Why Lesotho’s most educated women still face the highest unemployment rates
If there is one point of consensus, it is that education is foundational to gender equality and women’s empowerment. It is in this regard that the situation pertaining in Lesotho, that women are the most educated group in the country, yet they face the highest unemployment rates, is a concern.
This phenomenon is captured in the 2024 study, The Education-Employment Paradox in Lesotho: Boys at a Disadvantage in Education, Women at a Disadvantage in Employment, by Tihtina Zenebe Gebre and Elizabeth Ninan Dulvy.
The study documents low enrolment and high dropout rates for boys in Basotho schools, especially in rural areas.“At the primary education level, while 90 per cent of girls reach Grade 7, only 66 per cent of boys reach the same grade and this gap widens in lower secondary education. Girls also have higher learning levels… By age 10, 67 per cent of girls compared to 40 per cent of boys demonstrate foundational reading skills, while 27 per cent of girls, compared to 10 per cent of boys show foundational numeracy skills.”
The report attributes the skew to “gender norms around masculinity, which place a strong emphasis on boys becoming ‘men’ and taking responsibility in the household, particularly financial responsibility, putting then at greater risk of dropping out of school to work”. It notes that “even in post-secondary education and training, women have higher levels of enrolment compared to men and account for 60 per cent of total enrolment”, except in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields where “[they] account for only 26 per cent of total enrolment.”
The legacy of education for girls and women in Lesotho is explained by a number of factors. One is the outmigration of men to South Africa in search of mining and construction jobs, leaving girls as the majority seeking and enrolling in schools. This was coupled by strong investment in universal primary education, reduction in school fees and low rates of child marriage, resulting in high retention rates for girls hence higher completion ratios. Formal education was also promoted as a pathway to social mobility through public sector employment and upward marriages.
Lamentably, “the advantage girls and women have across the various levels of education has not fully translated into better labour market outcomes.” For instance, “women’s labour force participation is only 44.8 per cent compared to 54.7 per cent for men.” Moreover, only 13 per cent of women are employed full-time compared to 16 per cent of men. Even in part time employment, men outmarch women at 11 per cent to five per cent.
The sectoral distribution of the workforce (2023–25) shows that women: dominate teaching, nursing, clerical work and informal trade; are concentrated in garment/textile factories; have limited presence in mining/construction; and constitute 16-17 per cent of agricultural workers. These sectors pay lower than those dominated by men.
A number of reasons explain this mismatch. One, women are concentrated in careers with limited job absorption. Two, the labour market is small hence there are few formal jobs relative to the labour force produced from the educational system. The result is that many women go into informal or subsistence work that does not reflect their training. Three, Basotho women have limited mobility and are discouraged from ‘masculine’ sectors by husbands/families who prefer them in the domestic domain. This is compounded by lack of childcare support.
Five, the textiles and garments sector where women feature most is characterised by endemic sexual harassment and exploitation, as well as poor working conditions. Four, men tend to migrate to South Africa in search of mining jobs hence expand their occupational horizons. The presumable space created for women is countermanded by the relatively small economy. Five, there is employer gender bias in recruitment. According to one study, 37 per cent of respondents indicated that employers prefer to hire men, especially in technical and managerial roles.
The implications are that: the educational dividend is not realised for women; inequality is perpetuated; and the investment in women’s education is not recouped into national development. The most critical implication is that this trend can create a disincentive for girls’ education, buoyed by the argument that since it does not deliver the expected social transformation, it is not worth pursuing.
The case generates relevant lessons. First, over-dependence on the public sector as the primary absorber of labour force is risky. Two, concentration of women in traditional careers limits their prospects. Three, traditional gender norms remain a bottleneck to women’s progress even with higher formal education.
Four, workplace biases must be examined and tackled if women’s entry into and retention in the formal sector is to be achieved. Five, diversification of women’s career paths is imperative. Then workplace protection must be guaranteed. In other words, gender equality must be tackled from multiple fronts not just one. Critical as it is, education must be complemented by other interventions.
The writer is a lecturer in Gender and Development Studies at South Eastern Kenya University ([email protected]).
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