Housework and families to blame for girl dropouts in Uganda: study

By Katy Migiro NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Excessive housework and lack of parental support are the main reasons why girls in Uganda drop out of school, research showed, highlighting the importance of family in achieving gender equality. In contrast, girls whose mothers completed secondary education were 67 percent less likely to drop out of school, the Washington-based International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) found in a survey of more than 800 girls in Uganda's northwestern West Nile region. “Girls must feel support and encouragement from their parents, the school itself, as well as the wider community so that they come to believe in themselves, their capacity, and can thrive,” the study's lead researcher Kirsten Stoebenau said in a statement. "I used to do [housework] while my brother went to school without having to do anything first," Unzia, an 18-year-old wife and mother, told ICRW.



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