Lead image for Why Lesotho's most educated women still face the highest unemployment rates .
If there is one point of consensus, it is that education is foundational to gender equality and women’s empowerment. It is in this regard that the situation pertaining in Lesotho, that women are the most educated group in the country, yet they face the highest unemployment rates, is a concern.
This phenomenon is captured in the 2024 study, The Education-Employment Paradox in Lesotho: Boys at a Disadvantage in Education, Women at a Disadvantage in Employment, by Tihtina Zenebe Gebre and Elizabeth Ninan Dulvy.
The study documents low enrolment and high dropout rates for boys in Basotho schools, especially in rural areas. “At the primary education level, while 90 per cent of girls reach Grade 7, only 66 per cent of boys reach the same grade and this gap widens in lower secondary education. Girls also have higher learning levels… By age 10, 67 per cent of girls compared to 40 per cent of boys demonstrate foundational reading skills, while 27 per cent of girls, compared to 10 per cent of boys show foundational numeracy skills.”
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The report attributes the skew to “gender norms around masculinity, which place a strong emphasis on boys becoming ‘men’ and taking responsibility in the household, particularly financial responsibility, putting then at greater risk of dropping out of school to work”. It notes that “even in post-secondary education and training, women have higher levels of enrolment compared to men and account for 60 per cent of total enrolment”, except in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields where “[they] account for only 26 per cent of total enrolment.”
The legacy of education for girls and women in Lesotho is explained by a number of factors. One is the outmigration of men to South Africa in search of mining and construction jobs, leaving girls as the majority seeking and enrolling in schools. This was coupled by strong investment in universal primary education, reduction in school fees and low rates of child marriage, resulting in high retention rates for girls hence higher completion ratios. Formal education was also promoted as a pathway to social mobility through public sector employment and upward marriages.
Lamentably, “the advantage girls and women have across the various levels of education has not fully translated into better labour market outcomes.” For instance, “women’s labour force participation is only 44.8 per cent compared to 54.7 per cent for men.” Moreover, only 13 per cent of women are employed full-time compared to 16 per cent of men. Even in part time employment, men outmarch women at 11 per cent to five per cent.