Girls’ Rights to Education in Chadereka Muzarabani District, Zimbabwe: A perspective on Sustainable Development Goal Number 5

Abstract The study unearthed embedded factors that hinder Muzarabani District from achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by 2030. Main research focus is how far has Zimbabwe’s rural areas such as the Chadereka community achieved gender equality and empowerment of women and girls with respect to the 2030 target. The research further explores reasons why there is a high number of girls of school-going age outside the school system. A human rights-based approach guided the study’s arguments. The research utilised a case study design while a thematic analysis was used for data analysis. A qualitative methodology was employed while key informant interviews, focus group discussions and observations were used to collect data with purposive sampling being adopted in the selection of respondents. A total of 20 participants were chosen and they included; three men (a villager, a chief and a village head); five girls; five women; two officials from the DA’s office who consisted of the DA and an official dealing with women, children and disability, and development; two officials from local NGOs, a school head and two female teachers. The study found that women in Chadereka were still in a perpetual state of domination by their male counterparts due to persistent gender stereotypes, school setting related challenges and climatic variances that impacted on the education and ultimate emancipation of the girl child.