise awareness among parents and the general population

· Offer reduced school fees

· Help girls find jobs (so they can pay their own school fees)

Other questions for consideration:

• Do girls have equal access to education as boys in the United States?
• What unique challenges do girls face in education?
• Does equality in education translate to equality in the workplace or elsewhere?

May 23, 2012