Socio-cultural and economic determinants of girl child education in Ashaiman municipality of the Greater Accra region of Ghana

Abstract

Girl-child education in the African context continues to be an important subject matter that needs to be studied. While efforts to address the challenges have been made over the years, this study aims to provide a deeper understanding of the unique demographic, economic, and sociocultural factors that impact girl-child education, which could subsequently affect future policies in Ghana to improve gender parity in education. The study aims to explore the sociocultural and economic elements that impact girl child education in the Ashaiman municipality, where studies have revealed an increasing disparity in gender and unequal representation of females in education and socioeconomic endeavors. This present study employed a quantitative descriptive survey approach with questionnaires as the primary data-gathering tool. A total sample of 165 household heads constituted the main respondents. The Binary Logistics Regression method was utilized for the data analysis using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 20.0). The various deductions from the study confirm some demographic, economic, and sociocultural factors such as household size, culture, early marriage, the income level of the household, and migration were the key factors that influenced the girl child education in the Ashaiman municipality. The findings of this study have empirical and policy contributions to shape future research and policies on girl child education specifically in Ghana which is also relevant to the empowerment of females.