Two summers ago in Lusaka, Zambia, we met Ada, a young woman with an ambitious plan for her future. She spoke with remarkable clarity about her dream of becoming a nurse so she could support her community. Watching her confidence and determination, it was hard to imagine anything standing in her way.
By day, Ada worked in her brother’s car parts shop; by night, she attended university, balancing long hours to pursue the future she envisions.
Ada’s story is far from unique.
Across Eastern and Southern Africa, girls and young women dream big. They aspire to complete their education, build successful careers, decide whether and when to marry and have children. Yet a fundamental question for policymakers is not whether girls have aspirations. It is whether they have the opportunities to realize them. That question lies at the heart of a new regional study, A Girl Can Dream: Analyzing Aspirations, Gender Norms, and Influencers Among Girls and Women, producedby the World Bank EAGER Evidence Hub – a multi-sectoral knowledge platform generating evidence on women’s empowerment. Drawing on surveys of vulnerable girls and women aged 15–35 across Mozambique, Madagascar, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, the study examines what young women want, what social norms stand in the way, and who shapes their choices.
Achievement Falls Short of Aspirations
Across all five countries, 99% of respondents fell short of their aspirations in at least one key domain: education, employment, marriage, or fertility. Education is widely valued, and most women and girls aspire to participate in the labor market. Yet, almost 90% had not attained their desired level of education, and around seven in ten were unable to secure work in their desired sector. Financial constraints are the single most-cited barrier to fulfilling aspirations, flagged by over 80% of respondents across all 5 countries.
READ MORE: https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/investinpeople/a-girl-can-dream-but-can-she-act-on-it
