Participation In Education

SINGLE–GENDER SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT FOR ADOLESCENT GIRLS: A VEHICLE FOR WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT AND PARTICIPATION IN POLITICS IN GHANA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Obviously, participation in formal education should be strongly associated with political participation for women and for men. The outcome of decades of research into the factors influencing women and men’s engagement with politics in the USA, concluded that education is an especially powerful predictor of political participation (Burns, Schlozman and Verba 2001:286). A wide range of positive externalities of formal education are known to relate to political participation. In addition to its intrinsic value such as the joy derived from learning, reading, solving problems, etc. education has

Sax L. (2009) while examining the impact of single-gender schooling on the academic achievement of adolescent girls in the United States, among other benefits reported that alumnae of girls’ schools were more likely to engage in political and social activism than their co-educational counterparts of the same economic and social backgrounds.

However, it is worth noting that a greater number of women who have gained prominence in politics worldwide had either had early life single-gender school experience or sorority group experience. For instance, of the 17 women senators in the US Congress in 2009, 35 % had attended single-gender schools and another 23.53 % who attended coeducational high schools had been members of sorority groups. Similarly, the handful of women that have featured prominently in global politics are known to have had girlhood single-gender school experience. Notable among these, to name few, are Magdalene Albright, Hillary Clinton, Condoleeza Rice, Margaret Thatcher, Angela Merkel, etc.

These observations give inkling into what may be an effective vehicle of delivering education to girls to ensure that the benefits translate into women’s political

But for women it is more important because they constitute the majority on the earth (slightly more than half of the world’s population). Their contribution to the social and economic development of societies is also more than half as compared to men as a result of their dual roles in the productive and reproductive spheres. Hence, their involvement in the political structures and processes through proper and appropriate education that increases their ability to earn and influence would lead to a greater impact on the development of the family, society and a whole country. The importance of women education cannot therefore be overemphasized. Kwegyir Aggrey captured this succinctly in his timeless statement that to educate a man is to educate an individual but to educate a women is to educate a whole community. However, historically, women have been disadvantaged in education through cultural practices and traditions which have affected their ability to earn and support themselves. This imbalance should, therefore, be addressed by giving young girls every opportunity to gain proper education. According to the ICPD Programme of Action, paragraph 4.2 "Education is one of the most important means of empowering women with the knowledge, skills and self-confidence necessary to participate fully in the development