Gender roles, domestic burden forcing girls out of school

Education experts are warning that persistent gender roles and heavy domestic workloads are pushing many girls out of schools and deepening education gap between boys and girls.

According to Clementina Kiden, head teacher at Juba One Girls’ Primary School, some parents are unintentionally pushing their daughters out of education by assigning them disproportionate household responsibilities.

As a result, girls begin to internalize the belief that they are better suited for domestic life and early marriage than for academic success.

This trend, Kiden said, is one of the key barriers preventing girls from completing their education.

“Most of the girls come with complaints. Their parents give them a lot of housework, and over time, they feel frustrated with school. Then they start thinking, ‘If I can manage all this at home, I can manage my own house.’ That’s when they drop out—some get pregnant, others run away to live with someone, thinking they are ready to be wives. But they’re still too young,” she said.

George Kenyi, head teacher at Juba Day Secondary, said that while girls are well represented in early education, by secondary and tertiary levels, boys dominate by nearly two-thirds.

Mr Kenyi stated that this drop-off is often overlooked, despite its long-term social consequences.

“By the time girls finish primary school, the numbers shift. In secondary and university, boys outnumber girls two to one. We have to ask: what went wrong? It’s the mindset in our society that glorifies boys as the pillars of the home and treats girls as second-class,” he said.

According to UNICEF, more than 2.8 million children in South Sudan, accounting for over 70 percent, are out of school, and girls make up the majority of that group.

Teachers and education experts are now calling on parents and community leaders to shift cultural attitudes and stop assigning girls domestic roles that reinforce the idea that their future lies in marriage, not education.