Youth transport, mobility and security in sub-Saharan Africa: the gendered journey to school

This article reports on a study of the gender differences in children's journeys to school in sub-Saharan Africa. The authors draw on empirical data from a three-country study (Ghana, Malawi, South Africa) of young people’s mobility. They note that gender differences in school enrollment and attendance in Africa are well established: education statistics in many countries indicate that girls’ participation in formal education is often substantially lower than boys’, especially at secondary school level. Transport and mobility issues are an important piece of this phenomenon, though the precise patterning of the transportation and mobility constraints experienced by girl schoolchildren, and the ways in which transport factors interact with other constraints, varies from region to region. In some contexts, the journey to school represents a particularly hazardous enterprise for girls because they face a serious threat of rape. In other cases girls’ journeys to school and school attendance are hampered by Africa’s transportation gap and cultural conventions which require females to take on this burden (by pedestrian head loading) before leaving for (or instead of attending) school. The authors draw principally on a survey questionnaire conducted in each country with approximately 1000 children aged 7-18 years across 8 sites. They draw attention to the diversity of gendered travel experiences across geographical locations (paying attention to associated patterns of transport provision) and to explore the implications of these findings for access to education. The article concludes with a section of suggestions regarding areas where policy intervention could be beneficial. They call for a stronger emphasis on gendered transport, mobility and access issues in the development policy and practitioner community.