Gender and intersecting inequalities in secondary education : Exploring the experiences and outcomes of girls in secondary schools in post-conflict Sierra Leone

Conteh, O'Bai and Jackson, Carolyn and Vincent, Jonathan (2026) Gender and intersecting inequalities in secondary education : Exploring the experiences and outcomes of girls in secondary schools in post-conflict Sierra Leone. PhD thesis, Lancaster University.

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Abstract

This study offers novel insights into the interplay between gender, violence, and education in the post-conflict context of Sierra Leone. It focuses on the gendered processes and conditions of learning, including the content of what and how girls learn, and gives an account of how schooling experiences produce and reproduce inequalities in secondary education. This study also explores how gender regimes in these schools regulate and construct gender identities. An intersectional lens is employed to provide a more comprehensive understanding of social identities in schools, offering analytical depth for examining the interactions of these identities in sustaining and promoting gender-differentiated schooling experiences and learning outcomes in secondary education in the country. Through a qualitative ethnographic case study methodology, the study draws on fifty (50) individual semi-structured interviews, ten (10) focus group discussions, and sixty (60) classroom observations in four (4) secondary schools to uncover how girls negotiate intersectional identities and are affected by them. This multi-site qualitative research offers school-specific analysis while maintaining broader applicability across the four sites. The rich qualitative data indicate the pervasive and inequitable everyday gender practices within these four schools and illustrate how these contribute to exacerbating inequalities in secondary education. In particular, the findings uncover the complex ways gender intersects with other social inequalities - such as social class, ethic-traditions, sexuality and location to produce highly gendered and differentiated experiences which ultimately influence girls' performance, retention, and attainment. Finally, the study identifies implications for educational practitioners and policymakers with respect to recognising societal factors, such as early marriage and teenage pregnancy, on girls' educational outcomes, especially in a post-conflict context like Sierra Leone