Achieving Gender Equity in Education in South Sudan: Post-Conflict Challenges and Opportunities

This study investigates gender inequalities in South Sudan that are affecting women’s and girls’ participation in education. Non-governmental agencies have condemned this inequality in education, but there has been little progress towards remedying it because the country’s leadership failed to perceive it as a problem. Women and girls are isolated from the male-dominated South Sudanese mainstream society. This study explores why females have low participation rates in the education system in South Sudan. The absence of females in the education system and the job market is affecting not only the women’s or girls’ wellbeing, but also the welfare of South Sudan as a nation. The lack of consistency in support of Education for All (EFA) has been a challenge for the South Sudanese at least from the international and economic perspectives. Gender equity in education has not been achieved because educational attainment is usually predicted by the socioeconomic status of the family and being male. Females whose families were better off financially before the war were still limited in their access education. Although this educational exclusion of females continues to be a major concern little has been done to correct it. Little research has been done on this subject, meaning there is not much literature about gender inequalities especially in education in South Sudan. Therefore, this study makes a useful contribution to this important topic