The CCOVID-19 global pandemic has only served to exacerbate the already widening gap, with many global leaders estimating that coronavirus has set back gender equality work by upwards of two decades. UNICEF-ITU has reported that less than two-thirds of children worldwide have internet access, meaning that reasonably conducting school and learning from home has proved impossible for the most vulnerable communities.

 

Many of the aforementioned communities are located in Sub-Saharan Africa, the region south of the Sahara desert, where the female literacy rate is under half in over 12 of these nations. 

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Central Africa 

Central Africa includes Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Republic-Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and São Tomé & Principe. Girls in central African nations face a variety of factors which prevent them from enrolling in school and completing a quality education. In the countries of Cameroon, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, girls are particularly inhibited by child marriage, poverty, and teacher shortages. 

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East Africa 

Eastern Africa includes Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Réunion, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Somaliland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. A myriad of factors prevent girls in these countries from obtaining their education, some of them being teacher shortages (where Malawi has a teacher to student ratio of 72 to 1), child marriage, and discrimination against pregnant students. A part of the East African region is South Sudan, which reportedly has one of the lowest secondary education enrollment rates in the world. 

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Southern Africa 

Southern Africa includes Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland. Girls in Southern Africa, and South Africa in particular, are prevented from finishing their education due to sexual assault/violence. Violence against women has significantly deterred young girls from receiving an education out of fear. In addition, many young Black girls face discrimination on the basis of race, due to the effects of apartheid in South Africa. 

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West Africa 

Western Africa includes Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte D’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Saint Helena, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo. Women in these nations face early marriage, poverty, and early pregnancy, all of which make them less likely to enroll in school and complete their education.