Major challenges to the girl-child education in Kenya: the Kuria experience

Abstract

Many societies have realised the important role played by women in development. Accordingly, a lot of effort and time has been spent discussing issues that affect women's contribution in overall national development. Despite the atmosphere of gender imbalance that has prevailed in most spheres of life in Africa, women continue to contribute towards society's economic and social development. As a matter of fact, increased awareness has enabled them to demand their rightful place in shaping the destiny of the African Society. Most governments have taken note of the fact, and together with an increasing number of non-governmental organisations, have started to work together to strategise on improving women's participation in national issues. One such strategy is to increase and sustain women access to education. Although the Kenyan government has devoted a lot of resources to increasing women's education, Kuria District has neither responded favourably to government efforts. As a result, the district has not made much progress in increasing women's access to education. This chapter seeks to explain the reasons for the poor response to increasing women's education in Kuria District and to propose remedial measures to improve the situation.