A riddle explained: gender disparities in east African education

Abstract

There can be little question that studying the relationship between education and inequality will benefit public investment in education. Although primary school enrollment for African girls has increased in many parts of the developing world, gender differences in performance persist, particularly in mathematics and science subjects. This study focused on three countries in East Africa with a female disadvantage in mathematics, and explored the influence of contextual factors and organisational processes that were associated with higher achievement and its improved gender distribution. Across countries, there was a positive and significant relationship between higher academic achievement in mathematics and the social class climate of the school. An important finding relating to gender was that the school setting seemed to favour boys. However, the particular features that were related to a wider gender gap were quite specific to individual countries. The implications for education sector reform and development are discussed.