MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota -– At 12 years old, Gloria Thawi left school to give birth. Nine months prior, Thawi was sexually assaulted while collecting firewood for her family — this is not unusual for many Malawian girls. Around 20% of girls face sexual violence before they turn 18 years old. About 42% of girls in Malawi are married while they are still children, and many between the ages of 15-19 begin childbearing. In Malawi, women and girls face various extreme barriers such as child marriage, harmful gender stereotyping and gender-based violence. One of the biggest disadvantages they face lies within education.
In Malawi, 58% of girls drop out of school. Within the remaining percentage, 18% become pregnant, and 8% get married. Leaving only 25% of young girls to finish primary school. Less than 10% of girls receive and finish a high school degree. Through a program run by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and funded by the Government of Norway, the Joint Program for Girls Education began in 2015. By building a network of teachers, parent-teacher associations, school management committees and mothers groups, the program tackled the various issues and reasons that girls were leaving behind their education.
Through this program, the Malawi Education Ministry discovered that the biggest reasons for the increasing educational dropout rate for girls are due to sexual violence, poverty and lack of basic menstrual necessities. Due to familial economic situations, many girls are married off at a very early age in hopes of gaining wealth or receiving help economically from the husband. Additionally, with the high rates of sexual violence, young girls are forced to leave their education behind. Understanding this, the role of mothers groups in Malawi has become principal.
Mothers Groups Role in Their Communities
Culturally, mothers groups influence young girls in feminine issues such as marriage and childbearing. However, in this new shift, they have a more extensive role. Mothers groups have been established at every school to support and serve as role models for young girls along their educational journey. The women in these roles are actively working within their communities and directly with the girls. They engage in preventing early childhood marriages, ensuring young girls safely arrive at school and providing guidance in resisting societal pressures to drop out. Mothers groups in Malawi work above and beyond their expected needs. They go as far as helping bring justice to survivors of sexual crimes. In the case of Thawi, a mothers group in her community found the perpetrator and turned him in, which resulted in a 13-year imprisonment sentence.
Mothers groups in Malawi also provide young girls with reusable panties and sanitary pads for their menstruation cycles — another cause of high dropout rates. Girls miss around 25% of school days due to menstruation because they either do not have the necessities to go to school while on their cycles or they face severe social stigma around their menstruation cycles. Mothers groups are also teaching young girls how to make their own reusable sanitary pads by mothers groups. For individuals in these groups, knowing how to create reusable sanitary pads provides them with an opportunity to have a sustainable income, and are provided with the education and training in sexual and reproductive health to better guide young girls.
The Importance of Education
Communities in Malawi are beginning to understand the importance of education not only for boys but for girls as well. In 2012, a UNICEF Malawi Annual Report wrote, “One extra year of primary school boosts a girl’s future wage 10 to 20 percent and an extra year of secondary school increases that earning potential by 15 to 25 percent.” Education increases the chance for girls to receive employment opportunities and higher incomes. At Chapita Primary School, — a school that took part in UNFPA’s Joint Program for Girls Education — no girl has dropped out since the 2017-2018 school year and enrollment for girls has increased by 93% in 2020 from 2019. Proving that it truly takes a village of strong women, to raise the next generation of empowered girls.
-Kenzie Nguyen
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