The Impact of Conflict: Women and Girls' Education

1. Targeting educational institutions:

During conflict, schools and educational facilities are often targeted or destroyed through collateral damage, resulting in destruction, closures and a pervasive fear of attending school. This disrupts learning environments and denies girls the safe spaces they need to learn and gather.

2. Gender-based violence & displacement:

Conflict-related violence disproportionately impacts women and girls. Many are subjected to sexual violence, forced marriages and human trafficking, which ends their education prematurely. Displacement due to conflict also takes girls out of their schools at home – and displaced girls are then less likely to enrol again. Many may have to stay home to support their families when displacement adds additional burdens, such as financial stress.

Only 61% of refugee children have access to primary education, compared to an international average of 91% and, at secondary level, 23% of refugee adolescents go to school, compared to 84% globally. This is before we look at the gender divide, which shows that refugee girls at secondary level are only half as likely to enrol in school as their male peers, even though girls make up half of the school-age refugee population (source: UNHCR).

3. Financial stress: 

Conflict often increases economic pressure on families. Men might be called to serve in the military, prices of basic food items and other necessities often skyrocket, and injuries and displacement reduce livelihood opportunities. This increases poverty and forces families to prioritise immediate survival over long-term education. In these situations, girls are typically the first to be pulled out of school to assist with household chores – and may even be married off to reduce the economic burden on their families.

4. Cultural and social barriers:

Conflict exacerbates pre-existing cultural and social barriers to girls’ education. In many conflict-affected areas, the belief that girls’ education is less important than boys' education is reinforced, leading to lower enrollment and higher dropout rates of girls in schools. When families are under financial stress and can only afford to enrol some children in school, boys’ education will often take precedence – and girls are more likely to be taken out of school to earn money. Limited resources in times of conflict might also mean limited access to period products, leading girls to be out of school for up to a week each month during menstruation.

Social, political and economic power:

Interrupted education has a profound impact on the literacy rates of women and girls. Without access to education, their ability to read and write is severely limited, which restricts their social power; their ability to meaningfully and equitably participate in social, economic and political aspects of public life. This literacy gap impacts not only individual women, but also their children and the development of entire communities.

A lack of numeracy skills and other education limits women’s job opportunities, leading to long-term economic dependency and poverty. Women with little or no education are often confined to low-paying and insecure jobs, making it difficult for them to break the cycle of poverty and improve families’ living conditions.

On our year-long Stronger Women, Stronger Nations programme, we teach women literacy and numeracy skills, a marketable vocational skill and how to run/improve their own business, how to save, to understand their rights and decision-making power, and how to care for their physical and mental health.