ADEA Goes ORANGE to End Violence against girls and women in school!

ADEA supports the UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign. Many girls in Africa cannot go to school or must leave school early, for social, cultural, economic or political reasons, but also because of violence against them in the school environment.

ADEA also notes that merely guaranteeing girls’ ensuring access to schooling will not ensure that they actually attend school. Their school environment, for instance, and more specifically the presence or absence of violence, can be a decisive factor in whether they enroll in, stay in or drop out of the education system, as points out a research study on the subject, "Les violences de genre en milieu scolaire comme facteur de déscolarisation en Afrique subsaharienne" "Gender-related violence in schools as a factor of school leaving in sub-Saharan Africa" (available in french).

Hence, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, which took place on 25 November, was an occasion to be reminded that African women, who constitute half of the human potential of Africa, are in the majority illiterate and most often restricted to arduous, repetitive and undervalued activities. This is holding back the realization of their potential as economic agents and limits their contribution to development. 

UNESCO’s EFA Global Monitoring Report shows that the gender gap persists in Africa as regards access, staying in school and succeeding in school, despite improvement in enrollment rates. Statistics show that in 2011:
•    12 sub-Saharan African countries out of the 43 possessing the necessary data had reached gender parity in primary education;
•    and only 1 out of the 31 possessing the necessary data had reached parity in secondary education.

ADEA continues to advocate for gender-sensitive educational approaches. In 2015 it will conduct research on the contribution of women to development in Africa. ADEA also maintains a close relationship with the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), which remains an Associate member within the ADEA Steering Committee. FAWE helps ADEA to identify projects and actions to enhance girls’ and women’s education.