Factors Influencing Education and Age at First Marriage in an Arid Region: The Case of the Borana of Marsabit District, Kenya

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Periodical article

Title:	Factors Influencing Education and Age at First Marriage in an Arid Region: The Case of the Borana of Marsabit District, Kenya
Author:	Nyamongo, Isaac K.
Year:	2000
Periodical:	African Study Monographs
Volume:	21
Issue:	2
Pages:	55-65
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Kenya
Subjects:	gender relations Boran educational policy Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Education and Oral Traditions Women's Issues Education and Training Cultural Roles Marital Relations and Nuptiality
External link:	https://jambo.africa.kyoto-u.ac.jp/kiroku/asm_normal/abstracts/pdf/21-2/55-65.pdf
Abstract:	In many African pastoral communities parents prefer marrying their daughters at an early age to providing them with continued education. On the basis of statistics on school enrolment (1988-1992), this paper explores reasons for low school attendance and for early marriage among the pastoral Borana girls of Marsabit District, Kenya. Among the Borana pastoralists the value of formal education is based on wage labour opportunities. The high value placed on women's household labour and the limited access to non-household employment places differential pressure on the education of Borana children. This leads to a higher dropout rate from school and earlier marriage for girls as compared with boys. An earlier version of this paper was published in: African Anthropology, vol. 1, no. 1/2 (1994), p. 69-76. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum.