Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda © 2023 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW, Washington DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000; Internet: www.worldbank.org Some rights reserved. This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. All queries on rights and licenses should be addressed to World Bank Publications, The World Bank Group, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA; e-mail: pubrights@worldbank.org. Table of Contents Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 1. Overview: Gender, Education, Family Formation, and Labor in Angola . . . . . . . 9 2. Structural Constraints Shaping the Education and Work Experiences and Opportunities of Young Women and Girls in Luanda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Gender norms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 The need to pay bribes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Exposure to community and gender-based violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 The conjunction of these structural constraints: A (lack of) sense of control and limited aspirations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 3. Completing Education Is Difficult for Girls in a Context of Economic, Infrastructure, Social, and Gender-Based Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 3.1. Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 3.2. Barriers to access, attend, and attain education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 School infrastructure–related barriers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Financial barriers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Structural barriers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Gender-specific barriers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 3.3. Facilitators and resilience factors for success in education . . . . . . . . . . . 37 3.4. Policy considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Strategic direction 1: Address school infrastructure–related gaps and poor quality of teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Strategic direction 2: Lift financial constraints to accessing, staying in, and completing schooling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Strategic direction 3: Address structural barriers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Strategic direction 4: Eliminate gender-specific barriers in access to schooling . 50 4. Teenage Pregnancies “Happen” to Girls: Structural Constraints and Their Consequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 4.1. Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 4.2. Drivers of teenage pregnancy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Low levels of knowledge about SRH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Limited access to SRH services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Girls’ lack of agency in pregnancy and family decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Gender norms around girls’ roles and (early) fertility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 4.3. Consequences of teenage pregnancy for girls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 4.4. Protective factors that delay early pregnancy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 4.5. Policy considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Strategic direction 1: Improve girls’ knowledge on SRH, FP, and prevention of pregnancy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Strategic direction 2: Enhance access to SRH facilities, and address the shortage of contraception and services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Strategic direction 3: Empower girls to make informed decisions about pregnancy and family formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 5. Informal Trading: A Necessity for Vulnerable Women Amidst Limited Infrastructure and a Challenging Job Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 5.1. Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 5.2. How do women enter the world of trading? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 5.3. Barriers facing women traders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 5.4. Supportive factors for sustaining and growing businesses . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 5.5. Valuing the informal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 5.6. Policy considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Strategic direction 1: Improve women’s access to finance, assets, and skills-building . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Strategic direction 2: Reduce women informal traders’ vulnerability to market risks and planning uncertainty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Strategic direction 3: Address market-related infrastructure gaps . . . . . . . . . . 98 Strategic direction 4: Alleviate women’s burden of unpaid domestic work and care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Appendix A. Methodological Aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Acknowledgments This study was conducted by a core team of Ana Luiza Machado, Alina Kalle, Miriam Muller (Task Team Leader). The research team includes Edson Correia Araujo, Patrícia Gonga and Leonela Massocolo, (interviewing); Waneska Bonfim, Santiago Dutto and Christiane Severo (coding and data analysis); Alvaro Andre, Rita Damasceno Costa and Daniel Hemenway (research assistance); Carolina Mazzi, Patricia Romão and Anna Emilia Soares (transcriptions). Ana Luiza Machado is to be credited for the photographies. Honora Mara edited the report. The report benefitted from direct inputs and contributions from Liliana Sousa, Wendy Cunningham, Peter Holland, Natasha Falcão, Julian Götz, Emma Monsalve, Lilian de Almeida Sousa, Boban Varghese Paul, Giulia Zane, Nelson Tisso Miezi Eduardo, Zenaida Hernandez Uriz, Mila Malavoloneque, Delfim Mampassi E Martins Mawete, and Ana Maria Carvalho. Amada Rodrigues, Karem Edwards and Fernando Simao Baptista provided excellent administrative support throughout. Kathleen Beegle and Benedicte Leroy de la Brière provided very helpful peer review comments. The team worked under the guidance of Juan Carlos Alvarez, Benu Bidani and Pierella Pacci. The team is extremely grateful for all the support received by the Ministry of Education and the National Institute of Employment and Professional Training (INEFOP). This research was funded by a grant from the Hewlett Foundation. Finally, our deepest gratitude to all key informants and to the women and girls who shared their personal stories with us. Abbreviations EJA Educação de Jovens e Adultos (youth and adult education) ELA Empowerment and Livelihood for Adolescents (program in Uganda) FP family planning GE Girl Empower (program in Liberia) GBV gender-based violence IDREA Survey on Income, Expenditure and Employment in Angola LFP labor force participation PD positive deviant SRH sexual and reproductive health STEM science, technology, engineering, and mathematics TVET technical and vocational education and training 1. Overview: Gender, Education, Family Formation, and Labor in Angola G ender equality is a key foundation of inclusive and sustainable economic development that can translate into long-term and effective poverty reduction. While gender equality matters on its own as a human right, it also offers instrumental value for individuals, households, and societies at large. Global evidence consistently shows that empowering women and girls reduces poverty incidence and food insecurity (Mulugeta 2021), boosts economic growth and productivity (Aguirre et al. 2012), and enhances investments in children’s human capital (Allendorf 2007; Andrabi, Das, and Khwaja 2011; Dumas and Lambert 2011). Promotion of women’s access to quality employment and fair pay leads to macroeconomic gains, adding an estimated US$12 trillion (11 percent) to the 2025 annual global gross domestic product (Woetzel et al. 2015).1 Gender equality (in this case improved outcomes for women) has implications for future generations: they improve childhood outcomes and interrupt the intergenerational transmission of poverty thanks to better investments in children’s human capital and nutrition (Burroway 2015; Duflo 2003), lower exposure to intrahousehold violence (Ellsberg et al. 2015) and reduced incidence of harmful behaviors such as child marriage (Wodon et al. 2017). Angola, a country where a third of the population lives in poverty2 and economic output is heavily dependent on its oil sector, stands out in Sub-Saharan Africa for its particularly large gender disparities, especially when compared to countries of same income levels. Family formation, education, and labor market decisions are intrinsically interwoven and connected, which in the case of Angola leads to extreme demographic pressure on an already weak public service system. Its fertility rate (6.2 births per woman), adolescent fertility rate (143 births per 1,000 women ages 15–19), and child marriage rate (30 percent of women ages 20–24 were first married by age 18) are among the highest in the world.3 Although the overall school enrollment has quadrupled since 2004, the educational attainment levels remain low, and the gender gap in favor of men is significant. As of 2018/2019, 51 percent of young women ages 15-34 have acquired some secondary education, compared to 64 percent of young men of the same age (World Bank 2022). Women are disadvantaged in access to good-quality jobs. As of 2021, a higher share of women worked in vulnerable jobs (86.3 percent of employed women versus 66.9 percent of employed men).4 Moreover, 82 percent of women workers were concentrated in non-wage jobs as compared to 57 percent of men workers (World Bank 2022). As of 2022, youth unemployment, measured as those who are available to work but are not employed, was higher among women than men: 41.9 percent of women and 39.4 percent of men ages 15-34 were unemployed in 2021.5 1 Furthermore, evidence from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries shows that closing gender gaps in self-employment and entrepreneurship results in significant gains in gross domestic product and aggregate labor productivity (Cuberes and Teignier 2016). 2 National monetary poverty rate was 32.3 percent in 2018 (World Bank 2020) 3 Data on Angola’s fertility and child marriage rates come from the 2015–16 Multiple Indicator and Health Survey, and data on adolescent fertility from the 2020 World Development Indicators. 4 World Bank estimates based on IEA 2021. 5 ibid. 10 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda To begin tackling these significant gender disparities, well-designed and targeted policies are needed. But there are significant knowledge gaps when it comes to understanding the key barriers facing Angolan girls and young women in accessing education and transitioning to the labor market. This report presents insights gained from the voices of young women and girls, their parents, and key informants through a series of interviews carried out in Luanda, home to a quarter of the country’s population, in 2022 (see Appendix A for a description of the research methodology). Based on these in-depth interviews with low-income young women in Luanda, this report points to the multiple challenges they face across their life cycle—challenges relating to the dimensions of education, family formation, and work. It also shows how those dimensions in a woman’s life are deeply interconnected—and how they are determined by structural constraints including poverty and vulnerability, gender norms, corruption and lack of transparency in access to services and opportunities, and violence in public and private spheres (Figure 1). Importantly, the context in which low-income women and girls can operate and advance in life is severely restricted, often not leaving options or choices. Additional cross-cutting issue becomes clear throughout all themes: even when choices would be available, women and girls fundamentally lack agency, or the ability to make decisions and act on them. Figure 1. Structural issues affecting gender outcomes in Luanda according to the research VIOLENCE IN THE PUBLIC SPACE AND PERSONAL RELATIONS FOR PERSONAL CONNECTIONS TO TAKE UP OPPORTUNITIES CORRUPTION, LACK OF SERVICE TRANSPARENCY AND NEED NEGATIVE MASCULINITIES Education GENDER NORMS AND Teenage pregnancy Quality of work POVERTY AND VULNERABILITY TO SHOCKS Source: Original figure developed for this report. 1. Overview: Gender, Education, Family Formation, and Labor in Angola 11 The main findings from the qualitative study are: • Street vending is often the only available income generation opportunity – and not one a very good one. Stable jobs are extremely scarce and hard to access without a network of influence or financial resources. Overall, the labor market in Angola fails to generate enough jobs for its population. As a result, low-income young women often resort to unstable and low-quality jobs that, if employed, expose them to abusive work conditions and employer behaviors. These young women face several additional barriers in the job search process, including a lack of information, gender stereotyping and discrimination, and sexual harassment. Providing only meager pay, these jobs are not sufficient for these young women, many already mothers, to provide for their families’ needs. Informal markets and small-scale trading activities are often the only option for employment for many women. Still, market sellers, both those with fixed stalls (vendedoras) and those without (zungueiras)—face several challenges in establishing and developing their businesses, including high levels of uncertainty and risk, lack of capital, increasing input prices, poor infrastructure and transportation systems, exposure to street violence, and abusive behavior from market supervisors. • Access to education is very limited. Public tuition-free schools are hard to access, and private schools are hard to afford, especially for the low-income populations. In both cases, attending school involves indirect costs: uniforms, schoolwork and materials, various fees, transportation, and forgone earnings. Most of the families in the study could not consistently cover such expenses, resulting in uncertain and discontinuous educational trajectories—with girls often ultimately dropping out. Without access to a support network and financial resources in the family, girls find it difficult to continue and complete education. Early pregnancy is one of the key moments in which girls tend to drop out – due to shame, prioritizing income generating activities and being moved to the adult education program after missing classes. Given the scarcity of job opportunities, many also question the value of education. Even young people who pursue higher education often cannot find jobs in their fields. • Young women face a severe lack of information on sexual and reproductive health— including contraceptive methods. This lack of knowledge (and constraints in access), especially among those who have not yet had children, is a critical driver of teenage pregnancy among the study’s population. Feelings of shame and economic pressure following a pregnancy drive young women out of school, with little chance of returning. The remainder of the study is structured as follows. The next chapter discusses the theoretical framework for analysis and the structural constraints shaping the experiences of young women over their life cycle. Chapter 3 discusses barriers and facilitators for school completion, and chapter 4 focuses on teenage pregnancy—its root causes and main consequences. Chapter 5 moves to the world of work with a focus 12 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda on women informal traders in Luanda and the challenges they face in their work. Each of these three chapters end with a summary of specific policy recommendations by strategic direction of action and specific barriers identified in the study. The summary differentiates between measures designed for the short-term response, and those for the medium- and longer-term perspective. 1. Overview: Gender, Education, Family Formation, and Labor in Angola 13 2. Structural Constraints Shaping the Education and Work Experiences and Opportunities of Young Women and Girls in Luanda T his and the following chapters will present the results from the qualitative study that aimed to generate knowledge on a range of factors low-income urban women face in their educational and work trajectories, particularly in their transition from school-to-work and into higher-quality jobs, and in the process of family formation. The methodology for this study comprised several stages. During the initial learning phase, the team conducted a quantitative analysis, a literature review, a review of the current legal system, and key informant interviews with representatives from relevant government institutions, international cooperation agencies, researchers, nongovernmental organizations active in relevant areas, and activists. Findings from the interviews informed the design of the subsequent qualitative research. The main qualitative data collection for this study consisted of two components: Component 1 explored the factors that enable and prevent girls from completing primary and secondary education in poor urban contexts in Angola through individual in-depth interviews with young women and girls ages 15–-34, in-depth interviews with parents or legal guardians of adolescent girls, and key informant interviews with school staff. Component 2 investigated the factors shaping the labor market experiences of young women from poor urban contexts, focusing on informal traders. Data were collected through individual in-depth interviews with young women ages 18–34. Although each component was primarily based on their respective subsamples, data on educational trajectories, work experience and family formation were collected from all interviewees to the extent possible. Both components included a sub-sample of positive deviants – girls and young women with similar socio-economic backgrounds as those in the first subsamples but who nevertheless managed to succeed in their educational and work endeavors. In total, seventy-nine individual interviews were conducted with girls, their parents or guardians, and young women from different subgroups. The individual interviews were complemented by six key informant interviews with school staff and implementers of entrepreneurship programs. Data collection took place in the capital Luanda. Annex 1 provides a detailed overview of the methodological aspects of this study. As explored in detail in the next three chapters, the challenges young women face in work and education in Luanda reside not only at the individual level but also in the structure of opportunities available to them. External and structural constraints shape the way young women (can) make decisions and their uptake of opportunities, if opportunities exist. Structural risk factors affecting women’s accumulation of endowments and take-up of better-quality economic opportunities include the following (see figure 1). • First and foremost, gender norms drive observed inequalities in education, labor market participation, and family formation. Women are expected to take on the burden of unpaid domestic work, early pregnancy, and childcare, which greatly affects their time and ability to engage in learning and income-generating activities. No such obligations are expressed to men, who rarely engage in housework, chores, or family support and who are, in fact, largely absent from the lives of their daughters and partners. The absence of fathers or partners imposes a significant 2. Structural Constraints Shaping the Education and Work Experiences and Opportunities of Young Women and Girls in Luanda 15 economic, emotional, and financial burden on women, forcing them to combine care and work activities right after childbirth. • Second, poverty or the lack of economic and financial means results in an inability to pay for direct and indirect costs of accessing services. This factor will be discussed specifically with respect to education and health services. This inability to access basic social services makes poor families particularly vulnerable to any type of shock. • Third, and related, is the widespread reference to the need to pay bribes and to rely on personal connections for access to opportunities. The absence of connections, and the inability to pay for services impedes access to opportunities and services for many among the vulnerable. • Fourth, violence in communities and in personal relationships affects the mobility and resilience of the vulnerable, particularly women. This factor becomes particularly relevant for individuals transferred to (youth and adult education), which offers only night classes—often impossible for young women to attend. Gender norms Women’s ability to choose alternative pathways is largely constrained by traditional gender norms which by and large are patriarchal (in which men dominate, oppress, and exploit women). One of the barriers in those regards is the lack of free time and the burden of work and care activities. The expectation that women and girls will perform all housework and engage early in income-generation activities leaves them with little time or opportunity to continue their studies and escape from poverty. The multiple demands on their time lead to exhaustion and contribute to grade repetition. Young women often frequent markets very early in their lives, possibly coming to help their mothers or other women in their families. Frequency varies by household— some girls participate only in specific situations (for example, when the mother is sick or needs to travel to buy goods), whereas others come consistently to help their mother sell, which is mainly the responsibility of girls in the family. In the process, older female family members teach girls how to sell and how to manage business and market dynamics from a young age. For some women, selling becomes the only work activity they know and prefer to do – it also often seems to be the only one available realistically. Men seemed to be largely absent – physically and/ or financially from family life. To begin with, female-headed households are common in Angola, representing 25.8 percent of all households nationally and 22.7 percent of Luanda households in 2018. In the research sample, several of the interviewees are women heads of households and primary breadwinners. Female-headed households generally result from abandonment by a woman’s partner or, in some cases, his death. Fathers often opt out of the relationship and their responsibility even during pregnancy, if not later. Yet, beyond men being physically absent (in the cases of female headed households), a striking emphasis was found on the absence of fathers/partners from family life, finances, and organization, even in cases where they had not physically abandoned 16 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda the family. Interestingly, expectations with respect to fathers seem to be very limited as the following informant describes. P: It’s “normal.” It’s never normal for someone not to want my child, right? But it’s a lot of responsibility. There are thousands, I’m not the first nor the last, that the majority if I say it’s even 90% of Angolan men don’t take responsibility for their children, the mothers are the ones who take responsibility, who pay for school, who pay for everything. (Saleswoman, 34 years old) The factual absence of men from family and economic life may be due to persistent gender norms. While women are socially expected to perform all housework and childcare, no such obligations are expressed to men, who rarely engage in housework chores or family support. In fact, men are largely absent from the lives of their daughters and partners. In addition, men are also largely absent from the economic life – partially due to the lack of jobs, and partially due to occupational gender segregation that prevents them from undertaking some of the available options, such as selling on the market. The absence of fathers or partners imposes a significant economic, emotional, and financial burden on women, forcing them to combine care and work activities right after childbirth. According to the interviews, grandmothers and aunts act as caretakers, offering life advice and even a place to live if they are more affluent or live closer to schools. Many interviewees do not differentiate between biological mothers and aunts and biological siblings or cousins from the mother’s side. Women can refer to their oldest aunt from the mother’s side as “mãe grande” (big mother) and their mother as “mãe pequena” (small mother). Cousins can be referred to as “irmãos” (brothers) and siblings of grandparents as “avós” (grandparents). P: Mom’s sisters are always mom. Then the father’s [sisters] are aunts, because no one is sure about the father. (Zungueira, 19 years old) Overall, unequitable gender roles and social norms increase women’s vulnerability to shocks and poverty, often limiting the range of options available to them in terms of education and employment. The absence of fathers and/or partners further inflicts a significant economic, emotional, and financial burden on Angolan women, forcing them to combine care and work activities right after childbirth with the negative spill-over effects for their education and decision-making. Poverty Angolan women and girls have a severely limited range of options available to them and often must accept the only available options out of necessity. This inability to choose applies to both small and major life decisions, including those related to education, work prospects, and family formation. For example, the pressure to earn a living may drive some girls to abandon their studies, opting instead for the opportunity to obtain quick money. A conundrum young women face is that, without work, they cannot afford 2. Structural Constraints Shaping the Education and Work Experiences and Opportunities of Young Women and Girls in Luanda 17 to study but, without studying, they cannot attain a stable job. For young women whose families lack financial resources it is particularly challenging to work and study at the same time without dropping out of school. Ultimately, chances of returning to school after dropping out and having worked for a while are very low. In the economic dimension, poverty and lack of economic means limit women’s business opportunities. Participants frequently mention lack of capital to sustain cash flow in existing businesses as one of the key barriers at work. On one hand, women often cannot afford to invest in their businesses, for example, for storage spaces, transportation, refrigerators, and so on. On the other hand, the lack of financial capital translates into high vulnerability to market shocks, inflation, and fluctuating demand. When women who sell in markets lack the money, for example, to pay market administrators, they risk losing out on business, having their property confiscated, or experiencing physical abuse. Lack of finances might also constrain business formalization, because globally women are reluctant to pay registration fees and other expenses (Chen 2009). Informality’s association with lower productivity and limited security might further amplify poverty traps (Aga et al. 2021; Fernández and Meza 2015). Women traders in Angola encounter difficulties with saving, which further undermines their chances to alleviate poverty, increase profits, and build resilience to shocks. Multiple factors explain the inability to save. Interviewed women traders report low income as the main constraint to saving; however, several structural issues—lack of access to training to increase financial literacy, lack of saving options, absence of banks near the markets, limited access to formal financial services, partially due to the overwhelming bureaucracy and associated costs of opening a bank account — undermine women’s ability to save. There is no formal social safety net in urban Angola. In the absence of a safety net, poverty strengthens pervasive dependencies and incentives. Young women who experience early pregnancy and early marriage may become economically dependent on their partner’s family. Such dependence can expose young women to abusive behavior; for example, they may be mistreated in their in-laws’ homes or coerced into taking on most of the care burden in the household. Yet, this was true only for few interviewees as many were left by themselves with little to no support from the father of the child. Furthermore, the lack of safety nets traps many women in low-quality and poorly paid jobs, which often seem like the only income-generation activities available to them. Many women traders in the sample, despite realizing the risks, cannot afford to leave these activities. Most of the women interviewed have worked in the markets or in sales activities at some point in their lives, either as children or in periods when they were jobless or struggling financially. Some women—even some with university degrees—started selling because they lost or could not find a job. For a young woman who becomes a mother, poverty (in the absence of social protection) forces her to generate income and support her child. After she gives birth, a mother’s primary family may stop providing for her, and the child’s father often cannot support the household alone. The economic demands on the young woman after her child’s birth push her into work activities, making it very difficult for her to return to school. 18 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda The need to pay bribes A generalized need to pay bribes for services further undermines equal access, preventing the vulnerable from accumulating human capital and accessing economic opportunities. For example, several participants in the study have mentioned the necessity to pay a bribe in order to enroll a child in school. Some have also indicated that school staff might sell off spots that they are allowed to reserve for their own family members. Given high fertility rates, families tend to have more than three children and these costs become prohibitive for low-income families. When discussing several of the research topics, interviewees recurrently mentioned dinheiro para a gasosa (money for the sodas), a local expression that denotes bribing. Public hospitals also require payments, which might prevent low-income women from accessing or using them altogether. Although technically free, public health services are known to have equipment and medicine shortages and to prioritize high- risk emergencies. Preventive health services—including gynecological—are considered challenging to access in public hospitals unless one pays a fee or pays directly for tests or equipment. The inconsistency of references to these payments in the interviews makes it unclear if this requirement relates to different types of service provision, to supply shortages, or to sporadic corruption. Interviewees also mention sometimes having to pay bribes in order to obtain a job—whether private or public. Even the opportunity to participate in an internship (for example, in a hospital) may require payment of a bribe. In some cases, paying such bribes exposes women to scams in which they pay someone only to have the person disappear. Some women might be requested to have sex with an employer in order to get a job placement. In addition to the need to pay bribes, economic and educational opportunities often require social capital and networks that vulnerable women and girls do not have. Several interviewees admit that hearing about an opportunity and being referred by someone—often a friend or family member—is the key facilitator in searching for and obtaining a job. Similarly, chances of getting a spot at a public school are higher for families that know somebody who works at the school. The lack of such connections and referrals constitutes another barrier preventing women and girls from exercising their choice and voice. Exposure to community and gender-based violence Angola has gone through almost 30 years of civil war. Up to today, high levels of crime and violence affect peoples’ lives, and, combined with unreliable and unsafe transportation, expose especially women to safety risks in their commutes to school— especially at night. Many girls and young women get to schools by walking, some are using informal public transportation. Living far from school results in high transportation expenses or walks as long as two hours, which expose young women to risks of violence. 2. Structural Constraints Shaping the Education and Work Experiences and Opportunities of Young Women and Girls in Luanda 19 Girls also report issues related to violence and inappropriate student behavior in and around schools. Several participants in the sample report disliking school because of their experience of physical violence by teachers. A demotivating student environment with fights and gang formation, and lack of interest in learning, contributes to decreased chances of completing school and of finding the drive to continue studies. Gangs may restrict the mobility of unaffiliated girls to some parts of the school. Classrooms can be chaotic, and teachers are perceived to lack the ability to control them. The risks of community violence largely compromise the ability of working women to exercise their decision-making and choice. Women report the risks of violence at the workplace or on the way to it. Zungueiras face a constant risk of being robbed and violence, with such risks often rooted in a profound stigmatization of their profession. According to a Human Rights Watch report, cases of police abuse against street vendors are not uncommon: police officers physically abuse women traders, seize their goods, extort bribes, threaten to detain them, and in some cases arrest them during roundups (HRW 2013). Several deadly incidents involving the police have been reported recently.6 In addition, key informant interviews report multiple attempts to ban informal traders from operating in urban areas. One of such is the Operation Rescue (Operação Resgate), initiated in 2019 with the aim, among others, to reduce community violence and insecurity and prohibit the sale of unauthorized products in informal markets. In practice, street vendors reported police raids and abuse.7 Finally, due to the persistence of those traditional gender norms, Angolan women and girls are particularly vulnerable to different forms of gender-based violence, which presents yet another obstacle for women’s mobility, safety, agency, and aspirations. Several interviewees admit that cases of sexual harassment take place at schools, in the workplace, in transportation and in public places, for example, when commuting to school or market, especially in the evening or at night. Women have also reported cases of community violence and encountered physical violence on the markets and in the schools. In addition, women informal traders in particular are subjected to abusive behaviors from market administrators. Girls can also encounter or witness domestic violence, which in some cases requires them to move to live with other relatives. Such family arrangements increase even further the risks of being mistreated and abused. Different forms of violence limit women’s agency and reduce their capacity to make informed and productive decisions around their lives. 6 https://www.macaubusiness.com/angola-ngo-calls-for-accountability-following-police-killing-of- street-vendor/; https://www.news24.com/News24/angolan-policeman-gets-16-years-for-killing-street- vendor-20200124 7 https://www.dw.com/pt-002/angola-seis-meses-de-opera%C3%A7%C3%A3o-resgate-o-que- mudou/a-48619735 20 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda The conjunction of these structural constraints: A (lack of) sense of control and limited aspirations The conjunction of these limiting conditions on women’s lives leads women to feel little sense of control over their lives, which severely limits their agency and resilience. Lack of control is observed in all spheres of life: education, work, and the attitudes of young women toward pregnancy and early family formation. Most pregnancies among interviewees were unplanned teenage pregnancies, occurring in some few cases as early as age 12 with slightly older men. Women refer to their pregnancies as something that “just happened,” explaining that they did not want to use contraceptive methods or did not know how to “control themselves.” Job opportunities are very scarce, and women have a generalized sense of lack of agency in access to jobs. Many admit that they have never actively looked for a job, but rather waited for a job opening to appear. Interviewed women also perceive that better quality jobs are completely out of reach as they expect employers to give preference to wealthier applicants, which further diminishes their sense of control and motivation to apply. This perception also relates to the lack of transparency in application and selection processes, and the impenetrability of referral networks. Sometimes women are expected to give something in return for the possibility of obtaining a job. In general, one has to know somebody on the inside (padrinho na cozinha) or pay bribes (gasosa) to get a job (whether public or private). In the sample, positive deviants8 (PDs) express a noticeably stronger sense of control over their lives compared to other participants; having a sense of control is strongly linked to building resilience. Women with the capacity to make informed decisions and exercise their voice in life are more likely to succeed in their endeavors, such as completing schooling, delaying early family formation, and finding a stable job. For example, most PD girls in the sample admit that, by their own choice, they have never been in a romantic relationship, generally because of advice PDs received from the church or their parents or because they watched other family members struggling to study after having children. In other instances, girls try to avoid romantic relationship in order to complete their studies undisturbed. In contrast, non-PD girls experience romantic relationships early in their lives and emphasize family formation as a priority in their wish lists. The accumulation of structural roadblocks may significantly constrain the aspirations of the poor. Research shows that individuals living in poverty might have little sense of hope or aspiration, feeling helpless about their future and ability to make a change. The lack of hope can be partially driven by scarcity of resources, continuous exposure to stress, and inability to imagine a better life. As such, hopelessness—due to structural constraints—can further deepen scarcity and insecurity, whereas the ability to hope is seen as a resource to escape the poverty trap (Duflo 2012). 8 Interviewees with similar socioeconomic backgrounds who have been “successful” in the areas of interest as defined by the study design. 2. Structural Constraints Shaping the Education and Work Experiences and Opportunities of Young Women and Girls in Luanda 21 This research study reflects the phenomenon of hopelessness among disadvantaged young women in Luanda. The external limitations discussed in this chapter impose unsurmountable barriers and lead to a sense of helplessness and lack of ability to fundamentally change one’s pathway. The interviewees have rather vague aspirations and plans for the future, and their ideas about the future are often rather confusing. When interviewees discuss plans, those plans do not include specific actions or steps to be taken. Overall interviewees seem to accept that “things happen” or that they require someone to “help them,” indicating a lack of control over events and their consequences. 22 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda 3. Completing Education Is Difficult for Girls in a Context of Economic, Infrastructure, Social, and Gender-Based Constraints A ngolan girls encounter numerous obstacles in access to education which results in them being less likely to attend school. Large body of international evidence shows that limited access to education is associated with multiple negative implications, both for individual women and for society as a whole. For instance, on average, women who have a secondary education are more likely to work, and they earn almost twice as much as those with no education (Wodon et al. 2018). The benefits of education can also transmit across generations because better-educated women have fewer children and provide their children with better health care and education (World Bank 2012). All these factors combined can help lift households, communities, and countries out of poverty. Yet, in Angola, girls are enrolled in school at lower rates than boys throughout most years of schooling, with the gap particularly high and growing after the age of 17 (figure 2). This gap is particularly notable for rural communities. Figure 2. School attendance gender gaps in Angola, by age and area of residence a) Attendance rates in urban areas, by age b) Gender gap in attendance rate, by age and area 100 2 90 0 80 -2 Gap (percentage points) Attendance (%) 70 -4 60 -6 50 -8 40 -10 30 20 -12 10 -14 0 -16 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Age Age Boys Girls National Urban Rural Source: World Bank tabulations based on IDREA 2018/19. Note: Figure b presents the difference in enrollment rates between boys and girls (female enrollment minus male enrollment), by age. Each value is based on the rolling average across three years of age. Source: Survey on Income, Expenditure, and Employment in Angola, 2018/19. This chapter explores the factors that prevent or enable Angolan girls’ school access, attendance, and attainment. The chapter provides a brief overview of the context and data on education in Angola and then discusses (1) barriers and challenges to continue or return to school, (2) facilitators and resilience factors, and (3) policy recommendations to assist girls and young women in accessing, attending, and completing education. 24 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda 3.1. Context Existing evidence indicates that access to schooling remains overall challenging for most children in Angola. Partially those difficulties can be attributed to supply and investment-side deficiencies. Low quality of education, limited accessibility of schools, and lack of civil registration documents severely limit access to schooling for vulnerable children especially in rural areas (World Bank 2022). Many children also encounter difficulties with completing education. In fact, only 4 percent of Angolan youth (ages 15-34) are on the school-to-work pathway at age-appropriate milestones (ibid). One of the reasons for school drop-out and age-grade distortions is the need to prioritize work over studies. The very prevalent pressure to make an income early on, or to contribute to the family’s income through work or selling produce at the market are among key barriers that drive low secondary school completion (ibid.). This chapter provides a detailed overview of various factors that hinder and facilitate access to school education for Angolan children, focusing on gender-specific factors. Box 1. Educational system in Angola Angola’s education system is divided into three levels: primary, secondary, and superior. There are also some sub-systems that occupy more than one level: preschool education, general education, technical-professional education, teacher formation education, adult education, and superior education. There are different types of school arrangements. Several school arrangements are available, according to study participants: public schools, private schools, explicações (private tutorship services often provided in ad hoc infrastructural arrangements), and public-private schools. Although public schools are free, and therefore generally more desirable than private ones, their availability is very limited, in terms of both physical structures and vacancies. In recent years, it has also become more common for families to send their children for complementary tutoring classes (explicações) in addition to the regular enrollment in a public/private school. This option allows children to get supplementary support on subjects or modules, with which they have learning difficulties. Explicações can exist in churches, in someone’s house, or in improvised physical structures but are not legislated and therefore, not regulated in terms of teaching quality. The subsystem of technical and professional education consists of two cycles. The first cycle is taught in private and public schools after grade 6—as a separate, shorter type of education—and awards its own diploma. The second cycle is taught in technical schools after grade 9 and has a duration of four years. It can also be done after grade 12 and may have a duration of two years, depending on the subject of studies. Youth and adult education (Educação de Jovens e Adultos) (EJA) is an adult education program that provides accelerated learning to students with grade-age distortions, usually at nighttime. In this modality, students are taught two or three years of education compressed into one year. Classrooms combine students of different ages, from teenagers to those over 50. The main goal of EJA is to increase the general level of literacy and enable each individual to develop essential capacities to function productively in social and economic life. Physically, EJA classes can take place in different facilities, such as schools, work centers, cooperatives, associations, etc. 3. Completing Education Is Difficult for Girls in a Context of Economic, Infrastructure, Social, and Gender-Based Constraints 25 3.2. Barriers to access, attend, and attain education Access to schooling in Angola is constrained by multiple factors that affect all, whether they are boys or girls. But there are additional barriers facing girls. The following section presents those barriers grouped into four broad categories: (1) school infrastructure– related barriers, (2) financial barriers, (3) structural barriers, and (4) gender-specific barriers (see figure 3).9 Figure 3. Barriers that prevent girls’ access to schooling in Angola School infrastcuture- Financial barriers Structural barriers Gender-specific barriers related barriers Shortage of schools Unaffordable costs High burden of / overcrowded Lack of ID cards of schooling domestic work classes Gender Lack of basic The pressure to Scarcity of jobs discrimination in infrastructure prioritize work early on technical schools Corruption Teenage Poor quality of pregnancy teaching Limited perceived Absent men Age-grade value of education (negative distortions masculinities) Lack of support/ School-based information on how GBV to reenter school Crime and violence Source: Original figure developed for this report. Note: GBV = gender-based violence. 9 It is important to note this research sample did not include boys, limiting the authors’ ability to make conjectures about the factors affecting them. Yet, literature from other countries suggests that certain factors might disproportionately affect girls in comparison to boys. Girls might start school later than boys due to cultural norms or household responsibilities, leading to higher age-grade distortion (UNESCO, 2018). Additionally, girls could be less likely to have ID cards compared to boys, as they may encounter more significant hurdles in obtaining them (Plan International, 2016). Poor infrastructure, such as a lack of separate sanitation facilities for girls and boys, can disproportionately impact girls, who may feel less safe or comfortable attending schools with inadequate facilities. Furthermore, girls might face increased safety risks when traveling to and from school, particularly in urban areas with high crime rates or limited public transportation (World Bank, 2018). On the other hand, this research did not find robust evidence for economic barriers or cultural norms and expectations disproportionately affect girls in poor urban Angola 26 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda School infrastructure–related barriers Key informants consistently point to Angola’s lack of education infrastructure—not enough schools, not enough vacancies for students, and too long distances to a nearby educational facility. These concerns are aligned with findings from across the region.10 Public schools are significantly more attractive than private schools to students and their families—not only because those schools do not request school fees like private schools do but also because some have a perception that they are of better quality. The scarcity of public schools, however, has resulted in widespread corruption and the need to pay bribes, often the only way to secure a spot at any level of public education. Interviewees refer to dinheiro para a gasosa (bribes) or to padrinho na cozinha (anyone who can ease or secure a spot, such as a relative, acquaintance, or someone owing a favor). The scarcity of public high schools (that is, the second cycle of secondary school, whether technical or nontechnical) aggravates the pressure on the public school system at the moment when students transition from lower- to upper-secondary education. I: Okay. So what do you think could be done, thinking about the government, about something that could be done so that more women like you would have the opportunity to study high school, go to college, have a profession? Do you have any ideas like that? P: Eh, I think that putting more public schools for more, um, more to be able to study because now there are even many people who are not studying because they don’t have money to pay tuition, so, for me, that there be more public schools for us to study, even our children, if we are not managing to put the children in the private schools it is really through payment because I say now that the courses that the young people most want is only found in private schools. (PD with a stable job, 24 years old) Overcrowded classes and the inability of school infrastructure to accommodate all students in the classroom constitute yet another constraint to quality schooling. According to the latest available data, the average classroom in primary school comprises of 70 students – much higher than the 45 students per classroom target proposed by the law.11 The same applies for secondary education, where classrooms have 80 students on average, against the 40 students as suggested by the law.12 Young women in the interviews report large class sizes, typically ranging from 30 to 60 students. This number can be even higher—in the case of the participant quoted below, the class 10 Evidence from other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa shows that insufficient school infrastructure, lack of sanitation facilities, and poor transportation connections partially drive girls’ school absenteeism (Grant, Lloyd, and Mensch 2013; Tegegne and Sisay 2014). In addition, the need to travel long distances to the nearest school often eliminates girls’ chances to complete their education: regional evidence, show that parents might be reluctant to send daughters to schools located far from home, fearing for the girls’ safety and well-being on the road (Colclough, Rose, and Tembon 2000; Shahidul and Karim 2015). 11 Law of “Basis of Education System of Angola” (08.12.2020) 12 Data from the Annual Statistics Book on Education prepared by the Office of Studies, Planning and Statistics of the Ministry of Education (2019). 3. Completing Education Is Difficult for Girls in a Context of Economic, Infrastructure, Social, and Gender-Based Constraints 27 was 105 students. Participants suggest that private schools tend to have larger class sizes on average. I think what should improve is the supply, there are schools that the conditions are really not good, they are precarious, I’ve studied, I’ve been in a classroom, at the time we were 105 students, 105 students and those who were at the back of the room had to stand up because they couldn’t see the board and not only in that situation, but there are also times, for example in the places where we do physical education is not favorable, it really isn’t. (Saleswoman, 26 years old) In addition, existing schools do not have enough classrooms, electricity, or water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities. Schools at all levels of education can lack basic infrastructure, including water, power, chairs, teacher materials, and technical equipment. Not having electricity limits the possibility of having night classes, which especially affects single mothers. Several participants also refer to the limited materials available in school, dissatisfactory conditions of school bathrooms, and overall poor conditions of the school. P: Sometimes we didn’t have light and without light we couldn’t attend classes. I: There was no electricity at school? P: Sometimes there was a power outage at school, sometimes they turned on the generator, but those were the main difficulties, the teachers were absent and sometimes when there was no electricity, we didn’t have classes. (Saleswoman, 30 years old) P: We got to the point of not having classes because of chalk, because there was no chalk in the school, we got to the point of not having classes and rotating in each room, and really rotating in each room, the teachers were writing with those crumbs that were left over, yeah also those are one of the things that could improve in our schools, right. (Saleswoman, 26 years old) The limited overall number of public schools translates into long distances to the nearest school. The inequality in school distribution poses a burden especially for poor students, who have the most difficulty affording the expense of transportation to school. Among the most mentioned factors that negatively affect young women’s school experience are the limited quality of teaching and inappropriate behavior by teachers. Such inappropriate behavior includes absenteeism, showing up to work intoxicated, use of foul language, corporal punishment, verbal abuse and sexual harassment of students. Those findings align with the 2016 Service Delivery Indicator survey, which showed that, during unannounced visits in Angola, teachers were absent nearly 30 percent of the time. An additional 17 percent of teachers were found to be at school but not in the classroom, resulting in a total of about 36 percent of classrooms being without a teacher on any given day. Moreover, the number of teachers recruited in the educational system has diminished between 2014 and 2018, which has resulted in the closing of many schools (World Bank 2021a); and up to 75 percent of teachers have not received any formal training (World Bank 2020). 28 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda P: Some teachers come inebriated, you can see that a lot, I also had colleagues like that, others even use expressions that are not appropriate, I had teachers that called us dirty yeah, dirty, they use expressions that are not appropriate, oh, good things apart from some of these teachers that do their own thing, there are those that really have love for teaching, yeah, have love for teaching, even though they don’t have the minimum conditions. (Saleswoman, 26 years old) For many students who experience multiple delays (age-grade distortion), EJA becomes the only option at some stage.13 Students in conventional education but not in the correct age-grade ratio are compulsorily transferred to EJA around grade 7. In addition, young women returning to the school system after some time out of school are put in the EJA track—despite their wish to continue in the conventional track. Although the criterion for the transfer is supposed to be grade-age distortion (one to two repetitions or late entry), data suggest that the school can use other criteria according to its capacity. As a result, two girls of the same age can wind up in different education modalities. In most cases, this transfer to the EJA system seems to be communicated abruptly without sufficient explanation or justification. Students feel they have no choice or decision-making ability and basically have to either accept or drop out altogether. Girls can find this experience very upsetting. I: What happened to put you in at night? P: I can’t explain.... They didn’t explain it to me. I: But they explained to your parents. What did your parents tell you? P: Yes.... They said it’s through age. (PD in EJA, 16 years old) Young women name a few negative aspects related to their transfer to EJA, including disruption of their peer networks, feelings of shame from the association of night school with older people, and, importantly, greater exposure to safety risks. For example, the less reliable supply of transportation at night exposes girls to robbery and gang violence and causes fear and stress for them and their families. Overall, transportation costs increase because girls avoid walking at nighttime. If they can, girls might move to the home of a relative who lives closer to school. Classroom environments at night can be more chaotic causing some students to feel discouraged. And, overall, the quality of schooling is perceived to be worse: teachers are reported to have worse behavior in general, and unreliable lighting is an issue of concern. Also, students say they find it harder to learn in the evenings because they face problems with concentration. Financial barriers Many families struggle with the high costs of education—both direct and indirect ones. Participants refer to the following types of costs: tuition, administrative 13 As mentioned earlier, EJA is an adult education program that provides accelerated learning in the evening to students with age-grade distortions. Those students may have repeated grades at some point in their trajectory, entered late into the school system, or spent a period out of school. In this modality, students are taught two-three years of education compressed into one year. Classrooms combine students of different ages—from teenagers to those over 50. 3. Completing Education Is Difficult for Girls in a Context of Economic, Infrastructure, Social, and Gender-Based Constraints 29 expenses (for instance, for exams and documentation), bribes at key moments in the process, transportation costs, and myriad others (food, uniforms, school materials and homework). Although public schools do not charge tuition, they do charge administrative costs (de Almeida 2021), which must be paid to participate in exams or get any type of documentation.14 The inability to pay for schooling led several women in the sample to move around from schools to other cheaper schools, as the following participant describes. I: Can you tell me like this, eh, how many schools have you gone to, how was that one, was it one, two, several? P: Several, several...five. I: Oh, you studied in five? P: Yes, five. I: And they were private schools? P: Yes. I: And what was the reason you were leaving, entering, changing? P: Reason is, in the case of the second place tuition, more, more affordable price... I: Ah, so, it was like that, financial difficulty of the family... P: Financial difficulty. I: You had to leave, is that it? P: Yes. (PD in INEFOP, 27 years old) In some cases, it becomes increasingly difficult for families to pay tuition because tuition increases with grade level. Monthly tuition can range from 3,000 to 20,000 Angolan kwanzas (US$6 to 40). I: Okay, so tell me a little bit like that about why you left school, how was that process? P: I left school why, because I was no longer in a position to pay tuition, people couldn’t always help me, and sometimes I could owe, two, three months and it would be more money, I didn’t see like people to give me all that money. (Dropout, 21 years old) Transportation costs add another significant burden for families, which applies to both public and private schools. Usually, children go to school using buses or “taxis” (collective vans), costing at least 150–200 kwanzas: US$0.18-0.24 each way. Some students must take two each way. This travel adds up to a monthly cost of up to 9,000 kwanzas (US$18) per month per child), a very high cost for low-income families, especially on top of other education-related costs like materials, food, and uniforms. Even without the expenses of bribes (discussed below, school tuition can become unmanageable for families, with unpaid tuition often leading to grade repetition. Despite 14 In fact, in 2021, a new decree has been issued, which requires directors of public secondary schools to present annual reports and accounts on the management of financial resources. This measure is supposed to increase transparency and accountability of school funds management (source: https:// www.novagazeta.co.ao/artigo/med-e-minfin-determinam-taxas-e-emolumentos-para-escolas-do- secundario). 30 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda their best intentions to educate their children, families may not be able to do so. For families with students already enrolled, late payments of private school tuition mean that the school will not allow students to attend class until families pay back their debt. In those cases, students lose the class and possibly have to repeat that year. I: And, you’ve talked a little bit, but I want to understand a little bit better, how was that process of stopping from, from going to school? P: .... I, I stopped why? Because I was no longer able to pay for school, I wasn’t, I wasn’t working and her father sometimes gives you, that month if he gives you 2 months you’ll pay, after two months pass you’re not stu[dent], you’re not working, you’re no longer able to work, so they’re always kicking you out at school, You don’t go to school, you didn’t pay, you have to leave because at the end of the month they always kick you out, because at the end of the month you have to pay the school fee, because if you don’t pay, you have to pay, but you have to pay with a fine, so I couldn’t pay, I couldn’t afford to pay, that’s why I dropped out. Until the 9th I didn’t finish well either, I only studied the 1st quarter and the second quarter and the 3rd quarter I didn’t finish because I really didn’t have the means to pay. (Dropout, 25 years old) In addition, the inability to pay for administrative costs for public schools may lead to the same consequences. Participants report being unable to pay for their exam papers or to go to a cybercafé to do a specific homework assignment and automatically receiving a grade of zero. This inability to keep up the expenses required for completing assignments can accumulate and lead to having to repeat the year. P: ...what was bad was when I didn’t have money to pay for the exam sheet, when I was late with the fees. I: Uh-huh. P: When they asked for an assignment and I didn’t have it for that assignment. I: Uh-huh. P: And obligatorily I already got zero on the assignment, and that was bad, that was really bad. (Dropout, 21 years old) Various school-related costs and families’ inability to pay them constitute one of the major reasons for school trajectories that often involve passing through multiple schools. When limited in terms of economic resources, families often need to find cheaper schools. The many temporary interruptions and repetitions mean that students rarely graduate at the proper age. I: ...can you talk a little bit about why you’re not going to school anymore? P: It’s financial problems. I: Do you want to talk more about that? P: It’s really this issue, financial problems, sometimes conditions right, the lack of conditions, is also what led me to not being able to finish at least middle school, lack of support. I: Yeah, this support you talk about, is it from the family that lives with you, support from the state, from the public schools? 3. Completing Education Is Difficult for Girls in a Context of Economic, Infrastructure, Social, and Gender-Based Constraints 31 P: Support even in general from the schools as from the family, right? When you talk about financial problems it’s because you don’t have, you can’t afford it, maybe your family can’t afford it...for such and such a thing, for you to finish your studies, there’s no way. I: ...yes, would you like to go back to school? Continue studying, if the family could afford it...your parents, the people who live with you how do they deal with it that you’re not going to school? P: Um, it’s like... I: Is it easy, is it hard for them? P: It’s very hard, it’s very hard because, if they could afford it, I would at least finish high school, and with high school, maybe I could do something, we could just try harder for the other stage of school, but it’s hard, not only for them, but also for me. (Dropout, 18 years old) Another transmission channel for age-grade distortions related to education costs is late entry into the education system. Some students could not enter school at appropriate ages simply because there was no school, or because there was no school that the parents could afford. I: Got it. But why were you late? What happened? Did you come in later than you were supposed to? P: I got to school late. I: Got it. You got in late. Do you know why? P: My mother explained to me that there in Chiado, in the old days there was no [inaudible] school. So, they built the school, and so after we started school. (Dropout, 15 years old) Participants also report that late entry occurs because families lack the economic means to pay for tuition. In some reported cases, students started primary school at 13 years of age. When families lack access to public school, cannot afford the tuition of private schools, or cannot pay for the involved costs of administrative fees, transportation, and others,15 they may decide not to enroll their children at all (until that condition changes, which may be later in the child’s life). Although the data do not indicate the prioritization of boys over girls in families’ allocation of resources to school expenses, families do prioritize younger children and those considered to have higher chances of succeeding in the education system. For example, in a family with two siblings, one of whom has never repeated any grade and the other who has repeated grades a few times, the family will prioritize the education of the first sibling in situations of financial shock. Because of poverty and financial instability—and the resulting strong pressure to make an income—girls must start early on helping their mothers in their business as street vendors. In some reported cases, girls started to heavily engage in working with their mothers at the age of 10. Very often, girls who drop out of school out of the necessity 15 Other reported reasons for late entry were child or family sickness and lack of necessary documentation for the enrollment. 32 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda to work end up selling on the market. Although the engagement in work to support their mothers in the house or with their sales activities does not appear as a direct reason for the school drop-out, it definitely creates more challenges for girls to focus on their education. Moreover, once girls drop out from school and have to work (which is especially the case in the event of the early pregnancy), their chances of returning back to school are indeed lowered. P: My difficulties on a day-to-day basis is that sometimes I try to do one thing, but I can’t, because of the tasks my mother gives me. Sometimes I am very busy. So, I end up doing work. Then I have to take my notebook, sometimes my mother still calls me to attend to the client, or when getting up to do something. I also have to obey because she is my mother. You can’t reject her. And sometimes my neighbor tells me to do something. I can’t reject her either, she is an older woman. I have to obey her. (PD in EJA, 17 years old) Structural barriers According to the interviews, some girls are unable to enroll in or reenter school because they lack personal documents and/or cannot obtain school documents for transfer, likely linked to the prohibitive costs of getting them. A recent survey in 15 municipalities of Angola showed a high overall rate of children ages 0–5 without a birth registration for both girls and boys. The same survey, however, found significant gender disparities in access to adult identity documentation favoring men (Filipe and Andrade 2021). Social norms that dictate prioritization of men, lack of transportation, and lack of information also contribute to women’s limited access to IDs, especially in rural areas (Filipe and Andrade 2021; Pena and Teixeira 2022). In light of Angola’s extremely tight job market, several participants feel that education is not an effective instrument to ensure a better-quality job. While young women and girls do place a high value on learning, they might have doubts about the value of returns from education.16 Many participants share the belief that the job market is tough in Luanda and that the scarcity of jobs limits opportunities for women, particularly vulnerable women with little education. Nevertheless, they do not perceive education as a guarantee of better opportunities, sharing anecdotes of others who, despite relatively high education attainment, become jobless or work outside their area of study. According to the interviews, school does not transfer the skills needed for better-quality jobs—skills such as English or specific types of training that are not accessible to them. P: Because there’s a lot of things that bother me, like, for example, what, the, the, about food, the prices are too high, I would talk about that too and I would also talk even about employment, also it’s not just graduating, there are people who graduate and can’t find a job. There are people who are there with their diploma at home, so, if studying is giving them a job that’s very, a real job, tssss a young lady, as they call it right, if the person studies, why 16 The only exception here are student of the technical schools, likely because of the perception of higher returns from this modality, as compared to the non-technical education. 3. Completing Education Is Difficult for Girls in a Context of Economic, Infrastructure, Social, and Gender-Based Constraints 33 the person doesn’t have a job that’s suitable with what, according to what he followed? (PD in technical school, 20 years old) As noted earlier, the data also broadly document corruption as increasing the costs of education and reducing access. Respondents regularly reported the necessity to pay bribes in order to enter the public school system. Although bribes at the time of enrollment are common, there is also the possibility to use connections to facilitate the process. Without those connections or the ability to pay the entry bribe, it can become extremely difficult for families to enroll their children in a public school, especially in locations where demand is high. Participants report bribes in the range of 100,000 to 200,000 kwanzas (about US$200–400). P: There are public schools, but if you go and put your name in and take your documents there, there are schools that don’t call, if they do, if your name comes up, only one or two will come up, and most of them have to give a bribe, all that stuff for the names to come up, so we have to give more support to the youth in those schools like that, when they were going to enroll, that it would come out normally because, it’s not many people’s will on not studying, they really want to study, no, I am going to go to the state, in the state you get there and you put your name in and it doesn’t come out, so it is difficult. (Dropout, 25 years old) Gender-specific barriers Young women who can attend school experience gender-based discrimination. The data suggests that there is a generalized distrust in women’s technical abilities by employers and society at large, but also by teachers and peers. In schools, this discrimination manifests in examples such as girls (perceived to be incapable) not getting the same assignments as boys. Some participants also report being openly bullied for by peers and teachers and facing harassment, which often made them feel very uncomfortable. Women themselves sometimes have internalized beliefs that some jobs or subjects are not suitable for them to undertake simply because of their gender. For example, women openly state that they do not expect to be given the same jobs as men in the workplace and say they are likely to get “computer jobs.” P: They really should also let a woman realize at least that desire to be able to...change an electrical cord. (PD formerly in technical school, 25 years old) When transitioning to high school, young women express negative attitudes toward STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields. Generally perceiving STEM-related courses as unsuitable for them, they show more interest in pedagogy, medicine, and nursing courses. It is estimated that female representation in technical schools is lower than male representation, except for training in health care fields such as nursing and pharmacy. This discrepancy tends to be even more prominent in engineering, administrative science, and management. The same is the case for higher education where, despite the growth in women’s participation, women have greater representation in areas considered traditionally feminine (PAANE II 2015). 34 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda In addition to discrimination, gender-based violence in the schools also limits women’s ability to engage in school. Sexual harassment by teachers and male students against girls is apparently not uncommon, with teachers threatening to harm or fail girls who do not agree to sexual advances. Bullying occurs for several reasons, including social class, ethnicity, and physical appearance. Participants also report harsher bullying by boys in the form of physical threats. Such difficult situations cause significant demotivation, and girls usually try to deal with them alone, without involving their parents or the school. P: Yes, there are some teachers who even threaten the students, there are some teachers who conquer the female students, yes, that’s it. (PD in technical school, 20 years old) P: It was either money, or it was the student’s body. (PD in technical school, 27 years old) P: If you are a girl to pass you have to go through those procedures, but if you are a boy, you give money and stuff. (PD, 18 years old) Girls also reported issues related to school violence and inappropriate student behavior in and out of school. This contributed to a demotivating student environment characterized by fights, formation of gangs, and lack of interest in learning. Gangs may restrict the mobility of girls who are not “part of their gang” to some parts of the school. Classrooms can be chaotic, and teachers are perceived to lack the ability to control them. The gendered distribution of domestic and unpaid work leads to a disproportionate burden on girls and acts as a barrier to continuing their education. This can be seen, for example, in the gap in school enrollment of girls and young women in households with a baby in comparison to those without a baby. Girls and young women ages 15–23 who live in a household with a baby (a child under the age of 2) are significantly less likely than boys in comparable households to attend school (figure 4). Importantly, this is not limited to the mother of the baby. The presence of a baby appears to strongly affect girls’ school attendance, likely because of the increase in the hours of care needed. Figure 4. Correlation between school attendance rate and presence of a baby in the household, by gender and age, Angola Baby in the household No baby in the household 100 100 Attendance (%) Attendance (%) 80 80 60 60 40 40 20 20 0 0 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Age Age Boys Girls Boys Girls Source: Angola Labor Force Survey 2021. 3. Completing Education Is Difficult for Girls in a Context of Economic, Infrastructure, Social, and Gender-Based Constraints 35 From a young age, most young women, including students, engage in some form of income-generation activity and must juggle heavy daily routines to combine paid and unpaid work with studying. A young woman will often live with other extended family members—especially her mother’s siblings—at some point in her life, with such arrangements driven by a lack of financial resources in the girl’s family and the lack of care support in the receiving family (most often an aunt’s family). In this arrangement, girls are expected to take over their aunt’s care and house duties, wich ultimately reduces their time spent for studying and/or leisure activities. P: On a normal day I help my mother.... I wake up sometimes 6, 7 o’clock. During exams I wake up earlier. The earlier I study, because the time in the backyard is really quiet, I study...At seven or eight o’clock...Clean, sweep, clean the yard, wash dishes.... I go to the square.... First, I pack the [beer] stall.... I start packing from then on, from 2:00, 3:00 pm like this. I leave the square, go home, make dinner, finish making dinner, take a shower, get ready, come here [at school] around 4:00 pm, 5:00 pm.... Classes end at 8:45 pm, 8:50 pm.... (PD in EJA, 17 years old) Relatedly, teenage pregnancy is one of the main reasons that girls drop out of school and have little chance of returning. The impacts of early pregnancy on girls’ schooling outcomes will be discussed in detail in the next section. For many women, the absence of men from this process places the physical, economic, and social burden of early childbearing almost exclusively on girls, forcing them to prioritize care and work over education right after the pregnancy. Such lack of engagement by fathers seems unsurprising and almost expected behavior, at least according to the interviewees participating in this study. Additionally, men rarely participate in household chores, leaving housework mainly for the women and girls in the family. Even in households where men do not have fixed jobs, however, men and boys who stay home on days they do not receive calls for jobs still do not contribute to domestic chores. Some women say they dislike the idea of men’s participation in care and domestic work because it is supposed to be their (female) space. I: The household chores, washing, cooking, are they only for, for, who takes care of that? P: He doesn’t do anything at all. I: Who does those household chores, cooking, washing? P: I do the washing myself, I wash, I cook. I: What about your husband? P: My husband doesn’t do anything either.... (Dropout, 25 years old) On a community level, crime and dangerous neighborhoods affect girls disproportionately. Those factors significantly limit the mobility of people in general— and of girls at night in particular. High levels of crime and violence, in combination with unreliable or unsafe transportation, expose women to safety risks in their commutes to school—especially at night—a concern raised by many interviewees. Sexual harassment in transportation services also affects women’s mobility and their safety on the way to school. Case studies suggest that concerns over harassment are an important constraint 36 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda to girls’ participation in training programs and school-to-work transition (Ruiz Abril 2008, for Liberia) as well as women’s labor market decisions (Jayachandran 2021). 3.3. Facilitators and resilience factors for success in education Along with revealing the multiple and often intersecting barriers that prevent Angolan girls from completing their education, the study identified several protective factors that can strongly encourage girls to pursue education. The following section presents factors that enable and support girls’ education in Angola, which can be broadly divided into four categories: 1) school-related; 2) family-related factors; 3) peer-related factors; and 4) individual resilience factors. Besides the essential need for sufficient and accessible school infrastructure mentioned by study participants, participants prominently discuss the importance of “knowing someone.” – as in: having connections to someone who works in a school (whether a relative or simply an acquaintance) who then might help when trying to access it. While it relates to the importance of personal connections, it also reflects the lack of transparency and fairness in access to public services. I: So, of all the things we’ve talked about for you, what makes it difficult? What would make it easier for your daughter to return to school? P: What would make it easier is if she, if in the public competition her name came out or else, if there’s someone bona fide that could [inaudible] and then get a spot. (Parent, 49 years old) Another protective factor is living closer to the school. Although positive deviants17 (PDs) in the conventional school system tend to live closer to school (no more than a 30-minute walk from school) than their non-PD counterparts, some women might move in with a relative who lives closer to a school to save transportation costs or avoid commuting at night. For instance, several participants had moved to Luanda from rural areas without schools in order to study. I: And why did you come here? P: I came so I could study. I: So you could. Oh, yeah! So, who pays yours? P: “Who really paid was my father. I: Okay, I get it. You came here. You stayed with your aunt, this aunt is whose sister? Your father’s or your mother’s? P: My mother’s. I: Your mother’s. (...) Okay I understand. So, it was to save money that you came here. Okay. So now I understood that cost issue because you don’t pay here, but you had to pay for the transportation. P: Yes the transportation. (Dropout, 18 years old) 17 Interview participants with similar socioeconomic backgrounds who have been “successful” in the areas of interest as defined by the study design. 3. Completing Education Is Difficult for Girls in a Context of Economic, Infrastructure, Social, and Gender-Based Constraints 37 Figure 5. Factors that enable and support girls’ education in Angola School-related Family-related Peer-related Individual resilience Lifted financial Extensive family's Strong support network High interest and constraints social capital (from peers, friends) motivation to study Parental support Environment that Living near a school and involvement encourages and values Strong agency and sense (easy access to school (specifically fathers’) education of control over their lives infrastructure) Delayed pregnancy and High quality of teaching family formation Supportive teachers/ role models Source: Original figure developed for this report. The factors that keep girls in school—once the financial and other barriers are not unsurmountable—relate to the positive aspects of the schooling experience, ranging from learning new things to spending time with friends to having good teachers who encourage them or provide additional explanations when girls struggled. As presented earlier, to learn from positive experiences and better understand the facilitating factors related to schooling, this study recruited a sample of PDs. Some clear differences exist in the educational experiences of PDs and non-PDs. PDs made fewer school transitions, or none at all, and had more (financial) resources and stronger support networks. Some PDs also refer to having been to schools that were “different”; that is, the school was understanding about delayed tuition payments and allowed delayed payments without immediately imposing consequences on the child’s progression in school. PDs center their discussion of the potential consequences of not finishing school around family sanctions, loss of social status, and loss of knowledge. In contrast, non- PDs talk about the loss of better job opportunities. These discussions evidence the clear shared expectation among PDs and their peers and families of completing education, which PDs do not want to disappoint. Some PDs also refer to the mere loss of learning or the loss in critical and logical thinking if they could not continue their education. Some refer more generally to the ability one gains through exposure to education. 38 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda I: But what do you think you would be like? What do you think life is like for a person who couldn’t complete their studies and reached adulthood? P: I think I would have children by now. The first factor is a person who has no knowledge of study, I think they occupy their life with the practice of sex. Or if not it would be a girl who would sell in the squares. Something like that. Because adolescents nowadays don’t finish and are always like that. Those that don’t finish their studies if they’re not already pregnant, they’re selling or doing prostitution. I: Got it. So you think that so you would be in one of those categories if you couldn’t finish your studies? P: Yes. (Student, 15 years old) I: Do you think your life would be different if you didn’t get this far, completed all those steps to get here? P: I think it would go from bad to worse because, well, a lot of people think that studying is just looking for the education and etc., even the diploma and such, but studies also help in logical reasoning, you can solve basic problems that are in your area where you live and such, things that you don’t need an architect or an engineer to solve, only a person who studied and did at least basic education, can do it, so, studying is very important, it’s not just because it’s to have money in the future, to earn something. Only, I think, only. (PD in technical school, 18 years old) Overall statements also suggest the fear of “being stuck,” of not progressing in life, and of thereby being less valued in their own families, among their acquaintances, and in society. Thus, social status is linked tightly to education—in the views of those who can afford to value it—the PDs. P: If I just stopped, just, I think it would be very different, just stopping at grade 9? Like, people also discriminate, people won’t ask, you only stopped in 9th, eh, it wouldn’t be the same, it would be very different, I think people also, like, value more those who study, not only, but also the study counts, the academic level counts, so, not like that with the age I am and say I stopped in 9th because there are people who stop because they have reasons, sometimes they couldn’t pay for their studies, but it would be bad. I: You think you’d have less opportunity is that it? P: Yes, I do. I: Better opportunities of what, like, employment? P: Yeah, for employment really. (PD in technical school, 20 years old) One can observe a strong contrast with respect to the value attached to education among PDs and non-PDs. Although non-PDs generally appreciate the ability to study and share frustration and resignation if they cannot complete schooling, they do not express fear that the lack of education will affect how others treat them —likely because their peers show similar outcomes. By contrast, PDs worry about rejection by family, peers, and society, likely because they perceive that those around them have themselves achieved better education and expect the same outcomes from them. 3. Completing Education Is Difficult for Girls in a Context of Economic, Infrastructure, Social, and Gender-Based Constraints 39 Good teachers have a positive effect and help students to stay in school. Participants offer varying definitions of a supportive teacher. Some define a supportive teacher as being nice or encouraging to students, providing additional explanations to students, or just communicating with students openly and closely. Some define such teachers as those who are understanding, listen to their students’ needs, and adapt to those needs as well as to the conditions the students live with, something much valued by those students. P: What are the good things? Thinking in particular about my experience and the experience of my other colleagues here at the polytechnic, I think that the good thing during those years was interacting with good teachers, there were teachers who showed that they knew how to do and how to be, that is, they knew how to do things in practice and knew how to be with us and accompany us. What could be improved here in schools in general, in all schools in Angola? Materials, technical schools lack materials for practice, the course is technical, but we see more theory than practice, why? Because of the lack of materials. (PD in technical school, 20 years old) Studies around the world have obtained similar findings, showing that teachers’ positive attitudes toward students play a vital role in how youth perceive the value and importance of their own education (Banerjee et al. 2018; Gunderson et al. 2012; Li 1999; Machado and Muller 2018; Tiedemann 2002). Outside of school, PDs highlight parents (as well as other family members) for not only placing value on education but also providing advice and encouragement during critical moments. Involved fathers – scarce in this sample - in particular play a crucial role in promoting their daughters’ educational outcomes.18 Thus, the absence of fathers in Angolan families—or their limited role as a financial provider only—presents a real challenge for the healthy development of their children. Although these participants most often mention parental support, they also mention their churches, which help them to avoid negative influences and to have faith and perseverance. I: So these decisions from what you’re telling me, eh, you decide as a family, is that it? P: Yes, yes. I: And who, how, who came up with this idea of deciding things as a family? P: My father is very demanding, he calls, he really likes to get together. I: Oh yeah, does he have family gatherings? 18 Studies from North America show that adolescent girls with close ties to either a father or a stepfather were less likely to receive failing grades in school than those without a strong paternal connection (King 2006). In Barbados, a cohort study of 8-year-olds found that those children who performed better in school had more involved fathers than their lower-achieving peers (Bruce et al. 1995). A large-scale survey in the United Kingdom showed that fathers’ involvement predicted better educational achievement for girls but not for boys (Flouri 2006). Fathers’ involvement plays a key role in protecting children’s mental health, being associated with children’s improved peer relations, higher self-esteem and life satisfaction, and lower rates of depression, fear, and self-doubt (Alloy et al. 2001; Burgess 2007; Flouri and Buchanan 2003; Levtov et al. 2015). Moreover, modeling of gender-equitable relationships among parents in the household has been associated with girls’ more ambitious career aspirations and participation in the labor market (Croft et al. 2014). 40 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda P: Uhum, among the children, anything he is going to do, he gathers and explains, if he is going to buy something, he gathers and explains, if there is going to be a change at home, he gathers and explains. (PD with a stable job, 29 years old) In the case of PDs, parents are active participants in the educational decisions of the girls. Positive choices are strongly framed and constrained by their parents’ opinions. In fact, global literature presents clear evidence that parental encouragement and support positively affect children’s school achievements, attitudes, and aspirations (Cutrona et al. 1994; Patrikakou 1997; Vasquez et al. 2016). Similarly, the literature finds a positive association between parental involvement in education and children’s school attendance and behavior (McConnell and Kubina 2014; McNeal, Jr. 2001), motivation to study (Gonzalez-DeHass, Willems, and Holbein 2005; Ssewamala et al. 2010), school completion (Anguiano 2004), and lower school dropout (Blondal and Adalbjarnardottir 2009). I: And what do you think you or your other family members like your parents, siblings or uncles if they are close could do today to help you be this successful X in 2029, no, in 10 years’ time, yes? P: Yes, eh, all I need from them is the support, I think the support, the motivation, the strength because they have already done that for me, they have talked to me and I also sometimes when I feel bad about some things, when I feel that things are not going very well I open up to my parents, my parents give me, give me, eh, advice on how I can overcome this, so I think with them everything is easier. (PD in technical school, 19 years old) Some parents make extraordinary efforts to enable their children to continue their studies. Several of the participants recognize such an effort and feel indebted to try to repay their parents for their sacrifices. P: I have to be aware that my mother is working hard to have me in school. It’s not for me to play at school, it’s to study there that I’ve already failed two years. Because when I first came, I didn’t adapt quickly...I failed twice. But even so, it is not a reason for me to stop studying. I see my mom spending money.... (PD in EJA, 17 years old) PDs also have female role models and express an understanding of their “female condition.” For instance, they refer to the tough conditions, both within the family and at work, that their mothers had to overcome. Their mothers serve as firsthand examples of how important an investment in education is to be able to escape poverty. Others refer to discussions they had with their mothers who often had to raise them alone, which reinforced the importance of being able to make a living by yourself and raise your children. P: Exactly, she encourages me a lot. Because when I think of study, right, my mother comes immediately because she always gives us the example that, what would we be if she hadn’t studied? My father almost...he is not here, he doesn’t see what we do and when we left home, my father didn’t 3. Completing Education Is Difficult for Girls in a Context of Economic, Infrastructure, Social, and Gender-Based Constraints 41 even show up to ask for forgiveness and to want his family to come back, he really showed that that’s what he wanted, he didn’t want to be there with my mother. And if, and in the midst of this intermittent assistance that he gives, if my mother didn’t have an education, a job, we would be out of school, maybe [I: Uh-huh], maybe we wouldn’t study, possibly, but I don’t think that’s so possible because my father is also a person who is very tight with education, but our life wouldn’t be what it is today if my mother hadn’t studied and I want to do better than her. (PD in general school, 15 years old) Some share that it is even more important to keep studying and continue your education if you are a woman. Interestingly, the reason they give is the importance of being well prepared to raise your children on your own. P: I myself also decided that I have to study because I am a woman. If I don’t, if I don’t graduate what will I have to give my children? I: Hmm. I see. You said you decided because you are a woman, is that it? P: Uhum. I: But why, what’s the difference? P: Um, my mommy talks like this, you’re a woman, you have to study to be someone in the future to be able to support your children, so if I couldn’t study, if I could stop at 9th grade, what could become of me, I thought until then. (PD in EJA, 16 years old) Support can also come from peers and tutors, who may support students in overcoming learning difficulties or provide examples of success. This learning support described by the PDs can be an outcome of “encouraging networks” often curated and monitored by their parents. Several participants mention that their parents actively control the friends the girls spend time with. PDs and their parents also have regular discussions about the need to distance oneself from people who might exert a negative influence on their lives. Participants also refer to the importance of having peers who provide emotional support in difficult situations or of knowing other people who pursued a similar track. This support is especially valued for girls in challenging and stressful circumstances, such as technical school. I: Got it. What if you had to list what were the deciding factors for why you didn’t switch schools and also didn’t decide to drop out because of all these situations? P: I think, first of all, my friends. It’s those...it’s those people from what? They’ve been with me since kindergarten, so they’re here, so I feel comfortable with them here I don’t want to go somewhere else, somewhere else and have to make new friends. (PD in general school, 15 years old) I: What are the things that helped you adjust more easily to making it to the final year? P: It was my classmates, my classmates were always very understanding because in the beginning we were few girls. (PD in technical school, 19 years old) 42 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda At the individual level, PDs show greater agency and ownership of their actions: they see themselves as agents in their own lives and the lives of others. They often express their desire to take action by a wish to provide financial support to their families, most often their mothers and their children, in the future. I: Okay. Then let’s talk about the future. Let’s imagine your life ten years from now. OK? The life you want. What would that life be like? P: I would like to study, graduate, have a steady job, a really good job, so that I can help my parents, so that I can help my brothers and sisters. And give my daughter a better life, the life that I didn’t have, so that I can give my daughter a better life. And to be able to help our country if possible. To contribute to our country. (Dropout, 18 years old) The interviews also revealed some differences between PDs and non-PDs regarding where they place education in their respective life trajectories. One important difference is PDs’ emphasis on “school first, romantic relationships second.” When asked about their visions for the future, PDs showed substantial resistance to discussing aspirations around romantic relationships or family formation. PDs often defended the belief that they must delay romantic relationships until after they complete their education. Most PD girls have never had a romantic relationship, and the ones who have had a relationship regret it. This avoidance of romantic relationships was generally rooted in the advice they received from the church or their parents, or in watching other family members struggling to study after having children. In contrast, non-PD girls experience romantic relationships early in their lives and also place greater emphasis on family formation in their list of wants. I: Oh, yeah, ehhh, and have you ever had like a boyfriend? [participant laughs] P: Epá, no, I haven’t had any yet even because my mother gives me a lot of advice, she says that the age to date is not now, it’s later on, now what I have to do is study. My mother only says, study, study, my daughter, because you will have a better future. I: So You never had boy, a boyfriend, never had a partner, never anything? P: No. Just friends who keep winning me over, but I give limits. (PD in EJA, 16 years old) I: Okay. So, did you ever have a boyfriend? P: I’ve never had that kind of time to go out on the street.... I: And is that something like that that you would like? ... P: Unless when I’m at such an advanced age and finishing these studies of mine, then yes, right now I’m studying ninth grade, I don’t want to yet.... My mother makes a big sacrifice to keep me here in school...so, I can’t go disappointing her by dating. (PD in EJA, 16 years old) Instead, PDs share aspirations framed around work and particular professions that require several years of education, such as medicine and law. At the same time, non- PDs in the sample have aspirations focused on having a better life or “any good job that 3. Completing Education Is Difficult for Girls in a Context of Economic, Infrastructure, Social, and Gender-Based Constraints 43 pays well.” Many non-PDs express a desire to return to school but have rather vague and confusing ideas about their future plans for education. For those who already have children, their aspirations focus almost exclusively on their children, not themselves. 3.4. Policy considerations Based on the qualitative findings, several key priority interventions for improving girls’ schooling outcomes in urban Angola were identified. The choice of policy measures is motivated by the feasibility of their implementation in the short-term perspective and the overall positive impact on girls’ schooling outcomes. First, policies should focus on the elimination of direct and indirect school fees and costs and/or provision of scholarships for girls – especially at secondary and technical levels. Additionally, ensuring that school classes take place during daytime and are easily accessible with free-of-charge transportation are also important for girls’ school attendance. Another critical priority for Angola is the adoption of regulations aimed at detecting and preventing sexual abuse and harassment in schools and enabling girls to report GBV cases through a functional grievance redress mechanism. And finally, it will be of importance to enable girls to remain in school in the event of pregnancy and resume their education without needing to go through the complex processes for withdrawal and re-enrollment and being automatically shifted to night classes. Relatedly, revisiting criteria for the EJA transfer and promoting EJA education positively also offer a great potential for the girls’ schooling outcomes In addition to the priority policy recommendations, a broader menu of options have been identified to assist girls in urban Angola to access, attend and attain school education. Table 3.1 summarizes the main identified barriers, potential strategic directions, and policy recommendations for enhancing access to schooling among Angolan girls predominately from the urban areas. The selection of policy actions described is based on the evidence of what works to close gender gaps in education in Sub-Saharan Africa.19 Based on the qualitative findings, the following strategic directions have been identified: • Address school infrastructure–related gaps and poor quality of teaching. • Lift financial constraints to accessing, staying in, and completing schooling. • Address structural barriers. 19 As part of the Gender Data for Policy program, a review of impact evaluation studies was conducted to collect evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa on what works to close gender gaps. The review comprised impact evaluation studies, which assessed interventions, focusing on adolescent girls and women, and aimed at narrowing gender gaps. The search included briefs, published papers, and working papers from 2000 onward, published on the World Bank’s Open Knowledge Repository and the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation’s Evidence Hub. The selected studies were limited to studies estimating causal impacts, either through experimental or quasi-experimental methods. Out of a total of 460 studies identified, 162 studies were selected and reviewed. 44 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda • Eliminate gender-specific barriers in access to schooling, and particularly those related to the early pregnancy. Table 3.1. Strategic areas of intervention to assist girls in Angola to access, stay in, and complete school Type of a Barriers identified measure Policy recommendations proposed Strategic direction 1: Address school infrastructure–related gaps and poor quality of teaching • Improve school-related infrastructure and (electricity supply, fences around schools, Medium-term WASH facilities) and equipment (teaching materials, desks, etc.). Lack of schools and basic infrastructure (e.g., street lighting, WASH facilities at • Build more schools, especially in underserved urban areas. schools) Long-term • Expand and improve general infrastructure (roads, transport, street lighting). • Ensure that school schedules prioritize daytime classes for safety and accessibility. Poor quality of teaching; • Recruit more female teachers. Medium-term teachers’ misconduct • Set up a child-friendly complaint mechanism to report cases of teachers’ misconduct. Age-grade distortions and • Revisit criteria for EJA transfer and communicate and promote EJA positively. lack of information on how Medium-term to return to school • Provide financial incentives to reenter school for youth who have dropped out of school. • Implement comprehensive sexuality education programs in schools. • Engage teachers, parents, and community members to foster open conversations and address potential misconceptions about SRH. Short-term Lack of sexual and • Provide continuous teacher training for effective curriculum delivery. reproductive health information20 • Create safe spaces for open dialogue and empower students to make informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health. • Provide access to sexual and reproductive health services, including contraceptives, for Medium-term young people. Strategic direction 2: Lift financial constraints to accessing, staying in, and completing schooling Direct and indirect costs of Short term • Provide free-of-charge transportation to/from schools. schooling Financial insecurity and • Provide scholarships for female students to attend secondary school. pressure to start working Medium-term • Lift financial constraints through the provision of cash transfers – especially for early women-headed households. 20 See Chapter 4 for policy recommendations to improve girls’ knowledge on SRH, FP, and prevention of pregnancy. 3. Completing Education Is Difficult for Girls in a Context of Economic, Infrastructure, Social, and Gender-Based Constraints 45 Type of a Barriers identified measure Policy recommendations proposed Strategic direction 3: Address structural barriers • Reduce costs and simplify the procedures to obtain an ID (e.g., allow for the registration Lack of IDs and other at schools/ community centers). documentation, which often Medium-term leads to age-grade distortion • Eliminate fees for the obtainment of school documents (school-leaving certificate, test sheets, student cards, etc.). Corruption (necessity to pay • Enforce legislation against bribes. Medium-term a bribe to enroll in school) • Expand school infrastructure to address shortage of schooling spots. • Conduct community mobilization programs to facilitate positive attitudes toward education and its value. Peer environment that • Work with traditional leaders (sobas) and their wives. Medium-term discourages studies • Encourage the formation of peer support networks for girls/ female mentorship. • Conduct awareness-raising campaigns. • Provide in-person meetings/ community sensitization programs to encourage parental Uninvolved/ unsupportive involvement in their children’s lives. parents; Absent men Medium-term (negative masculinities) • Promote parents, and especially fathers’, support and involvement through behavioral nudges. Strategic direction 4: Eliminate gender-specific barriers in access to schooling, and particularly those related to the early pregnancy Short-term • Encourage girls to choose STEM subjects through mentorship/female role models. Gender discrimination in technical schools • Provide scholarships/subsidies for girls to study in technical schools. Medium-term • Promote positive attitudes toward women in STEM. • Adopt Teacher’s Code of Conduct to explicitly include definitions of and sanctions for school based GBV. • Adopt regulations aimed at detecting and preventing sexual exploitation, abuse and School-based GBV Medium-term sexual harassments in schools. • Remove gender biases from the school curriculum. • Introduce socio-educative classes to promote healthy relationships and gender equality. No policy or law that • Adopt regulations to encourage pregnant girls to resume their education free from protects pregnant girls’ right Short-term complex processes for withdrawal and re-enrollment. to schooling • Provide financial support for adolescent mothers to continue and complete their education. Financial burden of Medium-term pregnancy and childcare • Ensure access to affordable Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) facilities. • Partner with local daycare centers or establish on-campus childcare facilities. Source: Original table developed for this report. Note: EJA = Educação de Jovens e Adultos (youth and adult education); GBV = gender-based violence; STEM = science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; WASH = water, sanitation, and hygiene. 46 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda Strategic direction 1: Address school infrastructure– related gaps and poor quality of teaching Evidence from the qualitative research indicates that low schooling outcomes among girls are partially driven by the supply side. Lack of public schools appears as the most urgent problem hindering access to schooling for all, and especially for children from poor households. Participants mention the following barriers to education: low coverage of educational facilities; lack of teaching staff and learning materials; overcrowded classes; limited and unsatisfactory conditions of water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities; limited electricity; lack of reliable and affordable transportation to/from schools. Interventions should prioritize building new schools and improving school-relevant infrastructure in order to improve girls’ schooling outcomes (Evans and Yuan 2019). Based on regional evidence, building new schools (particularly in rural and remote areas) and improving school water and sanitation facilities have strong positive effects on girls’ school enrollment (Dumitrescu et al. 2011; Garn et al. 2013), attendance (Blanton et al. 2010; Freeman et al. 2012), and test scores (Kazianga et al. 2013). Moreover, ensuring that school schedules prioritize daytime classes can also offer important gains for girls’ school attendance, due to their increased safety and accessibility. In addition, it is equally important to equip schools with sufficient and adequate learning and teaching materials. Measure to tackle teachers’ inappropriate behavior and abuse are also likely to bring gains for girls’ schooling. Many girls in the sample repeatedly mention inappropriate teacher conduct as a barrier to pursuing education. One promising strategy to protect students from teachers’ abuse is to set a child-friendly complaint mechanism (UNICEF 2019). Evidence from different countries shows that the adoption of this measure in different contexts (e.g., schools, healthcare, etc.) helps to harness the voices of children, recognize abuse and undertake measures to address it and prevent in the future (ibid.). Recruiting more female teachers can also help boosting schooling outcomes for Angolan girls. As of 2019, women constituted half of all teachers (50 percent) in the primary school, but the share of female teachers drops significantly on the level of secondary school: only 39 percent of teachers are women in lower secondary school, and 26 percent in upper secondary school (Anuário Estatístico da Educação 2019). Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa shows that recruiting more female teachers is positively associated with increased girls’ school enrollment (Herz 2002), school attendance (Banerjee and Kremer 2002), academic performance and test scores (Agyapong 2018), and motivation to learn (Bages, Verniers, and Martinot 2016). In addition, the presence of female teachers provides girls with positive role models (Mouganie and Wang 2020) and serves as a protective factor against gender-based violence in schools (Bhana 2015; Herz and Sperling 2004; Porter 2015). Reforming the criteria for transferring students to EJA and providing support for dropouts to return to school would likely result in positive benefits for girls’ schooling. Many young women in the sample who had dropped out reported being involuntarily transferred to EJA evening classes, which have lower-quality teaching and a poor 3. Completing Education Is Difficult for Girls in a Context of Economic, Infrastructure, Social, and Gender-Based Constraints 47 reputation in society. The lack of communication about the criteria of transfer to EJA and unclear protocols of returning to school after dropping out also create frustration with and distrust to the education system. To ensure that girls have good options to return to school after dropping out, programs that provide financial and behavioral incentives for young people to reenter education are of particular value (Hallfors et al. 2015). Moreover, mentorship programs show potential to build the confidence and self-esteem of young women and to encourage their decisions to pursue education (Koroknay-Palicz 2016). Strategic direction 2: Lift financial constraints to accessing, staying in, and completing schooling Participants frequently mention the prohibitive cost of schooling as one of the most significant barriers to accessing and staying in education. Apart from direct costs, many families also struggle with the coverage of indirect costs, such as uniforms, schooling materials, and so on. Some interviewees also reported that lack of financial capacities forced them to start working at a very early age, and that getting education was not a priority for them. A wealth of evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa shows that different forms of financial incentives can be effective in improving schooling outcomes for girls. For instance, providing school vouchers and subsidies has shown effectiveness in reducing girls’ dropout rates, increasing their chances of completing school, and improving their professional aspirations (Blimpo, Gajigo, and Pugatch 2016; Duflo, Dupas, and Kremer 2015; Koumassa, Olapade, and Wantchekon 2020). Similarly, economic incentives in the form of cash transfers can also be effective in promoting girls’ school enrollment (Baird et al. 2009; De Walque and Valente 2018; Evans et al. 2014; Kim 2016)21. In addition, the provision of e free transportation to/from schools can be a promising strategy for Angola. Girls and young women in the interviews frequently mention that high levels of crime and violence, in combination with unreliable and unsafe transportation, expose them to safety risks in their commutes to school, particularly at night. Indeed, the fact that girls might need to travel long distances to the nearest school reduces their likelihood of completing their education: regional evidence, as well as findings from the study, show that parents might be reluctant to send their daughters to schools located far from their homes, fearing for their safety and well-being on the road (Colclough, Rose, and Tembon 2000; Shahidul and Karim 2015). And on the contrary, enabling an affordable and flexible system of school transportation can offer gains for girls’ school attendance (Porter 2010; Porter 2014). Importantly, the provision of the free school transportation should also include specific measures to protect girls from the GBV while commuting. 21 Note the increase in teenage pregnancy observed among CCT recipients in Malawi when they dropped out compared to UCT recipients pointing to some serious trade- offs between different human capital objectives (Baird, Mc Intosh, and Ozler 2011). 48 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda Strategic direction 3: Address structural barriers As discussed earlier in the chapter, many girls lack the identification documents required to enroll in or reenter school. In some cases, every child in the family may lack an ID card, possibly because the family cannot afford to obtain them. These findings align with the regional evidence that indicates that obtaining ID documents is associated with certain expenses (fees, transportation costs, and so on), and that most vulnerable families have few options to get them. In addition, evidence shows that Angolan students struggle with obtaining school documents to transfer/ advance to other schools (e.g., test sheets, qualification certificates, student cards, certifications of enrollment/completion, etc.). The Angolan government has already implemented several steps to facilitate the procedure for obtaining national ID documents and school- relevant documents. In August 2001, the government launched the National Children’s Registration Campaign, linking multiple stakeholders to facilitate free birth registration. As of May 2003, the reform has allowed over 1.8 million children to be registered (UNICEF 2003). Moreover, in 2014, Angola introduced amendments to its existing legislation to further simplify the processes of birth registration and national ID card issuance to all of its citizens (World Bank 2017). Moreover, in 2019 the Director of Education of Luanda has banned schools from charging fees for issuing certifications to students. The Ministry of Education has committed to look for solutions nationwide.22 Enabling affordable and accessible civil registration procedures will not only benefit girls’ education but also bring wide gains for social and economic development at large. Corruption in Angola’s education sector is widespread and threatens to worsen inequalities and constrain access to schooling at large. The scheme, mentioned in the interviews, of school staff selling off family spots or including people in their networks benefits those who have large social networks and relationships, further worsening inequalities and leaving vulnerable populations at an even larger disadvantage. In this regard, expanding school infrastructure could be the first step toward eliminating the very need to bribe teachers to secure a spot. Additionally, it is important to revisit the practice of distributing classroom spots by teachers. For example, either introducing a policy that allows teachers to secure spots only for their demonstrably close relatives or entirely getting rid of the policy of securing spots might help prevent staff from selling spots to third parties. Finally, it is essential to strengthen the enforcement of the anticorruption law. Several attempts to do so have been introduced in the recent years. In particular, a new legal framework on bribery and corruption was introduced in 2020 through the amended Criminal Code, approved by Law 38/20 of November 11, 2020, and Criminal Proceeding Code, approved by Law 39/20 of November 11, 2020. The new legislation criminalizes acts of both active and passive (for example, through third persons) bribery, committed either by public authorities or private persons. The consequences vary from the application of fines to imprisonment. 22 https://www.voaportugues.com/a/decis%C3%A3o-do-governo-angolano-deixa-estudantes-sem- documentos/5200514.html 3. Completing Education Is Difficult for Girls in a Context of Economic, Infrastructure, Social, and Gender-Based Constraints 49 Promoting positive social norms around the perceived value of education can help increase enrollment rates and decrease early school dropout rates for all and for girls in particular. The qualitative research finds that one of the important challenges for Angolan girls to access education, especially at the secondary level, is the prevailing notion that education brings few returns and limited help to secure a good-quality job. Girls also report a lack of motivation to study because of an unsupportive environment that discourages the pursuit of education. Community-mobilization programs (involving traditional and religious leaders), peer networks, female mentorship and national-level awareness-raising interventions can offer a starting point to initiate a positive social norm change around the value of education in general. Research has shown that social media campaigns on radio, on TV, and in the press, or edutainment interventions, can change attitudes and behaviors related to education (Branson and Byker 2018; Erulkar and Muthengi 2009). Additionally, programs that combine adolescent empowerment and mentorship components have shown success in increasing girls’ aspirations to study and complete more years of education (Koroknay-Palicz 2016). Finally, promoting parental involvement in their children’s education can also offer positive outcomes for girls’ education. In the sample, PD participants reported that support and involvement from family members (and specifically their fathers) was a significant decisive factor in encouraging their pursuit of education. These findings are also in line with the global evidence on the positive correlation between parental involvement and improved schooling outcomes of their children. Findings from different countries (e.g., Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana) show that nudge-based interventions delivered via text messages for parents have shown promising results on the parental investments in their children’s education (Wolf and Aurino 2022; Wolf and Lichand 2022). Parents are caregivers who receive text messages with the reminders, encouragement and activities addressing information gaps, biased beliefs and norms behind gender inequalities in education and broader development tend to be more invested in the education of their children (ibid). Moreover, community mobilization programs for parents that provide weekly meetings, socializing spaces and discussions with trained mentors are also proven to improve supportive parenting behaviors with the potential to positively affect children’s schooling, as evidenced on the example of the Democratic Republic of Congo (Stark et al. 2018). Strategic direction 4: Eliminate gender-specific barriers in access to schooling Increasing girls’ representation in the STEM fields, considered male domains in Angola, will require concrete actions. The qualitative findings indicate that women constitute only a small percentage of students in STEM fields and technical schools, and there are many prejudices against women’s capacities to study those disciplines. A promising strategy to address this challenge is to introduce scholarships for women to study STEM disciplines, in combination with a campaign to promote positive attitudes toward women in technical schools. An abundance of global evidence indicates that 50 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda mentorship programs for adolescent girls with female mentors significantly increase girls’ motivation and aspirations to choose STEM subjects (Dickens, Ellis, and Hall 2021; Holmes et al. 2012; Kricorian et al. 2020; Shuen et al. 2011). Eliminating gender-based violence (GBV) in schools is another precondition for improving girls’ schooling outcomes. Several participants admit that GBV takes place in Angolan schools, committed by both educators and peers. A promising strategy for Angola could entail sexual harassment policies for educators, staff, and students and gender-sensitization programs for teachers (Beninger 2013). Multicomponent programs that combine national advocacy, teacher sensitization, and teacher and community counselor training have also proven effective in raising awareness to issues of GBV in schools and decreasing acceptance of it among teachers and students (USAID 2008). In addition, training teachers to counteract their unconscious gender stereotypes can help reduce the gender gap in children’s academic skills and ambitions (Kollmayer et al. 2020). Finally, the adoption of school-based GBV curricula, covering not only GBV but also respectful romantic and sexual relationships, and sexual and reproductive health issues shows promise in changing mindsets and behaviors around GBV (Ekhtiari et al. 2013; Gage, Honoré, and Deleon 2016; Mathews and Gould 2017; Sosa-Rubi et al. 2017). Creating a supportive environment for pregnant girls and adolescent mothers to reenter school is another priority for Angola, a country with one of the highest rates of adolescent fertility worldwide. In the sample, many women admit that early pregnancy is one of the key reasons to drop out, with few opportunities afterward to return to school. Therefore, efforts should be undertaken to increase girls’ agency and encourage them to delay early pregnancy (see next chapter for specific policy recommendations). In terms of education, Angola has no legal prohibitions on schooling for pregnant girls, but in practice pregnant students are sometimes asked to transfer to the EJA evening classes (HRW 2018). Because adolescent fertility is such a common phenomenon in Angola, it is of paramount importance to ensure a supportive policy environment for young women to return to school after childbirth. Additionally, providing financial and childcare support for young mothers are among key strategies to increase their school re-enrolment, as shown on the evidence from Kenya, Mozambique, and South Africa (Groves et al. 2021; Jochim et al. 2022; Lwanga Walgwe et al. 2016; Salvi 2019). Therefore, initiatives to open affordable ECDE facilities near schools/ on-campus in combination with the support programs for temporary residence, education, and vocational training for adolescent mothers are promising strategies in those regards. 3. Completing Education Is Difficult for Girls in a Context of Economic, Infrastructure, Social, and Gender-Based Constraints 51 4. Teenage Pregnancies “Happen” to Girls: Structural Constraints and Their Consequences A ngola has ratified several international conventions that explicitly encourage member states to end child marriage and reduce early pregnancy.23 Apart from the international conventions, Angola’s government strategies and development plans express the commitment to address early pregnancy and related consequences.24 In practice, however, there is little evidence that concrete legal and policy measures have been undertaken to reduce early pregnancy rates. For example, there is no clear guidance protecting pregnant girls’ access to education.25 Because of the lack of regulations, schools sometimes ask pregnant girls to shift to evening classes (HRW 2018), which not only affects the girls’ motivation to study but also strongly hinders their access to quality employment later in life. This chapter aims to deepen knowledge on the drivers and implications of early pregnancy in Angola. It provides a brief overview of teenage pregnancy rates in Angola and discusses three topics of analysis: (1) drivers of teenage pregnancy; (2) impacts of early pregnancy on girls, their families, and society at large; and (3) protective factors that help delay early pregnancy in Angola. It concludes with a discussion of policy considerations. 4.1. Context The very high adolescent pregnancy rate in Angola arises from and contributes to gender disparities. With a rate of 142.8 births per 1,000 women ages 15–19 in 2020, Angola is among the five countries with the highest adolescent fertility rates in the world (figure 7). Only Niger (177.5 births), Mali (162.4), Chad (151.6), and Equatorial Guinea (149.1) have higher rates.26 Despite decreasing adolescent fertility levels over the past 20 years, Angola’s figures are still extremely high, clearly above the average for Sub-Saharan Africa 23 For example, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child requests member states to ensure adequate and sufficient possibilities for pregnant girls and adolescent mothers to continue their education (Art. 11(6)). Similarly, the Convention on the Rights of the Child recommends that states ensure the right to health and education for all children and protect them from harmful practices (Arts. 24, 28). The Maputo Protocol (The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa) also requires states “to promote the enrolment and retention of girls in schools and other training institutions and the organization of programs for women who leave school prematurely” (Art. 12(2c)). 24 For example, the National Development Plan 2018–2022 lists preventing early pregnancy as a key priority action but does not specify concrete measures to achieve this goal. The National Development Plan also commits to improving schooling outcomes for all children and particularly for girls. With that purpose, it requires respective ministries to conduct a study on school dropouts among girls at the secondary school level. Additionally, the Governmental Program 2022–2027 also recognizes the problem of early pregnancy and commits to eliminating it through (1) increasing free access to materials and products of intimate hygiene and contraceptive means; (2) ensuring that a large proportion of young women have access to sexual and reproductive health services; and (3) addressing the issue of school dropouts. 25 According to Human Rights Watch, the Ministry of Education’s executive decree for school-based social action omits instructions on student pregnancy and school management responsibilities (HRW 2018). Decreto executivo no. 131/06 de 3 de Novembro. 26 According to 2020 data from the World Bank, World Development Indicators. 4. Teenage Pregnancies “Happen” to Girls: Structural Constraints and Their Consequences 53 (98.03).27 As of 2016, 10.4 percent of girls ages 15 have already started their reproductive life.28 That share increases to a striking 47.3 percent among 18-year-old girls. The same survey found that rates of adolescent fertility differ greatly between urban and rural areas: 24.0 percent of adolescent girls ages 15–19 have given birth in urban areas in contrast to 41.4 percent in rural ones. Figure 7. Adolescent fertility rate (number of births per 1,000 women ages 15–19), Angola, selected countries, and Sub-Saharan Africa, 2000–20 230 210 190 170 150 130 110 90 70 50 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Angola Niger Mozambique Malawi SSA Benin The Gambia Cabo Verde Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators based on United Nations Population Division, World Population Prospects 2020. Note: SSA = Sub-Saharan Africa. Adolescent fertility is inversely correlated with the level of educational attainment and wealth quintile and varies significantly across regions. The proportion of girls ages 15–19 who have started their reproductive life decreases with the level of education: from 57.7 percent among girls with no education to 41.5 percent among girls with primary education and to 24.8 percent among girls with secondary/postsecondary education. Likewise, the adolescent fertility rate also decreases steadily with wealth: 11.1 percent of adolescent girls in the highest wealth quintile have given birth in contrast to 30.9 percent of girls from the lowest wealth quintile. The highest proportions of girls ages 15–19 who have already started reproductive life are recorded in Lunda Sul (59.6 percent), Cuanza Sul (59.3 percent), and Malanje (52.6 percent) (map 1). By contrast, 27 According to 2020 data from the World Bank, World Development Indicators based on United Nations Population Division, World Population Prospects 2020. 28 The figure refers to the proportion of girls ages 15–19 who had already had a live birth AND girls who were pregnant for the first time. Source: 2015–16 Angola Multiple Indicator and Health Survey. 54 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda the lowest shares are observed in Luanda (21.2 percent), Namibe (30.8 percent), and Bengo (32.8 percent). The use of contraception remains very limited among adolescent girls. About 69.1 percent of girls ages 15–19 have heard of some contraception methods, and 67.8 percent have heard of modern methods. Despite those percentages, only 9.2 percent of girls ages 15–19 actually use contraception, including 8.8 percent who use modern methods and 0.4 percent who use traditional ones. The unmet need for contraception among married girls ages 15–19 stands at 43.0 percent, higher than the Angolan average for all married women ages 15–49 (38 percent).29 Map 1. Proportion of girls ages 15–19 who have already started reproductive life, by region in Angola Percent Cabinda Angola 27% 35% Zaire 39% Uíge 36% Bengo 33% Cuanza Luanda Norte Norte Malanje Luanda 47% 49% 53% 21% Luanda Sul Cuanza Sul 60% 59% Huambo Bié Benguela 43% 44% Moxico 39% 47% Huíla 45% Namibe 31% Cunene Cuando Cubango 32% 47% Source: Angola 2015–16 Multiple Indicator and Health Survey. Additionally, girls and young women ages 15–19 appear to have limited access to and use of maternal health care services. Among women who have had birth under 20, 17.3 percent have not received any prenatal care visits (in contrast to 16.5 percent among women ages 20–4 and 24.5 percent among women ages 35–49). More than half of women under 20 have given birth at home (51.2 percent), although this trend persists across all age groups (52.3 percent among women ages 20–34 and 59.4 percent among women ages 35–49). 29 Data here and in the following four paragraphs come from the Angola 2015–16 Multiple Indicator and Health Survey. 4. Teenage Pregnancies “Happen” to Girls: Structural Constraints and Their Consequences 55 Early pregnancy in Angola is associated with increased risk of maternal, neonatal, and infant mortality. About 16.5 percent of deaths among women ages 15–19 in Angola are associated with pregnancy-related complications—higher than the overall proportion of pregnancy-related deaths among women ages 15–49, which stands at 16.3 percent. The rates of neonatal30 and infant31 mortality among children born to women by age 20 stand at 29 and 61 deaths per 1,000 live births, respectively, which is higher than among children born to women ages 20–39 (but lower than among women ages 40–49)—figure 9. Figure 9. Neonatal and infant mortality, by age of women at birth, deaths per 1,000 live births Percent 80 72 61 60 50 44 39 40 29 28 19 20 0 <20 20-29 30-39 40-49 Neonatal mortality Infant mortality Source: Angola 2015–16 Multiple Indicator and Health Survey. 4.2. Drivers of teenage pregnancy The results of the study reveal three main factors driving teenage pregnancy: (1) limited knowledge and information on SRH and contraception, (2) limited or no access to sexual and reproductive health services, and (3) constrained agency and decision-making among girls (figure 10). In addition, two broader structural dimensions negatively affect those three constraints: (1) poverty and the inability to pay for services and schooling, and (2) gender norms restricting women’s decision-making ability and their roles in partnerships, families, and society. 30 Neonatal mortality rate refers to the number of deaths during the first 28 completed days of life per 1,000 live births in a given period. 31 Infant mortality refers to the number of deaths of children under the age of one year per 1,000 live births in a given period. 56 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda Figure 10. Overview of factors driving teenage pregnancy in Angola Gender norms restricting women’s decision-making ability and their roles in partnerships, family and society - Misleading or censored information about SRH and contraception Constrained agency and decision-making - Lack of access to affordable contraception of girls and young women and quality youth-oriented SRH services Poverty and inability to pay for services and schooling Source: Original figure developed for this report. Note: SRH = sexual and reproductive health. Low levels of knowledge about SRH Women interviewed exhibit very limited knowledge about their own bodies and about SRH and get their information mainly from family and school. Nevertheless, information and explanations on menstruation and contraception come late: several women admit that they first learned about menstruation after they started having their periods. Most girls speak first with their mother, an aunt, or older sisters about those issues—again, after they occur. Some women received information on SRH at school, but the timing of SRH orientation also occurs far from the age at which the girls start menstruating. For example, most interviewed girls first got their period when they were 12–14 but received orientation on SRH in grade 6, when some are older than 16 years, given the widespread age-grade distortion. Only a minority of the girls received precise information about the relationship between menstruation, sexual activity, and contraceptive methods. The information they received was, in many cases, nonexistent or vague. For example, conversations around menstruation usually focus on how to care for and clean their bodies. Several women claim that even now they feel they are not well informed. Participants note that most discussions do not include any in-depth information on contraceptive methods. One interviewee recalls that condoms were the only contraceptive method discussed in class, and even that was presented without clarity or context. I: Did anyone ever explain to you methods that you could use to not get pregnant, to be able to have relations but without getting pregnant? 4. Teenage Pregnancies “Happen” to Girls: Structural Constraints and Their Consequences 57 P: The CME teacher.... Yes, but she didn’t explain it clearly. I: How did she explain it? P: She just said to protect ourselves, like using a condom.... That’s all I know, other methods I don’t know. (PD in EJA, 16 years old) Norms around sexuality and a general taboo regarding female sexuality drive the discussions with mothers and at school. Interviewees say that discussions with their mothers often leaned toward instilling a fear of becoming pregnant and promoting abstinence without necessarily explaining how pregnancy occurs or the different prevention methods. In fact, proactive discussion of sexuality by women is regarded as taboo and can result in punishment by the family or community members (for example, violence, condemnation). Adolescent girls might fear their sexuality, because it can lead to social sanctions, embarrassment, and disappointment of their parents (Nesamoney et al. 2022). I: So you all received guidance about menstruation? P: From her. I: From, from your mother? What did she tell you? P: I don’t know, in the beginning I was afraid...very afraid.... She said, I don’t know, now you’re a woman, you can’t play like that anymore, you can’t play with sand, I don’t know, a lot of things.... I was really scared, really scared, she said, you can’t be friends with men anymore, I don’t know, men getting pregnant is too early for a child to be pregnant, knowing more about our family, I don’t know what, a lot of things and I was also limiting myself. I: Did that make you afraid? P: Very afraid...very afraid indeed (…), her sister also came, her older sister also sat with me.... (PD in INEFOP, 25 years old) The cultural and social norms regarding women’s sexuality, bodies, and intimate relationships not only limit the supply of information but also seem to play a role in young women’s lack of desire for information. Several young women interviewed suggest they didn’t pay much attention because they were not really interested in the topic. P: I’ve heard of it, but not talk about it. I: Um...and what did you hear about, so, what do they say, say about it? P: Hear, hear, hear, I heard, but that it wasn’t so much that I paid attention. (PD in EJA, 18 years old) Global literature indicates that, in contexts that stigmatize discussion of sexuality, adolescent girls “choose” to be uninterested in SRH topics and not to seek information on safe sexual practices and contraception (Blanc et al. 2009; Morris and Rushwan 2015; Müller 2020). Actively pursuing information on SRH may be seen as a suspicious activity and trigger disapproval, shaming, or even exclusion by family and community members (Ampofo 2001; Gyan et al. 2016; Yardley 2008). Likewise, having too much knowledge about sex-related issues can be considered inappropriate for women (Klugman et al. 2014), partially because of gender norms that stigmatize sexuality and place an emphasis on the purity of young unmarried women. Commonly, accessing SRH services 58 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda is associated with the start of sexual activities, so adolescent girls may not want to seek such services for fear of being labeled as engaging in sexual relationships (Gyan 2018). With limitations on both ends (supply and demand), young women rarely acquire sufficient knowledge and understanding of SRH. Young women who have not yet had children tend to be unaware of family planning (FP) services or of where they could go to obtain more information about contraception. Some had never even heard of FP or where to get information on how to avoid getting pregnant. I: Is there any place that girls can go to get information about how not to get pregnant? P: There never was. I don’t know, I don’t think so.... I: Okay. Okay. And have you ever gone for family planning? P: No. (Dropout, 23 years old) In contrast, those who already had children had more knowledge about contraceptive methods and how to obtain them. After giving birth, women are usually referred to government FP clinics. There, they receive information and access to longer-term contraceptive methods—for most of them, for the first time in their lives. For mothers, access to SRH information and support therefore becomes less of a constraint. Such findings align with global evidence showing that in many developing countries SRH services primarily target married or adult women. Young women and adolescent girls report being discouraged from accessing SRH services for fear of receiving a negative reception from clinic staff (Kiluvia and Tembele 1991; Otoide, Oronsaye, and Okonofua 2001; Rasch et al. 2000; Richter and Mlambo 2005; Wood and Jewkes 2006). Adolescent girls may feel that, when attempting to get contraceptives through public health clinics, they will subject themselves to judgment, negative attitudes, and potentially even breach of confidentiality (Gorgen, Maier, and Diesfeld 1993; Senderowitz 1997). Moreover, as discussed above, unmarried adolescent girls might be reluctant to access SRH so that they do not trigger negative reactions from their family or community and do not to appear interested and engaged in sexual activities. Thus, seeking FP can impose stigma of adolescent girls through labeling, discrimination, stereotyping, separation, and status loss (Imoro 2009; Link and Phelan 2001; Morhe et al. 2012). Consequently, marriage is often the prerequisite for accessing FP, and for many women worldwide this is the first time they can obtain professional support with SRH and contraception. Even among those who had some information, however, young women have numerous misconceptions around SRH. For instance, several young women share the belief that they can only get pregnant while menstruating, and that these are the critical days for preventing a pregnancy. They often report having been told this by a friend or relative. P: They say that when a woman is menstruating, she can’t get involved with a man, she can be pregnant and also when she is not menstruating, I think that’s exactly it, she will also be pregnant and I need someone to explain it to me better, for me to understand well.... (PD in EJA, 16 years old) 4. Teenage Pregnancies “Happen” to Girls: Structural Constraints and Their Consequences 59 Other misconceptions include specific measures said to prevent pregnancy. For instance, one interviewee reports that her aunt told her of a method to avoid pregnancy that involved sitting in a bathtub of cold water. Information shared by family members or friends about the rhythm method, or traditional alternatives, is often incorrect, putting women at risk of involuntary pregnancy. Even more so, myths about contraception discourage women from using it. Many participants reported fearing adverse reactions on their bodies or potential damage to their uterus if using contraception. As a result, many women want to use a contraception method only after giving birth for fear of adverse health outcomes, including infertility—a significant fear, because Angolan social norms place a high value on women’s fertility. P: I had heard of planning but only that I was told that it is not very advisable for women who do not yet have a child.... It can burn the uterus or can bring some consequences and so I really preferred to use the method that my aunt taught me. (Dropout, 21 years old) Women in the sample use different types of contraception, although in practice they have limited choices of contraception method and must use the only option available. Interestingly, participants see the “morning-after” pill as an ordinary contraceptive measure rather than an emergency measure to be used if other means fail. Yet, this is not ideal, since it doesn’t prevent pregnancy as well as other types of birth control, regular use may also be too costly and its side effects such as bleedings and nausea can be uncomfortable. Finally, it can make it even more difficult to predict one’s cycle. Limited access to SRH services The reported scarcity of SRH services leads to unfavorable conditions for the reproductive health of women in general. Public hospitals are few and often distant, requiring transportation (which is costly) and offering little opportunity for free care. Given their limited availability, hospitals prioritize severe cases over preventive care. Interviewees report challenges in accessing preventive health services—including gynecological—in public hospitals unless one pays a fee for tests or equipment. The only alternatives are expensive private clinics, which poor women often cannot afford. Even when women can afford the costs of a doctor visit, they have no guarantee that services will be available. Women refer to the need to face long lines at SRH facilities. Furthermore, qualitative data from another study showed that, especially in rural areas of Angola, women fear abuse or discrimination, in addition to negligence by medical staff in public hospitals. As a result, especially in rural areas, they prefer to give birth at home (Filipe and Andrade 2021). Participants in the sample report potential discrimination against young women who have never had children. As mentioned earlier, SRH services and family planning efforts are targeted toward mothers, not in a preventive manner to younger women or those who are not yet mothers. The global literature indicates that, in many developing countries, young women and adolescent girls report being discouraged from accessing SRH services for fear of receiving a negative reception from clinic staff (Kiluvia and 60 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda Tembele 1991; Otoide, Oronsaye, and Okonofua 2001; Rasch et al. 2000; Richter and Mlambo 2005; Wood and Jewkes 2006). Moreover, as discussed earlier, unmarried adolescent girls might be reluctant to access SRH because they do not want to trigger negative reactions from their family or community and do not want to appear interested or engaged in sexual activities. Notably, even adult married women and women with children can also encounter some forms of discrimination in access to SRH. In some cases, women need to obtain permission from their partner or spouse to access SRH services. Several women say that clinic staff will ask if they were married and will call the spouse to see if he agrees with the procedure. This practice is driven by a fear that husbands can react violently— toward both the woman and the health clinic staff—when they find out the woman had a procedure without their consent. In Angola, a qualitative study showed that women who want to engage in FP might face cultural challenges because men value fertility highly and associate contraception methods with infertility, especially in rural areas. As a result, women might avoid using contraception or prefer to adopt methods that are less visible to their partners (Pena and Teixeira 2022). P: You get there you get a ticket then when they call you or when they call the number that is on your ticket, you will enter, you will explain I already have a child and I want to prevent myself so that I can’t get pregnant with another one now at the moment I am still raising the one I have and for me to prevent myself I come to do the planning, if your husband is not there they will ask for your husband’s number they will call your partner to know if he agrees with this or not if he agrees, they do the planning normally and if he doesn’t agree they don’t accept to do the planning.... I: But what if the partner says no, then what do they do? P: If they say they don’t agree they won’t do it. (Dropout, 21 years old) Girls’ lack of agency in pregnancy and family decisions Agency is understood as the freedom and ability to make decisions and choices to pursue individual goals in life (Sen 1985). Agency implies that individuals are in the position to take responsibility over their lives (Emirbayer and Mische 1998), have a sense of control over their decisions (Schwartz, Côté, and Arnett 2005), and have the capability to express their choice and voice (Sen 1999). Strong agency is the key to productive and active participation in social life and the ability to bring about change (Sen 1985). Conversely, lack of agency deprives individuals of decision-making, voice, and choice, turning them into passive observers rather than active doers. Lack of agency among adolescent girls adversely affects their ability to make informed decisions about their life and threatens to amplify the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage. Therefore, agency is one of the central aspects in enabling girls to take control over their lives and in postponing early pregnancy. Research from different parts of the world shows that adolescent girls often exercise little to no control over pregnancy decisions (Goicolea, Wulff, and Öhman 2010; Kane 4. Teenage Pregnancies “Happen” to Girls: Structural Constraints and Their Consequences 61 et al. 2019; Maly et al. 2017; Müller 2020). Girls’ lack of agency in pregnancy decisions is explained by a variety of factors, with gender norms key among them. In many developing countries, women are expected to be passive and silent, and standing up for one’s opinion leads to social sanction and disapproval (Bandali 2011; Filipovic 2008; Lamont 2014; Pulerwitz et al. 2015). At the same time, these norms limit girls’ access to information and knowledge, which could act as protective factors against weak agency and vulnerability. Moreover, when society highly praises motherhood and childbearing, not making an effort to avoid pregnancy in adolescence can also derive from young women’s intention to comply with social expectations and receive social recognition, acceptance, and status (for example, Adams, Salazar, and Lundgren 2013; James 2010). Such an intention can hardly be regarded as a choice, however, if one takes into account that adolescent girls might not have other available options to choose from. Some women give vague answers on why they do not use any contraception while other participants could not elaborate on their decision not to use any contraception methods, which seems to reflect limited decision-making to actively prevent pregnancy among several informants. One simply remarked about pregnancy, “It might happen.” P: Nowadays I already know that I have to protect myself, because of the life that we have, yeah, that’s why I’m 34 years old and already have my youngest, so that’s enough…. Enough. I have to work in order to graduate those. I: Uhum, but how do you not get pregnant, is there anything you use, any method, because.... P: In this case I’m not using anything. I: Nothing? P: Uhum. I: But then it can happen? P: It can happen.... (PD with a stable job, 34 years old) Most pregnancies reported in the study sample were unplanned teenage pregnancies, and, for those that entered a union, girls often did not make that decision either. Women refer to their pregnancies as something that “just happened.” When asked about the factors that led to their unplanned pregnancy, some said they did not want to use contraceptive methods or did not know how to “control themselves.” Likewise, they describe decisions around forming a union or marriage after a pregnancy as family decisions, rather than the individual willingness of partners. A girl’s family’s approval—especially her mother’s—is essential for formalizing a union. A woman is expected to move into the man’s home—either his own or his parents—after a marriage. Interestingly, several mothers prohibit their daughter from moving out of their house if they have concerns about the intention or character of the man, afraid their daughters will turn into “slaves” in the future husband’s home and give up studying. P: She’s not ready to go to her husband’s house.... She’ll be a slave there, there won’t be time for her to go to school. So, let’s not put her in her husband’s house. She’s going to stay right with her mommy and we’re going 62 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda to support. We will support. When school starts, she will go back to school. (Parent of a dropout, 39 years old) In some cases, however, young women made this decision consciously, although in a context of deprivation and limitations. In the absence of opportunities and options to live independently, teenage pregnancy can be rooted in the desire of young women to escape a helpless living or economic situation in their original families. Importantly, the level of agency and decision-making as well as attitudes toward pregnancy and family formation differ significantly among positive deviants (PD) and non-PDs. Most PDs have never had a romantic relationship and would like to delay pregnancy and family formation until they complete their studies. As noted in the previous chapter, parents play a very important role in this delay and in advising girls not to have a relationship. Even if they do not forbid relationships, PD parents are very intimately involved in the decision-making processes and follow their children’s relationships very closely. In contrast, non-PD girls experience romantic relationships early in their lives and emphasize family formation in their list of wants. Gender norms around girls’ roles and (early) fertility Young women and their families do not seem to actively aspire to teenage pregnancy, which is generally frowned upon. Across the sample, women report their parents’ disappointment about an early pregnancy, often linked to the fact that the woman would have to stop her studies. I: And so, your family and his family, how did they react? P: Also at first badly. Then they understood. I: Who reacted badly? Your family or his family? P: My family. I: They said what? P: You couldn’t get pregnant.... (Dropout, 18 years old) Some women report that their parents were accepting at some point because it’s “the normal” thing to have kids. Nevertheless, they were often still initially disappointed— mostly because of the risk of their daughter dropping out of education. The following woman describes her parents’ sense of loss: P: They reacted badly, they didn’t like it because I was a very smart girl at school, yeah. And also because I was the hardest working girl at home they felt they lost someone, yeah, but since every woman has to have a husband, has to have a child, so they had to bring me right to the husband’s house, yeah. (Zungueira, 31 years old) After they become adults, however, women are pressured to have many children; interview participants report the stigmatization of women who cannot bear children. Indeed, Angola has a high wanted fertility rate (5.2 births per woman), significantly higher than in many Sub-Saharan African countries. Wanted fertility is particularly high in rural areas (7.1) compared to urban (4.4) ones. The wanted fertility rate declines with 4. Teenage Pregnancies “Happen” to Girls: Structural Constraints and Their Consequences 63 level of education and is highest among women with only primary education (7.4).32 Several participants also mention family pressure to have a child once they are in a stable and recognized relationship. Forming a family is associated with the improvement of a safety net. For instance, having more children increases the likelihood that one of those children will do well in life and be able to provide for the rest of the family. Additionally, having many children increases the likelihood of “good quality” children, according to interviewees. I: I see. What you said, that here they say that children are the wealth, right? I’d like you to explain what... how is that? Someone... who says that? P: Here... at least here in this neighborhood, here we have a favela. When you see it’s a little slum but you have five, six kids. You already live poorly, you want to have more. Because I can’t have two children. If one dies I’ll keep one of the two, I said no. (Parent of a dropout, 39 years old) 4.3. Consequences of teenage pregnancy for girls Teenage pregnancy and early family formation are associated with a number of risks that compromise the well-being and agency of girls and young women. Girls who get pregnant during adolescence encounter numerous challenges related to their education, work, and family life trajectories. Pregnancies and childbearing during adolescence hasten the transition to adulthood. Generating income and caring for or contributing to the support of the new family can become the young mother’s priority and turn into a barrier to benefiting from educational, social, and economic opportunities. Interviewees report teenage pregnancy as one of the main reasons for dropping out of school with little chance of returning. The process often unfolds through girls’ feelings of shame, sadness, and low self-esteem following their pregnancies. Those feelings then keep them away from school, and young women internalize a sense of disappointment and guilt for not having finished their studies. The research sample, revealed no report of direct engagement by the school to prevent girls from continuing their studies; instead, this distancing appears to be driven by the girls themselves. Some dropouts report that school administrators made some accommodation to help them continue their education, but that it was insufficient to convince them to stay in school. One reports attending classes until her eighth month of pregnancy and then having schoolwork sent to her home, but she still dropped out. I: And so. What were the reasons that led you to leave school like that? How was this process? P: Because I got pregnant.... I’m pregnant. I: Oh, you’re pregnant? P: Yes. 32 According to data from the Angola 2015–16 Multiple Indicator and Health Survey. 64 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda I: Oh, you’re pregnant. So you dropped out, you stopped going to school how long ago? P: Three months ago. I: Three months? … But so.... You’re pregnant and I can see your belly here, it’s still tiny. Why did you decide to stop going to school? Did anyone tell you to stop coming? Did you make that decision on your own, how is that? P: I made the decision alone. I: Made the decision all by myself. And so, right? Why did you say: I’m pregnant and I’m leaving school? Is it difficult to come to school pregnant? P: No, it’s not difficult. I: So why did you stop with the pregnancy? P: You can talk, like, openly. The reason I did was this, was that.... I’m like, I’m embarrassed to come to school. What’s it like? Yes, ashamed. I: Ashamed of whom? P: Your classmates. I: From classmates? Have you ever had a pregnant classmate in your class? P: Yes. I: How did they treat that girl, that classmate who got pregnant? P: At first, badly. I: Did they abuse her? P: Yes, there are some classmates who did that. I: And so... What about the school? When there’s a pregnant student, what does the school do? P: [silence] I: Does the school let these students continue studying or does it say that they have to stop while they’re pregnant? P: Many are absent and stop studying. (Dropout, 18 years old) Parents and partners do not uniformly support the decision to leave school because of pregnancy, according to the informants. Some girls had discussions with their families about plans to return to school after giving birth, often because of the anticipated increased economic opportunities that come with furthering education. Others express that the child’s father pressured them to drop out of school upon becoming pregnant. The general perception, according to one interviewee, is that “everything ends with pregnancy”—which, she says, is not the case. After giving birth, interviewees reported finding it difficult to reenroll because of the lack of childcare options. Interestingly, care for the child becomes a serious concern limiting chances to get an education—more so than reported when discussing barriers preventing them from getting a (better) job. Some mothers report that, once they dropped out of school, their priority was no longer their own education but that of their children. Consequently, they would no longer pay tuition for themselves but would save up to ensure their children could go to school. 4. Teenage Pregnancies “Happen” to Girls: Structural Constraints and Their Consequences 65 P: Now to study, I prefer to prioritize my children, pay school fees for both boys, buy more clothes in conditions, because if you are studying and they are studying, if school fees are missing, for sure I will prioritize them, I will stop paying mine and the same thing will happen as it did when I lived with my father, my father when he didn’t have how to pay we had to stay at home, and I don’t want that for me anymore, I want to bet on them. (Dropout, over 35 years old) The absence of fathers or partners imposes a significant economic and financial burden on women, forcing them to combine care and work activities right after childbirth. This situation prompts young women to perform various income-generation activities and seek daily earnings in markets to secure their family’s well-being. A young woman’s primary family may stop providing for her, and her spouse—if she has one— most often cannot support the household. Young mothers without partners often keep living with their parents. During her pregnancy and the first six months of her child’s life, a young woman tends to receive financial support for herself and the child from her parents—especially her mother—as well as from uncles and aunts. A few months after giving birth, however, the family will pressure the woman to start providing for herself and her child. These economic demands pushing young women into work activities make it very difficult for them to return to school. Not only would continuing education take up the time they needed to work, but it would also impose direct financial costs on the family. The costs of tuition, uniforms, materials, and transportation can be significant. Furthermore, night school is not always an option because of the risks women face traveling alone at night. Interestingly, in the urban sample of this research project, all reported cases of child marriage were driven by the event of pregnancy33. In terms of sequencing the pregnancy came first in all observed cases in this sample. According to the Angola DHS 2015-2016 38.6 percent of girls and young women aged 15-19 from the lowest socio-economic quintile experienced a live birth while 18.2 percent of women in the same age group were married or in a union. The average age of first marriage among women in the lowest socio-economic quintile is 19.1 years. While this doesn’t provide evidence for a clear sequence of events, it does show that teenage pregnancy is more prevalent in Angola, especially among those in the lowest socio-economic quintile. According to the research participants, pregnancies usually occur in the context of a non-existent or short- lived relationship and serve as a starting point for the discussion on marriage/ union formalization. When the interviewed women find out about the pregnancy, the next step involves informing the father of the child, and at times, his family. The child’s father 33 Different from what was found in this urban Angolan research sample, evidence from around the Sub- Saharan Africa region (including from the Republic of Congo, Ghana, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, and Zambia) shows that most early childbirths take place after marriage (see, for example Malé and Wodon 2016). Partially this tendency can be explained by the desire of young girls and their families to avoid the stigma and social judgements associated with the pregnancy outside the wedlock (Miedema et al. 2020). On the other hand, when traditional marriage is accompanied by the payment of dowry, families regard it as often the only possible option to strengthen their financial and food security (Apatinga et al. 2023). 66 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda will either accept his responsibility or escape his paternity duties either immediately or gradually. Participants reported that the men might be supportive at the beginning of pregnancy and then grow distant with time, both financially and emotionally. All marriage unions observed among the study participants were consensual. Importantly, this evidence applies only to urban Luanda and does not necessarily reflect on the experiences with child marriage and early pregnancy in rural areas. How a pregnancy or a marriage unfolds—or fails to unfold—can put women in difficult situations. The extent to which traditional marriage practices are followed can influence the young woman’s social status and her standing in her partner’s family. In the sample, however, most young women report having experienced unions that skip the traditional stages of formalizing — apresentação and alambamento. Apresentação is when the man and woman present the partner to their respective families, and plans are made to formalize their wedding. Alambamento is a series of rituals to formalize a marriage, including a formal request to her family for the bride’s hand and offerings of goods or money to the bride’s family. These rituals can be very costly for a man, and many young men are unable to afford them. P: It’s pretty expensive... The proposal might even spend less than the wedding, but the wedding...I think, I think about 300 to 400 thousand.... If it’s the proposal and the wedding already, to be something like simple. (Dropout, 21 years old) When male spouses are financially unprepared to take on their new family responsibilities, as is often the case, women may move with their new spouses into their in-laws’ homes. The combination of a rushed marriage and economic dependence on the partner’s family can expose young women to abusive behavior. For example, they may be mistreated in their in-laws’ homes or coerced into taking on most of the care burden in the household. Some women refer to this situation as “becoming a maid” or “becoming a slave.” Financial support by a child’s father is often unreliable—because of unwillingness, unemployment, or inconsistent earnings—prompting women to perform various income-generation activities and seek daily earnings in markets to secure their family’s well-being. Money pressure often drives women to undertake informal jobs, which are associated with lower productivity, earnings, and legal security. Apart from their economic responsibility, many Angolan women bear the burden of single parenting, being the only source of emotional support for their children. Some women in the sample admit that they essentially perform the roles of both parents. P: He never bothered to call to see how they are doing, to know if they ate or if they slept well. It’s sickness, everything, everything is on me. I’m practically a father and mother to my daughters, so he doesn’t help, in terms of the children, he doesn’t help. (PD formerly in technical school, 25 years old) Interviewed women report that, even when men continue to support the child financially, they usually contribute only to expensive items such as medical expenses in 4. Teenage Pregnancies “Happen” to Girls: Structural Constraints and Their Consequences 67 emergencies. In this sample, fathers often had relationships and children with multiple women—and are “spread thin,” as the following participant describes. I: Is he contributing? P: It’s hard.... You have to, to see something from him you have to follow... it tires you sometimes. I: YEAH. And his family doesn’t...? P: No...I have only seen some visits...that he has daughters from other relationships that come to my house, deal with my daughter.... (PD with a stable job, 29 years old) Moreover, the fact that men are largely detached from childcare means that children are deprived of male parents’ emotional support, a crucial element of healthy development. Studies show that supportive and involved fathers have strong positive impacts on children’s emotional and cognitive development. According to international evidence, this lack of support from the fathers can significantly compromise the health and well-being of single mothers. Studies indicate that women who feel supported by their children’s fathers suffer less parenting stress, feel less overburdened, and have higher life satisfaction when compared to single mothers (Swan and Doyle 2019). In addition, a father’s involvement during pregnancy correlates with improved maternal health outcomes, as well as with reductions in infant mortality and postpartum depression (Alio, Mbah, Grunsten, and Salihu 2011; Alio, Mbah, Kornosky, et al. 2011; Comrie-Thompson et al. 2015; Davis, Luchters, and Holmes 2012; Swan and Doyle 2019; Teitler 2001; Yargawa and Leonardi-Bee 2015). In addition to its economic and social consequences, early pregnancy in Angola is associated with the increased incidence of maternal, neonatal and infant morbidity. Global evidence indicates that early pregnancy contributes to higher levels of maternal mortality and childbirth-related complications (Azevedo et al. 2012; Klugman et al. 2014; UNICEF 2008; WHO 2014). As noted earlier in this chapter, in Angola, about 16.5 percent of deaths among women ages 15–19 in Angola are associated with pregnancy- related complications. The rates of neonatal and infant mortality among children born to women by age 20 stand at 29 and 61 deaths per 1,000 live births, respectively. Those rates are higher than among children born to women aged 20–39 but lower than among women aged 40–49.34 4.4. Protective factors that delay early pregnancy Although many drivers contribute to teenage pregnancy in Angola, some factors and contexts help encourage girls to delay pregnancy and family formation. For example, improved knowledge of SRH and contraception can reduce the prevalence rate of unwanted pregnancies. Enabling steady access to health care facilities and FP services is similarly important. At the same time, a special emphasis should be placed on 34 According to data from the Angola 2015–16 Multiple Indicator and Health Survey. 68 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda empowering adolescent girls and young women in exercising their voice and choice and participating in decision-making. Protective factors referred to in interviews with those who delayed pregnancy are norms favoring later family formation to increase chances of prolonged education. As PDs interviewed suggest, many women in the sample expect negative consequences from early pregnancy and marriage for their education and work trajectories. I: And you think like this, at such an age would I want to have my first child? P: I don’t have a certain age, I just want to finish.... I: Finish your studies? P: Yes, finish school. Yes. I: Why do you think that would affect how? How would it affect you? P: It would be difficult because I have an aunt of mine she has a small baby instead of her going to school, she always has to take care of her baby, she can’t (PD in EJA, 16 years old) Despite the persistence of traditional beliefs and considerations about maternity and family formation, some evidence suggests they are changing, at least for some PDs. Many women in the sample realize the negative consequences of early pregnancy and marriage on their education and work trajectories. Young women who dropped out of school because of pregnancies, when discussing their regrets in life, are open about the fact that they would go back in time and undo their pregnancies if they could. Similarly, parents share their disappointment and sadness about daughters who got pregnant early—sometimes grounded in moral reasons but often in explicit fears that their daughters may not complete education and have good work prospects later in life. Very few women admit to having had an abortion, but significantly more say they considered it at some point or know someone who has done it. Interviewees say they considered abortion because they believed they were too young, wanted to finish school, or were afraid of family reactions. For those who actually had an abortion, they referred to “a pill” or traditional medicines as methods they received through friends or acquaintances, without medical accompaniment—putting their lives at risk as in some reported cases. Clandestine abortion services also exist, but they seem to be of bad quality and expensive, also putting lives at risk. Doctors, medical staff, the woman’s family, the child’s father, or his family pressured those considering abortion to keep the baby. Once again, the limitations on women’s agency are manifest. 4.5. Policy considerations Table 4.1 summarizes the key priority interventions for empowering girls and young women to delay early pregnancy in urban Angola. The choice of policy measures is motivated by the feasibility of their implementation in the short-term perspective and the overall positive impact on adolescent fertility reduction. In the short-term perspective, introducing a mandatory socio-educational life skills program at schools that includes SRH topics could go far in enhancing girls’ knowledge on matters related to 4. Teenage Pregnancies “Happen” to Girls: Structural Constraints and Their Consequences 69 pregnancy, contraception and enable them to make informed decisions for themselves. Awareness-raising/ media campaigns to broadcast educational materials related to the SRH and FP topics would similarly promote such knowledge yet to the broader Angolan population (including out of school adolescents, their parents). Efforts should be also undertaken to provide free access to contraception and family planning services, including for adolescent girls and young women regardless of their marital status with a special focus on underserved urban areas. Finally, setting up girls’ clubs/ safe spaces in schools or community centers are valuable investments for the girls’ social empowerment that can effectively translate in the delayed fertility. In addition to the priority policy recommendations, a broader menu of options have been identified to delay early pregnancy in urban Angola. Table 4.2 summarizes the main identified barriers, possible strategic directions, policy recommendations, and interventions for delaying early pregnancy in Angola. The recommendations focus on areas with the most significant gender gaps and barriers as found by the qualitative study. The key areas and interventions described have been selected on the basis of their potential to lead to meaningful changes in the lives of young girls and women, and of likely synergies. Descriptions of the following strategic directions and suggested areas of interventions in this section highlight evidence on what has worked in Sub- Saharan Africa and elsewhere in the world to advance girls’ empowerment and delay early pregnancy. • Improve girls’ knowledge on SRH, FP, and prevention of pregnancy. • Enhance access to SRH facilities and address the shortage of contraception and services. • Empower girls to make informed decisions about pregnancy and family formation. Table 4.2. Strategic areas of intervention to assist girls in Angola in delaying pregnancy and family formation Type of a Barriers identified Policy recommendations measure Strategic direction 1: Improve girls’ knowledge on SRH, FP, and prevention of pregnancy • Introduce timely, comprehensive and age appropriate SRH classes in school No sexual education classes at Short- term covering the information on body anatomy, menstruation, pregnancy, and school contraceptive methods. • Launch awareness-raising campaigns/ media outreach to address traditional beliefs and practices on pregnancy prevention. Short-term • Introduce school- or community-based girls’ clubs with the provision of information on SRH topics. Severe lack of information or misinformation regarding • Work with traditional leaders (sobas) and their wives as the main entry-point in rural contraception communities given their leadership role for entire communities. Medium- term • Launch education/edutainment on SRH/ peer education. • Disseminate knowledge on SRH and contraception among older women so they educate their children. 70 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda Type of a Barriers identified Policy recommendations measure Strategic direction 2: Enhance access to SRH facilities and address the shortage of contraception and services Limited coverage of health Short-term • Ensure the availability of different methods of contraception. care facilities/shortage of contraception Long-term • Expand and improve available health care facilities and relevant infrastructure. Costly and difficult access to • Ensure the free-of-charge provision of contraception for vulnerable youth. Short-term contraception • Provide vouchers or subsidies for accessing SRH and FP services. Lack of adolescent-friendly • Establish youth-friendly clinics and train the health providers on how to work Medium-term SRH services with young people. Strategic direction 3: Empower girls to make informed decisions about pregnancy and family formation Stigmatization of sexual activity • Launch community mobilization programs— especially with the involvement and abstinence promotion/ of sobas and their wives. Medium-term limited girls’ control over the SRH • Introduce adolescent empowerment programs/ girls’ clubs/ safe spaces. Source: Original table developed for this report. Note: FP = family planning; SRH = sexual and reproductive health. Strategic direction 1: Improve girls’ knowledge on SRH, FP, and prevention of pregnancy Introducing timely and comprehensive SRH education in schools is known to reduce the prevalence rate of adolescent fertility. One barrier identified in the study was the insufficiency or lack of SRH education and classes in school, with interviewees pointing to inadequate time devoted to menstruation, condoms discussed as the only contraceptive method, and information presented being overly vague. As a response, Angolan schools should offer SRH-specific classes to students with adequate time and depth devoted to basic reproductive health, contraception methods, and debunking common myths, for instance. Evidence from the region shows the promise of this approach. For example, a teenage pregnancy prevention intervention in South Africa provided 12 weekly lessons using a variety of interactive activities including role plays, small and large group discussions, debates, and viewing of videos made especially for the discussions with students. Results indicated significantly healthier attitudes toward SRH, including intentions to abstain from sex while at school, plans to communicate with partners about teenage pregnancy, and increased reports of condom use (Taylor et al. 2014). In Nigeria, an evaluation of SRH education among adolescents and young people showed a 27-percentage-point increase in the level of knowledge on reproductive health problems and a 14.7-percentage-point increase in the level of knowledge of FP methods (Mba, Obi, and Ozumba 2007). 4. Teenage Pregnancies “Happen” to Girls: Structural Constraints and Their Consequences 71 Beyond schools, awareness-raising campaigns and multimedia outreach can improve the level of SRH knowledge. For several reasons, ranging from dropping out to lack of SRH classes, many girls learn about SRH outside of schools, in discussions with friends and family characterized by fear and rife with misinformation. Bringing factual information to the public may not only raise the level of SRH knowledge but also help combat the taboo on discussions of female sexuality. In Zimbabwe, a multimedia campaign that promoted sexual responsibility among young people while strengthening their access to reproductive health services by training providers has led to an increase in the awareness of contraception methods, visits to a health center, contraceptive use, and continued abstinence (Kim 2001). Similarly, a media campaign in South Africa on sex, HIV, sexuality, and gender relations has delayed early childbearing by 1.2 years on average (Branson and Byker 2018). Delivering SRH information and skills directly to girls and young women through education and edutainment offers another promising approach. The qualitative research suggests that many women had access to information about SRH, information on how to become or avoid becoming pregnant, and longer-term contraceptive methods only after they had already given birth. Direct education and edutainment SRH services are a scalable means of delivering knowledge and combatting misinformation. For example, an intervention in Ghana that sent text messages to selected adolescent girls on the topics of reproductive anatomy, pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, and contraception has strongly improved participants’ SRH knowledge (Rokicki et al. 2017). Likewise, in Cameroon, a regular anti-HIV training, combined with a component on contraception use (video, training session), has reduced the incidence of early pregnancy and increased the use of contraception (Dupas, Huillery, and Seban 2017). Some of the most effective interventions are multicomponent programs that combine, for instance, community mobilization, SRH training, and in-school sexual education. Evidence from the study suggests that the low level of SRH knowledge is a multifaceted problem involving issues of education, social norms and taboos, and misinformation, and therefore calling for multifaceted solutions. Again, experience in the region provides support for this approach. In Tanzania, a multicomponent intervention program on the sexual health of adolescents offered four components: community activities; teacher-led, peer-assisted sexual health education in years 5–7 of primary school; training and supervision of health workers to provide youth-friendly sexual health services; and peer condom social marketing. The intervention had a significant impact on knowledge and reported attitudes, reported sexually transmitted infection symptoms, and several behavioral outcomes (Ross et al. 2007). In Angola, key informants suggested working closely with traditional leaders (sobas) and their wives to ensure broader acceptance in the community. 72 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda Strategic direction 2: Enhance access to SRH facilities, and address the shortage of contraception and services Insufficient access to SRH services and low use of contraception also contribute to high early pregnancy rates in Angola. Limited access to health care is partially explained by the supply side: the documented lack of sufficient health care facilities makes it impossible for some groups of women and girls to access them. Even when health care centers exist, however, many experience shortages of medicine; equipment; water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities; and medical personnel. Thus, key action areas should focus on the expansion of health care–relevant infrastructure and on accessibility. One approach is to expand access to professional SRH services, especially for younger women and girls and those without the financial means to seek distant or private health care. Expanding the availability of services through school-based provision or better- equipped and more available health care centers could help remedy this problem. Global evidence suggests that the provision of school-based health centers has a negative effect on teen birth rates, reducing the birth rate among girls ages 15–18 by 5 percentage points (Lovenheim, Reback, and Wedenoja 2016). In Sub-Saharan Africa, a systematic review of the determinants of adolescent fertility also highlighted the fact that insufficient health care provision and limited access to SRH often drive high rates of early pregnancy. Consequently, provision of health services at schools and health care centers is expected to have a positive impact on reducing adolescent pregnancy (Yakubu and Salisu 2018). Eliminating the costs associated with receiving treatments or consultations in SRH facilities has also proven to increase use of contraception and FP among young women. Participants in the study point to the direct and indirect costs of seeking SRH services as a reason for not using them. One means of reducing this barrier would be to provide vouchers and subsidies for the use of contraception and FP services. For example, in Zambia the use of modern contraception methods has strongly increased among married couples who received vouchers guaranteeing free and immediate access to two long-term modern contraceptive methods—when compared to those who did not receive vouchers (Ashraf et al. 2014). Similarly, in Kenya the number of FP clients increased significantly a year after the introduction of the free vouchers for family planning services (Janisch et al. 2010). Providing contraceptives directly to vulnerable young people ad informing them about their use offers another way of ameliorating the costs of SRH services. Interviewees in the study report having limited choices in contraceptive methods and often have to accept whatever is locally available. Some do not know where to acquire contraception at all. Based on Demographic and Health Survey data from 34 developing countries, increasing contraceptive prevalence has already reduced adolescent fertility by 6.8 percentage points in Latin America and 4.1 percentage points in Sub-Saharan 4. Teenage Pregnancies “Happen” to Girls: Structural Constraints and Their Consequences 73 Africa. Meeting the total demand for contraceptives of unmarried adolescents in the two regions would lead to an additional decrease in adolescent fertility of 8.9 percentage points and 17.4 percentage points, respectively (Sánchez-Páez and Ortega 2018). And, according to data from the Demographic and Health Survey in Kenya, the use of contraception decreased fertility among adolescents by 25 percentage points (Monari, Orwa, and Agwanda 2012). In addition to supply-side factors, low access to SRH services is driven by the demand side. Overall, girls and young women report low trust in the professional health care system, high associated costs of treatment and contraception, and, in some cases, limited mobility and decision-making to visit a doctor. Moreover, even if health care services are available and accessible, they might target only adult or married women, thus further constraining girls’ ability to use them. Under such circumstances, priority interventions should focus on creating youth-friendly SRH services and eliminating gender-specific barriers that adolescent girls and young women encounter when accessing them. One approach is to establish youth-friendly SRH services that cater to the needs of adolescents and young women. According to the qualitative research, most SRH services are available only to women who already have children. Furthermore, the preponderance of male gynecologists at public hospitals and the need to sometimes obtain a partner’s or spouse’s permission to access SRH services contribute to young women’s hesitancy to seek care. In Uganda, the provision of youth-friendly services through Youth Corners strongly increased the use of SRH services among youth. Youth Corners—which delivered information, counseling, FP product distribution, testing, and treatment for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections—were found to positively affect the use of condoms and other contraception methods among young people (Asingwire et al. 2019). Likewise, an intervention in Botswana aimed to persuade adolescents that reproductive health services were for them and not just for adults. Providers were trained to be youth-friendly, and a mass media campaign used radio messages and peer educators. A significantly higher likelihood of having taken any measure to protect against pregnancy was reported was reported after the intervention than at baseline. Women’s perceptions of the level of risk involved in sexual activity and of the benefits of preventive measures increased in the intervention site, as did their contraceptive use (Agha 2002). As with low levels of SRH knowledge, limited access to SRH services is a multifaceted problem, and multicomponent interventions may be appropriate. An effective intervention may need to address supply-side, demand-side, and informational factors. Such an intervention might, for instance, include the provision of contraception, education initiatives, media outreach, and community mobilization. Programs along these lines have proven effective elsewhere in the region. A complex intervention in Tanzania, which combined community-based condom distribution for and by youth with in-school SRH education has delivered positive impacts on the participants’ knowledge about pregnancy prevention and use of contraception (Doyle et al. 2011). Similarly, in Cameroon, an intervention that included peer education, youth clubs, mass 74 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda media advertising, and the distribution of informational and educational materials led to significant positive impacts on the perceived benefits of engaging in various protective behaviors (Agha 2002). Moreover, in Ghana and Nigeria, an intervention worked with nine youth service organizations to develop peer-based programs in secondary schools, postsecondary schools, and out-of-school sites; used peer educators for individual and group counseling; and used drama to engage communities. Five out of nine programs distributed condoms and referrals for other contraceptives. As a result, the use of modern contraception by in-school youth was estimated at 62.1 percent for the intervention group versus 45.8 percent for the control group (Brieger et al. 2001). Strategic direction 3: Empower girls to make informed decisions about pregnancy and family formation Finally, girls’ lack of agency and bargaining power constitute yet another challenge that drives the high incidence rate of early pregnancy in Angola. Based on the evidence from the individual interviews, many young women appear to have limited voice in pregnancy-related decisions and early family formation. In this context, empowering young women to exercise their agency and choice can be a significant protective factor to delay early pregnancy. One proven method of increasing girls’ agency over SRH decisions is through adolescent empowerment programs. Many interviewees reported that their decisions about being in a relationship, using contraception, and having and raising children were functionally family decisions, with significant input from their parents and those of their partner, or were simply left to fate. Empowering girls to have more control over their lives could lead to benefits including—but certainly not limited to—reducing early pregnancy, as evidenced by interventions elsewhere in the region. The Girl Empower program (GE), for instance, delivered a life skills curriculum to girls ages 13–14 in Liberia, facilitated by local female mentors, which covered sense of self, feelings and emotions, social networks, protection and safety, financial literacy, reproductive health, leadership and empowerment, and setting life goals. In the GE+ variation, a cash incentive payment was offered to caregivers for girls’ participation in the program. Both GE and GE+ caused significant improvements in SRH knowledge and gender attitudes among participants, compared to those in the control group (Özler et al. 2020). Similarly, the Empowerment and Livelihood for Adolescents (ELA) program in Uganda offered adolescent girls vocational and life skills trainings, and a safe space to meet and socialize with other adolescent girls. Participation in the ELA program increased the ability of adolescent girls to mitigate some of the risks associated with transactional sex, increased their awareness of SRH and contraception use, and reduced the probability of having a child (Bandiera et al. 2020). The same intervention in Sierra Leone has decreased teenage pregnancies outside of wedlock by 7.5 percentage points (Bandiera et al. 2018). Growing evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa shows that community mobilization programs are effective in facilitating a positive social norm change. Many such programs directly contribute to reducing early pregnancy and child marriage rates (Diop et al. 4. Teenage Pregnancies “Happen” to Girls: Structural Constraints and Their Consequences 75 2004; Erulkar and Muthengi 2009). At the same time, these programs help reduce stigma around the discussion of taboo subjects, such as pregnancy, sexuality, contraception, and family planning. Participants in the Angola study suggest that these social norms and taboos are linked to other barriers, including limited SRH knowledge and the demand for SRH products and services. Evidence from the Berhane Hewan program in Ethiopia, however, suggests that community engagement can help combat these norms. That intervention was a two-year pilot project conducted in 2004–06 that aimed to reduce the prevalence of child marriage in rural Ethiopia through a combination of group formation, support for girls to remain in school, and community awareness. Among other impacts, the program increased the awareness of SRH and the frequency of discussions about SRH topics among adolescent girls and young women (Erulkar and Muthengi 2009). 76 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda 5. Informal Trading: A Necessity for Vulnerable Women Amidst Limited Infrastructure and a Challenging Job Market L imited education and early onset of family formation adversely affect women’s economic opportunities, feeding into worse outcomes for women in the labor market. Though women’s labor force participation is high in Angola (74 percent in 2021), monthly median earnings were almost twice as high for men as for women, 46,500 Angolan kwanzas (about US$93) vs. 26,600 kwanzas (about US$52), and women are disproportionately represented in vulnerable employment (defined as own-account workers and unpaid family workers) – 86.3 percent compared to 66.9 percent for men.35 Despite higher education levels than older generations, young women face a particular scarcity of good employment options. In the urban sector, they face particularly high unemployment rates: 49.8 percent for women ages 15–24 compared to 51.4 percent for the same cohort of men.36 As a result of a lack of jobs, many turn to informal own-account activities to make a living: 60.2 percent of employed women in urban areas work in the informal own-account services sector, with activities in commerce accounting for 28.5 percent of all urban female employment. This chapter aims to deepen the knowledge of challenges facing low-skilled women working in the informal sector by focusing on a particular group of own-account workers - informal street vendors. This predominantly female occupation is particularly important for urban women who did not finish a secondary degree, accounting for 58.6 percent of employment of this group. Based on interviews with women traders – both zungueiras (walking sellers) and those with fixed stalls (vendedoras), this chapter identifies push and pull factors into informality as well as entry points to better support low-income working women in urban Angola. 5.1. Context Street vending is a vulnerable occupation which nonetheless represents one of the most accessible employment opportunities for lower skilled Angolan women.37 Nationally, female street vendors are overrepresented in the top 3 wealth quintiles of the population with more than one in five in the top wealth quintile of the population (Figure 11). Yet, in Luanda, a city with lower poverty rates and higher income levels, they are overrepresented among the poorest. Nearly half (47.9 percent) are in the poorest 2 wealth quintiles of the city’s population while only about one in ten is in the top quintile. 35 World Bank estimates based on IEA 2021. Incomes are CPI adjusted to January 2023. 36 Angola uses the broad definition of unemployment, which is based on being available to work, but not limited to those who are actively seeking employment. 37 The country’s legal framework recognizes the right to engage in entrepreneurial and cooperative initiatives (Art. 38 of the Fundamental Law), but it is not clear to what extent the law extends protections to informal trade activities. Street trading requires an application and fee (Law No. 10/87), which many street vendors do not obtain. It remains uncertain whether this law can effectively contribute to protecting the rights of women informal traders. 78 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda Figure 11 – Income distribution of female street vendors by income quintiles, Luanda and national a. National b. Luanda 28.3% 25.6% 26.9% 23.7% 21.0% 21.0% 19.7% 16.6% 11.6% 5.7% Poorest 2 3 4 Richest Poorest 2 3 4 Richest Source: World Bank estimates based on IDREA 2018-2019. Figure 12 – Poverty incidence of Zungueiras and Vendedoras: Nationally and in Luanda 15.0% 13.5% 11.6% 7.9% National Luanda Vendedoras Zungueiras Source: World Bank estimates based on IDREA 2018-2019. There are two types of women traders included in this study – those with fixed stalls (referred to as vendedoras)38 and walking sellers who use head-loading to carry their goods (zunguierias). Zungueiras account for about 29 percent of female street vendors in Angola.39 They sell inside markets, at market doors, or walking around on the streets. Vendedoras account for 71 percent of women street vendors nationally. Nationally, 38 In this context, “fixed stall” means that vendedoras occupy a certain spot on the market at a given moment and do not have to walk around like zungueiras. The “fixed” does not mean that they have the same spot every day. 39 Authors’ estimates based IDREA 2018-2019. 5. Informal Trading: A Necessity for Vulnerable Women Amidst Limited Infrastructure and a Challenging Job Market 79 these two groups of women have similar poverty rates: 15 percent of zungeiras and 13.5 percent of vendedoras lived under the poverty line in 2018. In Luanda, poverty rates of zungueiras, at 11.6 percent, was marginally higher than the vendedoras (7.9 percent). In this research sample, zungueiras tended to be less educated, younger, and often single mothers while vendedoras were often older, more educated, and had spouses. A third type of female traders referred to in the study is the patroa (Portuguese for “boss,” who is a more established woman trader), from whom both vendedoras and zungueiras usually obtain their merchandise on credit, to be sold and repaid within a certain amount of time (Box 3). Box 3. Zungueiras’ working arrangements and earnings Zungueiras receive items for selling through several channels. The less established zungueiras usually have a “patroa” who provides them with the goods to resell. Various arrangements can be made, but the most prevailing one is where the patroa delivers a certain amount of goods to zungueiras daily on credit (“dar de kilape”). The latter must then pay the patroa back the following day for all the goods they delivered the previous day, regardless of whether they made the sale. Another option is receiving items from vendedoras. Vendedoras can make a special price for zungueiras, often a 30-percentage-point discount. Zungueiras usually try to form stable relations with the same vendedoras, which they can then also call on in times of need. Some zungueiras in the sample also obtained products for sale from stores located outside of the market. Although unstable working arrangements and the lack of book-keeping make it difficult to estimate monthly earnings based on the interviews data, responses suggest that zungueiras can make about 1,000 kwanzas (US$2) daily when working with a patroa. In some cases, experienced zungueiras can earn more than vendedoras. From those profits, they will reinvest about half into their business and related expenses (e.g., storage, refrigeration, and transport expenses). Some will also make their contribution to the kixikila (informal savings groups). However, zungueiras can also make losses on any given day due to the lack of sales and price fluctuations. Recent labor market data further substantiates this qualitative data: In 2021, monthly median earnings of zungueiras stood at 23,400 kwanzas (US$46) and at 35,200 kwanzas (US$70) for vendedoras.40 Whether women start as a zungueira or as a vendedora depends in part on their networks, their start-up capital, and the local availability of spots in markets. Daughters of vendedoras, on the other hand, are likely to enter as vendedoras themselves and speak with pride about their activities. From the interviews conducted in this study, in the zunga (informal market trading) one can make money faster by going directly to the customer and avoiding market fees. This is largely aligned with national results from the 2021 labor force survey, which reports that the most frequently stated reasons why street vendors worked as zungueiras were because: first, they do not have a space on the market (43 percent); second, the daily fees to work in the market are too high 40 World Bank estimates based on IEA 2021. 80 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda (26 percent); and third, there is no market nearby (20 percent). Other responses included “there are few customers on the market,” that they work in the street “by choice”, and that “one can make more money in the street”. These answers indicate that, for many, the cost-benefit analysis of higher fees of the market result in them opting to sell on the street. At the same time, they made clear the hardships faced in this line of work: 36 percent of zungueiras stated that the daily walking of long distances needed for the zunga is very challenging, 45 percent feared either abusive market administrators or the police, and 14 percent reported to be short on money to run their business. The markets are large often publicly owned through privately-managed physical structures in the form of sheds with partial roof coverage. They typically offer very poor- quality infrastructure, often lacking water and sanitation facilities and trash collection systems. These are overwhelmingly female spaces, with selling widely seen as a female activity. Although men are found in the market, they are typically transporting goods, or performing different jobs. The market administrators (the fiscais) are men who are considered powerful and are feared by both zungueiras and vendedoras due to the potential of abusive behavior. As their businesses grow, some women move away from selling for a patroa to owning their own business. A woman is said to own her business (dona do negócio) when she has sufficient capital to buy goods for resale. The study reveals a progression in a woman’s “career” as a trader: they tend to start their selling activities with food items that do not require much initial capital or handling costs, and which they can eat in case they do not sell (for example, bananas, popcorn, or bread). They later move on to items that require more logistics or handling costs (for example, water, soda, or beer, which must be refrigerated). Further progression may incorporate items that require substantial capital because they must be bought wholesale (for example, clothes— specifically fardo, secondhand clothes imported from other countries—fabrics, and beers). Vendedoras can increase their profits substantially if they have a means of transportation (such as a car or a husband who drives) or if they have relationships with farmers in other provinces or large-scale supplier farms, which allow them to buy directly at a lower price. The path to success from an inexperienced zungueira to a well- established “dona do negócio” is difficult, but not completely impossible. 5.2. How do women enter the world of trading? Young women often attend markets very early in their lives, when they may come to help their mothers or other women in their families. Students are not spared, and some girls start helping their mothers at the market as early as the age of seven. The frequency varies by household: some girls may come only in specific situations (for example, when the mother is sick or needs to travel to buy goods), whereas others come consistently to help their mother sell, which is often seen as the responsibility of girls in the family. Through this process, adult women start teaching young women in their families how to sell and how to manage business and market dynamics from a young age. 5. Informal Trading: A Necessity for Vulnerable Women Amidst Limited Infrastructure and a Challenging Job Market 81 P: Mom got us used to it.... I’ve been zungueira since I was a kid. (Zungueira, 21 years old) Interview participants and their families consider this early start to working as largely standard. “My father thought it was a normal thing,” reports a 25-year-old dropout who is currently not working. Child labor is largely normalized and almost taken for granted—to the point that many participants do not see selling in the market as work, even those who themselves engage in selling. Women explain including their children in their market activities from a protective perspective: zungueiras see selling as an activity their children can fall back on if they fail to find a job as an adult. Selling is also considered a tool to help women be independent early on, something that mothers or grandmothers make explicit when teaching girls how to sell. Several state that they view selling as a means of protecting young women from falling into dependence on a man. P: She [mother] always says that a woman has to earn everything in life, she can’t expect it from a man because she will never excel. So, she would bring me in the market, teach me how to organize things, how to be a saleswoman...Teach me how a woman should start to excel in life not just hoping to have a lot of money through school, but by working as well. (Dropout working as a saleswoman, 18 years old) At the same time, participants highlight necessity as one of the main the reasons to start selling. Particularly for zungueiras, the need to buy food and help support their families is the key driver for starting to work in markets, with the birth of a child or other family shock acting as an important trigger. Some zungueiras or vendedoras might have worked in other jobs, mostly domestic workers or nannies, earlier in their lives, but discuss them in a negative light: they often received little pay, experienced mistreatment, worked long hours, had no rights, and even encountered cases of verbal or physical abuse. I: Is there anything good about being a zungueira? Is there? P: No. I: Isn’t there anything? P: There is through the money we get for the children, that’s all that makes me sell. (Zungueira, previously a domestic worker, 25 years old) While street vending indeed can offer some benefits for vulnerable women and can be deliberately chosen by them as their main occupation, becoming a zungueira is rarely the best possible option. As mentioned earlier, most women choose this profession due to the lack of means (e.g., financial, social, alternative job prospects, etc.) and out of necessity. The lack of job opportunities restricts men, as it does women, to informal employment; they often rely on biscates (informal daily jobs in construction, bricklayers, or transportation of goods), with inconsistent earning opportunities. Markets, which present a fallback option for vulnerable women, do not offer a similar solution for men. Selling is considered a female activity, although this mindset is changing. 82 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda I: Does dad help you sell? P: No, my father [interviewee laughs] No, my father never, he’s very.... I: Why, why never? P: I don’t know, maybe because, because he grew up, he lived a good part of his life in the military. I: Ahhh.... P: He went with, at 12 years old he was captured, he stayed there until he was in his 20s, so there’s that macho thing, man can’t do that.... I: Can’t what, help me understand that? P: He can’t sell. I: But why can’t men sell? P: Something, it’s not very...some parents were brought up that way or created that personality in their heads and don’t accept it…. It’s like this, many men, in the old days, the men here were very macho. For them men can’t wash dishes, can’t sell, can’t do these things, but our country has changed a lot, everything has become very complicated and difficult and today men already sell, but my father doesn’t accept [I: Ah], he prefers to stay there than go sell. (PD with a stable job, 29 years old) 5.3. Barriers facing women traders Women traders in Angola encounter numerous challenges that negatively affect their market work experience, productivity, and earnings. Women can easily sustain a loss on any given day because of multiple barriers. Interviewees constantly refer to this characteristic of their job, saying that they never knew whether they would “win” or “lose” on any given day. P: To be in the market is to know how to win and lose. (Saleswoman, 26 years old) All barriers identified through the interviews can be classified in the following groups: (1) lack of means; (2) vulnerability to risks and planning uncertainty; (3) infrastructure- and market-related barriers; (4) time use barriers; and (5) lack of alternative options (figure 13). This section presents a detailed overview of all identified barriers and challenges. Zungueiras, even more than vendedoras, face a multitude of difficulties in their profession. First and foremost, they often start selling out of necessity. Financially, they are extremely constrained and lack the necessary capital to invest in and grow their businesses or even to sustain cash flow. The lack of money to invest affects their businesses, especially because they have no access to finance other than through kixikilas (informal savings groups).41 “You have to have money,” says a 25-year-old dropout who works as a zungueira 41 A kixikila is a type of an informal self-organized women’s saving group. Evidence shows different types of kixikila. Commonly, women form groups of 6 to 10. Each woman pays about 200–1,000 kwanza daily for a week, and then the entire amount will be awarded to a woman in this group at the end of each week. Each week a new member of the group is selected to receive the fund. 5. Informal Trading: A Necessity for Vulnerable Women Amidst Limited Infrastructure and a Challenging Job Market 83 Figure 13. Overview of barriers facing women informal traders in Angola Vulnerability to Infrastructure- Lack of Lack of means risks and planning and market- Time use barriers alternative uncertainty related barriers options Fluctuating level Lack of market Lack of Financial constraints Domestic work alternative jobs of demand infrastructure Discrimination Inability to make Exposure to violence No banks near Childcare in job selection investments and robberies the markets Nontransparency Lack of knowledge Low profits and of recruitment inability to save Lack / high costs of criteria and skills transportation Abuse by market administrators Limited access to a bank and savings account Source: Original figure developed for this report. Note: Fiscais are market administrators (usually men). after having been a domestic worker. The lack of capital to scale or even sustain their activities leads to ad hoc strategies and limited ability to plan, which reduces potential productivity and increases the risks of loss and debt. The most vulnerable zungueiras say they might not eat when they have a loss in the market. Lack of means also implies that zungueiras have limited social capital. They have fewer connections to influential people who, in their view, are needed to help them access better opportunities, better positioning in the market and protection from abuse, or even a job outside the zunga. The dominant perception among most zungueiras is that someone else needs to change their fate, because they are incapable of doing so. On-site observations indicate that markets offer poor working conditions and have very limited infrastructure. Both markets from which interviewees were recruited lacked water and sanitation facilities and had no trash collection system in place. An unreliable network of transportation might also mean that they must walk long distances back home, with significant implications for their health and safety. Zungueiras are particularly disadvantaged in this regard because they might spend their days walking long distances without a chance to rest. In addition, the lack of mobile money combined with a lack of banks or ATMs near the markets means that women carry cash while commuting to and from the market, putting them at additional risk of crime. 84 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda In addition to those infrastructural limitations, abusive treatment by market administrators deeply affects women’s day-to-day trade activities. Although women sellers pay to conduct their work in the market, this payment does not seem to give them any voice to express concerns and demands to market management. On the contrary, many sellers fear market staff and experience abusive behaviors from them. Zungueiras repeatedly mention abusive treatment by the administrators. When zungueiras do not pay the daily fees, administrators may confiscate, damage, or even destroy their goods— making the women lose several days of profit, forcing them to take credit, or throwing them out of the business completely. When administrators confiscate goods, they do not always return them upon payment of the fees. Vendedoras receive better treatment from market supervisors in comparison to zungueiras. Interviewees often state “Os fiscais dão corrida”(“Market administrators chase you”), referring to persecution, poor treatment, and even physical violence. The following interviewee describes daily scenes at the market as follows: P: Being a saleswoman, zungueira is a very, very difficult thing, because you when you are selling and you are selling in an inappropriate place, when the administrator comes to you to get you to get the stuff out of there, because I sold soda, I sold with my daughter, first one was still little, I sold with her on my back and they are chasing you, the stuff falls, you go talk to the owner of the product herself, you will explain to her that today the administrators chased us and the soda fell, it broke, even if you go back to the place, she will say that she doesn’t care, you will have to pay, how are you going to come and say that they chased you and the things broke, you will have to pay, I will deduct it from your pay and you have to accept it because you have no other option, so I think that the hardest thing is to be a zungueira, it’s not easy, it’s not easy at all. (Saleswoman, 35 years old) High levels of community violence and robberies within the market further also put women at risk and increase their overall vulnerability. In fact, the risk of robbery appears as a core challenge in the daily lives of women traders. Both zungueiras and vendedoras admit that they fear returning home because criminals know they carry cash, and often get target and rob them. In general, because they are walking constantly, zungueiras are even more exposed to street violence and accidents than vendedoras. Although some initiatives exist to support them, women know very little or sometimes nothing at all about those programs and efforts, their content, access criteria, and so on (Box 4). On the one hand, programs seem not to reach their target population. On the other hand, women seem to be generally very cautious with respect to such programs and lack overall trust. They most commonly cite concerns regarding general mistrust in official programs, lack of transparency of selection criteria, fear of becoming indebted, and lack of knowledge. 5. Informal Trading: A Necessity for Vulnerable Women Amidst Limited Infrastructure and a Challenging Job Market 85 Box 4. Limited public support for informal traders Although the Constitution of Angola of 2010 recognizes the citizen’s right for social protection by the state, it has no explicit provisions to support informal workers. Theoretically, certain social protections can be granted to women informal traders under Law No. 7/04, of October 15, 2004 (Lei de Bases da Protecção Social), which, among others, recognizes the need to provide social protection to women in disadvantaged situations, the unemployed, and those at the risk of marginalization. Instead, most social protection initiatives targeting women informal traders are provided through stand-alone programs and private interventions. For example, in 2017 the 1st National Symposium on Zungueira Women had the objective to analyze barriers and find solutions to improve working conditions of zungueiras through a multistakeholder approach (Felix 2020).42 Most recently, the Government of the Republic of Angola has designed the Program for the Recovery of the Informal Economy (PREI) within the scope of the National Development Plan (PDN) 2018-2022 with the aim to promote the transition from informal to formal economy in the country. PREI’s main objective is the protection of all economic agents in Angola, e.g., all individuals who are working without registration or social protection and usually with the low salaries. The program offers assistance with business formalization. Participants can opt for a simplified format (issuance of a tax number and a permission card for the street vending) or a composite one (formal registration of a commercial company). The participation in the program is free of charge. The formalization campaign was held on informal markets from November 2021 to July 2022 in cooperation with multiple stakeholders.43 Evidence from the interviews shows that women informal traders in Angola are reluctant to formalize their businesses, having concerns regarding the benefits and value of registration. Likewise, women tend to display a high level of mistrust toward governmental support programs, partially due to the lack of information about their functioning but also due to the concerns about lack of transparency and bias in the selection procedure. For example, even though there was a stand of the PREI program in the market during the data collection, interviewed women expressed little interest to apply to it. Business formalization, a key public initiative targeting microenterprises including zungueiras and vendedoras, does not seem to particularly interest or engage them as it is not clear to them what benefits may come of becoming formalized. Vendedoras and zungueiras expressed skepticism and concern regarding this initiative, lacking a clear idea of what benefits and costs registration would imply. Instead, these women expressed interest in initiatives to enhance their businesses, from improved business 42 This initiative was coordinated by the Observatory for Women’s Rights (structure integrated by the Angolan Women’s Club of Legal Careers and the Women in Action Platform) and the Installation Committee of the Forum of Support for Zungueira Women. 43 More information at the official website: https://prei.ao/sobre-o-prei/ 86 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda planning, and from entrepreneurship skills training. The interviewees also mentioned that they would prefer, as a first step, access to finance to make their businesses overall more sustainable and resilient. Additionally, zungueiras lack information about how to navigate the procedure of business registration and dealing with bureaucracy can demotivate some women traders from formalizing their trade activities. The interviewees describe excessive bureaucracy as one of the significant barriers to business registration. For example, a 35-year-old vendedora describes it in the following manner: “They were giving me a lot of turns.” She obtained confusing information about where she had to go, then she had to face long lines and high transportation costs, at the risk of making a loss in her business, and, in the end, she did not even receive a consultation. Women traders also lack information on how to plan a business, which might be a significant constraint to the operation of the business after its registration. Weak business planning and limited financial literacy add to this complication. Most women do not seem to keep track of their expenses, costs, and profits systematically, or to account for their gains in larger time frames (say, weeks or months). Most take their business and accounting day by day. “It’s hard to make an estimate,” says a 30-year- old vendedora. From their profits, they reinvest about half into buying more goods or covering market, storage, refrigeration, and transportation expenses. Some also save by making a contribution to their kixikila44. Women traders report a very high domestic burden on their time. Despite sometimes being the main earner in the household, women are expected to take care of all household chores and provide care for children, the elderly, and sick family members. This pattern starts early in life and continues throughout most women’s lives. In addition, they are often the main breadwinners because their partners are unemployed and often rely on small irregular jobs. The combination of domestic work, childcare, and working in the market creates exceptionally heavy and intense daily routines for women with long overall hours of work. P: It’s not easy, it adds yes, you have to get out there, organize things, do everything, I have a little baby, ya.... Yeah, it’s very hard. Usually, I have a neighbor next door, ya, sometimes she stays with him. When my baby comes, she takes him and stays at home with him. Like it or not there are two children, there are times that I leave here very late, I leave here until I get.... Being a mother.... How do I put it? Being a wife and working, honestly, it is not really easy, no, especially our market stall work is even more complicated. (Saleswoman, 30 years old) Even in families in which the father is present, mothers tend to perform all housework and care duties. Although some men participate in household and care activities, they 44 A kixikila is a type of an informal self-organized women’s saving group. Evidence shows different types of kixikila. Commonly, women form groups of 6 to 10. Each woman pays about 200–1,000 kwanza daily for a week, and then the entire amount will be awarded to a woman in this group at the end of each week. Each week a new member of the group is selected to receive the fund. 5. Informal Trading: A Necessity for Vulnerable Women Amidst Limited Infrastructure and a Challenging Job Market 87 seem to be exceptions and to limit their participation to specific tasks—housework is mainly reserved for the women in the household. Even when men and boys do not have fixed jobs, they do not contribute to domestic chores on the days they stay home. Global studies show that men’s involvement in care and housework is associated with more egalitarian gender norms, positive attitudes toward women’s employment, and lower rates of intimate partner violence (Ashburn et al. 2017; Brandth and Kvande 2017; McClain 2011). Some women themselves dislike the idea of men’s participation in household chores, which might be related to prevailing social norms. The tendency of women to internalize negative gender norms in order to comply with the socially expected and accepted patterns of behavior may partially explain this attitude (Ford et al. 2002). Likewise, it can be seen as a natural response and protective strategy in a patriarchal society that denies many women the ability to fully express their agency (Rahmani 2020). I: What do you do, what does your husband do, how is this division at home? P: We divide the work. I, being a woman, it is my duty to take care of the house, I can’t expect my husband, he is a man, no? I can’t expect him because it is my right, it is my right, so I do my duties at home, as a woman should do: wash clothes, cook, iron, tidy the house, always keep the house clean, for our own good, for our health, always keep the house clean. (Saleswoman, 32 years old) Men’s role in the family is usually limited to that of breadwinner, even when women also contribute to the household income or are actually the main earners. Strict division of gender roles in the household can present negative consequences in other dimensions, such as decision-making and risks of domestic violence. Global studies indicate that positive parental relationships and involvement of men in childcare and housework offer the potential to interrupt the intergenerational transmission of domestic violence (Kato-Wallace et al. 2014; Van der Gaag et al. 2019). Interestingly, women do not frequently mention the lack of childcare support as a barrier to work, likely because these alternatives do not exist. Instead, the work activities of vendedoras and zungueiras are treated as if compatible with childcare: many women simply bring their babies to the market. 5.4. Supportive factors for sustaining and growing businesses Interviewees identified a few factors that support them in growing and sustaining their businesses: informal networks with other women, access to finance, and feelings of pride and joy arising from their work. P: Today I am a battling woman, I don’t depend on anyone. (Zungueira, 31 years old) P: Selling is the sympathy, selling is strategy…. It’s a lot of love for the profession. (Saleswoman, 30 years old) 88 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda P: Being a saleswoman, look it’s not easy. It’s a warrior woman, a battler. (Saleswoman, 30 years old) P: Being a salesperson is knowing how to do it, knowing the business. (Saleswoman, 32 years old) Many women say being a vendedora, in particular, is a good option: they are proud of what they do and enjoy their work because they are their own boss and feel independent. In general, work is meaningful to the young women research participants because it provides them with a way to support others and gives them a sense of self-reliance. Several interviewees mention access to finance as the most important game changer because many of the challenges they face are rooted in the lack of resources and the vulnerability arising from it. For example, having started with more capital or having another income stream in the household was the main factor of resilience, according to the interviews. “Alguém lhes ajudava” (“Someone helped”) was a common refrain: some have financial support from their friends, family, acquaintances, or partners. They use this capital to grow their businesses, acquire more and better goods, or sell at better locations. Women traders share a common perception that, if someone is doing better than others, that person probably received financial support from personal networks. Some interviewees report that having a husband who is involved helps significantly to strengthen social networks of women. Several women in the sample say that they got a job or managed to sustain their business because of their husbands’ involvement (either through direct work involvement or connections to employers). For example, one interviewee says she currently works on the cleaning staff in a public high school (a public sector job) and that her husband helped her access this opportunity. Another woman has a business selling beer wholesale, which she manages with her husband. Although women perceive a new partner as an opportunity to have additional financial support, they also emphasize that they see accepting money and financial support from those partners as a first step toward dependence on a man. P: And it hit me that urge like, it was last month where I started thinking that I would need to put money together. I even thought no, instead of ... I already had another, easier method, which would be for me to ask my boyfriend to pay for school. He could pay, but only my pride in the case, because a man is always a man, there will come a time when we go together. He will say – ah, if it wasn’t for me, like paying for your school, you would be nobody. And I don’t want to owe anybody anything. (Zungueira, 19 years old) At the same time, study participants voiced skepticism about access to credit initiatives. They greatly fear indebting themselves and not being able to pay back their loans. Often, this fear comes from having witnessed the experiences of other colleagues in the market. P: Not for me.... I won’t handle...having that responsibility. (PD in EJA, who works as a saleswoman, 18 years old) 5. Informal Trading: A Necessity for Vulnerable Women Amidst Limited Infrastructure and a Challenging Job Market 89 Finally, probably the strongest support interviewees mention comes from informal women’s support networks. Those can provide access to finance through kixikilas, self-organized savings groups of 6 to 10 women that help women deal with market fluctuations. Each woman pays about 200–1,000 kwanza (US$0.40–2.30) daily for a week, and then the group awards the entire amount to a woman in the group at the end of each week on a rotating basis. Women can use the money they get from kixikilas to pay off loans, pay their rent, and start new or scale up existing businesses. Interviewees also referred to more ad hoc forms of mutual support among women traders. For example, vendedoras sometimes help zungueiras who run out of business by providing goods on credit, and women sometimes sell for each other when business is slow. Beyond access to finance, these informal networks help improve women’s situation in general by sharing information, knowledge, and skills or by providing mutual emotional support. Usually more experienced women (for example, mothers, relatives, or other women in the market) share their wisdom about sales activities with younger women. As evidenced in this study, participants in the informal economy often cannot access state social protection and, instead, may resort to collective organizations based on the informal sector itself.45 5.5. Valuing the informal The zunga is the fallback option in times of necessity. Women choose to work in the market when they urgently need money and cannot secure another job option. Some women start selling because they lost their job and could not find a new one – even women in the study sample who held a University degree were affected by this difficulty. Married women may start selling in markets when their spouse loses his job or does not have a reliable income. Working in the market thus provides a form of a safety net for vulnerable young women in Angola, providing a space for when they cannot find alternative work. Because of the scarcity and precariousness of private sector wage jobs, women often think only of public sector jobs when asked about jobs. Passing a concurso (public competition) and securing a stable governmental job is an aspiration, or rather an unrealistic dream, of many women. In the absence of other opportunities, working in the market remains the only feasible option. The generalized scarcity of job opportunities and women’s limited sense of agency or control with regard to accessing those jobs pose significant difficulties for them. It is quite noteworthy that most interviewees speak about alternative jobs as something that may or may not appear. This passivity aligns with the way they speak about their 45 Riisgaard, Mitullah, and Torm (2022) showcase for several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa how people in the absence of formal social protection mechanisms that reach informal workers depend on other means of protection and cushioning against risks and vulnerabilities, including different forms of collective self-organizing that provide alternative forms of social protection. 90 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda aspirations: vaguely formulated and without clear measures for taking control over the implementation of those aspirations. I: Uh-huh. And so, these things that you chose to sell, why did you choose to sell instead of doing something else? What made you choose to sell? P: Because work doesn’t come along. I: Uhum, and do you think that work doesn’t come up for you or work doesn’t come up for everyone? P: For me. I: And why do you think that for you work doesn’t appear? P: Um, I don’t know. (Zungueira, 21 years old) Overall, the scarcity and poor quality of alternative jobs available for low-income women in Luanda means that few pull factors exist to move them out of the zunga. There are too few jobs for too many applicants and the limited skills of these women do not make them very competitive on the labor market. Many stable jobs require the completion of at least the first cycle of secondary school. Beyond their lack of qualifications and work experience, many young women from low-income households also lack referral networks, which are just as important in the job search process.46 Women commonly have two pathways for getting a job: either by knowing somebody with decision-making ability and power to offer a job (padrinho na cozinha) or by paying bribes (gasosa). As noted earlier even this system doesn’t always work out: women paying for such help often become victims of scams. P: How do you get a job? It’s someone who has a “padrinho na cozinha” (a godfather in the kitchen). If you don’t have a padrinho like that, sometimes people pay cash to get the job and they get scammed. (Dropout who is currently not working, 23 years old) For women in particular, the “bribe” may take the form of transactional sex, as several study participants testified. I: And for all these things that you want, right? Do you see any impediments to these things happening? P: I don’t see any impediments. The only thing that’s in the difficulty is really getting a job around here.... Now, you can hardly get a job without having someone on the inside. It’s not easy anymore. Now, to get a job you have to have a friend there, a cousin.... Especially us girls, to find a job is difficult, because when... I always go for an interview, especially if it’s a 46 Global evidence shows that nonpoor households are more likely than poor ones to grow their social capital, meaning that poor girls in Angola might encounter additional challenges in accessing jobs because they lack social connections and networks. Studies indicate that access to social capital and networks is positively correlated with household income, welfare, per capita expenditure, and better access to credit (Grootaert, Oh, and Swamy 2002; Hassan and Birungi 2011). On the contrary, low income and welfare status of the household prevents investments into group participation and formation of social networks and relationships. Therefore, accumulating social capital can be an effective strategy to alleviate households’ poverty at large, based on the global evidence (Diawara, Chikayoshi, and Hanson 2013; Pham and Mukhopadhaya 2022; UNESCO 2002). 5. Informal Trading: A Necessity for Vulnerable Women Amidst Limited Infrastructure and a Challenging Job Market 91 man interviewing me, he’s always going to be grooming the person. He will always be saying “Look, I can offer you this job opening, but in exchange you already know.” It’s... like, I have to, I have to offer myself to him or I have to be submissive to whatever he asks of me. Maybe it gets kind of complicated to really get a job here in Luanda. (PD formerly in technical school, 25 years old) Looking for a job other than self-employment may be exhausting, frustrating, demotivating, and humiliating. In this situation, women may ultimately give up hope of finding a paid job. Several interviewees discuss having distributed their CVs but getting no responses. I: How is it? You said before that you already went looking for a job. What is it like to look for a job here? What is this humiliation, explain it to me. P: I still have to walk (covered) with a cloth, the sun burns a lot here. Now you have to walk kilometer and kilometer to look for a job. And when you get to this place, even if it’s a chair, you say no, get up, no, nothing, you’re not looking for a job here. They offend you, you’re not going to look for a job. They kick you out. They answer you badly and offend you. (Dropout, 23 years old) Although the job search is difficult for all, young women face specific discrimination. Employers ask whether they are married, have children, and have care support. Interestingly, having a child is not perceived as a major impediment in the job search, as long as women have a support network. Most of the interviewees do have such a network, because they seldom live by themselves, and childcare often seems to be organized collectively. Interestingly, employers can view a candidate’s having a spouse as unfavorable because husbands pose a risk in that they may become jealous and demand that women leave their jobs. For women who find a job outside the zunga, remaining in the job becomes a challenge. Several interviewees complain about work conditions with simply too much workload, poor conditions, and little recognition. They describe some jobs as physically draining with long working hours. Sometimes, employers force women to work 24 hours straight with only one day off. Several interviewees report abusive work terms and behaviors, as well as employers who did not comply with the original agreements and continuously extended women’s responsibilities—for instance, asking them to clean their private homes and to carry out additional tasks without extra pay. In one woman’s example, her employer asked her to work and sell sodas to pay for her salary. P: Especially we, women, who don’t have any, we are practically slaves. (PD with a stable job, 29 years old) Several women also describe cases of sexual harassment employers, as well as by clients or customers, particularly in service jobs such as hotels and restaurants. In this light, several interviewees mention that working on the market is an advantage, because it implies working with no direct boss. In the zunga, women have lower chances of being humiliated, harassed, or abused. P: Self-employment is another thing...you manage yourself, nobody shouts at you. (Dropout who works as a zungueira, 31 years old) 92 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda In sum, being a zungueira or vendedora seems to be, for most women, the only available option rather than a good or desired one. Associated with very hard work, suffering, and the bottom of the social stratification, it nevertheless represents the common way of surviving in the absence of other opportunities. With all the negative aspects of other jobs available for this group, and despite the many issues they face working in the market, women still find it a better option —in terms of both earnings and working environment. Because the market meets their needs, some stop looking for alternative jobs or go back to school. They become attached to the market as it gets increasingly difficult to imagine themselves returning to work as a domestic employee in someone’s house, taking orders, and receiving a paycheck only at the end of the month. 5.6. Policy considerations Table 5.1 summarizes the key priority interventions for improving working conditions of women traders in Angola. The choice of policy measures is motivated by the feasibility of their implementation in the short-term perspective and the overall positive impact on improving the conditions of women informal traders. In the short-term perspective, priority actions should focus on improving market-related infrastructure to ensure safety and security of women informal traders. This entails ensuring a reliable and affordable network of public transportation and taking measures to increase safety, such as establishing fences and street lighting around markets. To protect women from the abuse from market administrators, promising actions include increasing the transparency of the daily market fees, establishing a functioning grievance redress mechanism, and establishing safe spaces for women at/near markets. There is also a need to better support women in the informal sector through extending their access to assets, building managerial and leadership skills, and building upon the existing mechanisms of savings and social protection. Moreover, offering assistance with opening a bank and savings account and promoting e-payment and mobile money are promising strategies to promote women’s financial inclusion and prevent robberies at/around markets. In addition to the priority policy recommendations, a broader menu of options have been identified improve working conditions of women traders in Angola. Based on the analysis, table 5.2 summarizes the main identified barriers, possible strategic directions, and policy recommendations for improving women’s access to better-quality jobs in Angola. Suggested recommendations aim to improve working conditions, earnings, and productivity of women engaged in informal trade, recognizing it as an important option for many poor and vulnerable young women in urban Angola. Despite the observed differences in working conditions of various types of informal traders in Angola, most of the below-mentioned policy options would yield gains for women across many occupations. The following strategic directions have been identified: • Improve women’s access to finance, assets, and skills-building. • Reduce women’s vulnerability to market risks and planning uncertainty. 5. Informal Trading: A Necessity for Vulnerable Women Amidst Limited Infrastructure and a Challenging Job Market 93 • Address infrastructure gaps, particularly around markets. • Alleviate women’s burden of unpaid domestic work and care. Table 5.2. Strategic areas of intervention to improve working conditions of women traders in Angola Barriers identified Type Policy recommendations Strategic direction 1: Improve women’s access to finance, assets, and skills-building • Enable women to invest in their businesses through in-kind aid. Short-term • Expand women’s access to finance through cash grants which can be targeted specifically at women beneficiaries. • Introduce productive economic inclusion programs with a gender-responsive design Limited start-up capital, and targeted at vulnerable women. financial literacy and entrepreneurship skills • Organize entrepreneurship training for women, including psychology-based/ personal initiative training and financial and digital literacy workshops for women Medium-/ long-term microentrepreneurs. • Provide vocational classroom-based training opportunities for young women. • Build on self-organized women’s associations and informal savings groups to increase access to finance and knowledge dissemination. Strategic direction 2: Reduce women’s vulnerability to market risks and planning uncertainty Short-term • Publish and monitor daily market fees and allow for flexibility in their payment. Vulnerability to market risks and uncertainty Medium-term • Enable electronic payment of market fees. Abusive behavior of • Increase the representation of women in the positions of market administration. Medium-term market administrators • Set up a functioning grievance redress mechanism. Limited ownership of a • Facilitate and offer assistance in opening (mobile money) bank accounts. bank and savings account Short-term • Provide consultation sessions and workshops to explain the features and use of a bank (and subsequent risks of robberies) account for savings. Strategic direction 3: Address infrastructure gaps, particularly around markets • Extend access to e-payment and mobile money. • Increase security around the markets, such as street lighting and fences. Short-term Lack and quality of market infrastructure • Expand the formal public transportation network, especially in the evenings (WASH facilities, trash and nighttime. collection, banks, transportation) • Make infrastructure investments (warehouse facilities, resting areas, WASH facilities, Medium-term trash collection). • Encourage more banks and ATMs in proximity to markets. Strategic direction 4: Alleviate women’s burden of unpaid domestic work and care • Engage men and boys to share housework and childcare duties. Burden on women of long hours of unpaid domestic Long-term • Promote positive social norms around women’s decision-making and employment. work and childcare • Promote affordable early childhood programs and access to ECDE facilities. Source: World Bank. Note: CCTV = closed-circuit television; WASH = water, sanitation, and hygiene. 94 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda Strategic direction 1: Improve women’s access to finance, assets, and skills-building Improving access to finance and skills is an essential input to economically empower women informal traders to generate better earnings. Cash grants have been shown to increase liquidity and help generate more profits, especially when women are the sole household enterprise operators (World Bank Group 2019). However, regional evidence suggests that when women informal entrepreneurs get financial support, they are likely to divert costs to other household needs or other opportunities in the household such as the husband’s business (Banerjee, Karlan and Zinman 2015). Under such conditions, interventions that aim to expand women’s access to finance and assets through in-kind grants, such as materials and equipment for business, have been shown to be more effective than cash (for example, Fafchamps et al 2014). Moreover, targeted and gender-responsive productive economic inclusion (PEI) programs have shown positive outcomes on women’s’ employment opportunities and earnings, with the positive spill-over on their agency and decision-making. While the design of PEI programs vary across countries, commonly such programs provide an integrated package of services, such as grants and training, to promote self-employment and wage employment among poor and vulnerable individuals. In such a way, PEI programs seek to address the multiple constraints that women confront, both in public places and in the home. For women, participation in PEI programs is associated with improved employment opportunities. For example, women participants in a productive social safety net program in Tanzania were 7.6 percentage points more likely to work on nonfarm activities relative to nonparticipating women (Rosas et al. 2019). Evidence from the Youth Opportunity Program and Women’s Income-Generating Support program in Uganda suggests that PEI programs increase participants’ earnings and overall household income, mainly due to the shifts in employment patterns and higher access to productive assets (Blattman, Fiala, and Martinez 2014; Blattman et al. 2016). Improving women’s technical, managerial, and leadership skills is also important. As seen from the interviews, women informal traders often lack knowledge and skills related to business planning, accounting, investments, and so on. International experience has shown that interventions such as business and entrepreneurship training, tailored vocational training programs, and financial and digital literacy classes can equip women with relevant skills. For example, an entrepreneurship training in Kenya—which offered business skills training, franchise-specific training, start-up capital, and ongoing business mentoring for women—had large and significant impacts on the likelihood of being engaged in an income-generating activity, mainly self-employment (Brudevold-Newman et al. 2017). In Ethiopia, an entrepreneurship training coupled with business mentorship for experienced businesswomen on marketing, record keeping, and financial planning increased participants’ sales and profits (Bakhtiar, Bastian, and Goldstein 2021). A program in Uganda, which combined business skills training with an individual start-up grant and regular follow-up by trained 5. Informal Trading: A Necessity for Vulnerable Women Amidst Limited Infrastructure and a Challenging Job Market 95 community workers, increased participants’ sales, earnings, and assets ownership, with the prominent effect occurring among the poorest businesses (Blattman et al. 2013). In addition to traditional business programs, a similar effect can be achieved through a psychology-based training: evidence from Togo shows that microentrepreneurs who received an innovative personal initiative training program focusing on self-starting behavior, innovation, goal setting, and planning and feedback cycles, increased their firms’ profits by 30 percentage point (Campos et al. 2017). Finally, informal women’s savings groups present an important entry point for social and economic empowerment of informal traders and advocacy for better working conditions and rights. Participants in the interviews repeatedly refer to self- organized women’s saving groups (kixikilas), which appear to be the only source of financial support and social protection for informal traders. These are common in many developing countries, including in a number of other Sub-Saharan African countries with near-universal informality, particularly among women workers (Riisgaard, Mitullah, and Torm 2022). Regional evidence shows that participation in savings groups brings substantial positive impacts on women’s financial inclusion, access to credit, increase in savings, and improved decision-making power within the household and the community (Karlan et al. 2017). Beyond financial inclusion, informal women’s associations and/or savings groups could also be leveraged to support skill-building, knowledge dissemination and social capital acquisition among women. Similar to what has been found for women’s savings groups/ girls’ safe club in Malawi (DAPP Malawi 2016) and Uganda (Austrian and Muthengi 2014), kixikilas in Angola could evolve to a group through which important information and business-related knowledge for members would be shared systematically, possibly even with trained community women providing basic SRH and GBV information. In particular, this approach is followed in the Sahel Women Empowerment and Demographic Dividend (SWEDD) project in multiple SSA countries, combing economic initiatives for young women with safe spaces, skills-building and SRH education (World Bank 2020). In Sierra Leone, for example, a similar intervention that provided adolescent girls with a protective space where they can find support, receive SRH information and a skill training has increased the accumulation of the basic skills, labor force participation and delay in early pregnancy among participants (Bandiera et al. 2018). Strategic direction 2: Reduce women informal traders’ vulnerability to market risks and planning uncertainty Based on the qualitative findings, the daily routine of women informal traders is highly vulnerable to market risks. The situation is worsened by the fact that women are required to pay market fees daily as well as resort to paid storage facilities for any unsold products, even as they face daily market fluctuations. Ensuring transparency in market fees and allowing flexibility in payment terms (an option to pay weekly, for 96 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda example) would reduce these vulnerabilities. Another suggestion is to include certain services in the daily fee, such as usage of storage and refrigeration. As these markets are mostly publicly owned, these services could be subsidized as a way of supporting increased productivity of these workers and perhaps as an incentive for formalization. Second, there is a need to address the high risk of robbery and different forms of gender-based violence in the market and surrounding areas. Women in the interviews repeatedly refer to the risks of robbery as one of the core challenges in their daily professional lives. In addition, women report exposure to street violence, gender-based violence, physical and verbal abuse, especially from market administrators. Although the revised Penal Code of Angola criminalized sexual harassment in 2021, more is needed to be done to enforce the legislation. More broadly, to reduce discrimination and violence against zungueiras, law enforcement as well as the general population should be sensitized about the important role these women play in providing for their families and themselves. In terms of infrastructure, increasing security, including by installing fences around markets and closed-circuit television cameras, could be effective safety measures. Special attention should be paid to alleviate the risks of abuse form market administrators and to protect its survivors. In the context of high informality, general policies such as criminalizing sexual harassment and establishing a code of conduct for market staff might prove to be ineffective in preventing and addressing GBV. It would be recommended to set up an adequate grievance redress and responsive accountability mechanisms to allow women to report cases of abuse and get support. In addition, increasing the representation of women on the positions of market administration and leadership could also offer potential to improve working conditions and treatment of women informal traders. Moreover, providing safe spaces at/near the markets for women informal traders could be another entry-point to offer protection against GBV and abuse. Global evidence suggests that the establishment of women- and/or girl-only spaces provides women and girls with a safe entry point to engage with each other, build important connections, solidarity and support with other women and girls, exchange information, and rebuild community networks and support (IRC and UNFPA 2017). Finally, facilitating access to formal financial services, including mobile money, and a bank account could reduce women’s vulnerability to market risks and uncertainty. Women in the sample admit carrying their earnings in cash, which makes them particularly vulnerable to robberies. Promoting access to and use of a bank account, by facilitating the procedures for opening and using one—could significantly eliminate the risks of robberies against women informal traders while also supporting increased income generation. In Kenya, for example, market women were offered the option to open a bank account at no cost. Participating women used these accounts to save up and increase the size of their business, as well as their private expenditures (Dupas and Robinson 2013). Notably, in a study from Uganda, women who had been robbed or had money stolen in the past were more responsive than other participants and moved to more formal savings options (Buehren 2015). 5. Informal Trading: A Necessity for Vulnerable Women Amidst Limited Infrastructure and a Challenging Job Market 97 Strategic direction 3: Address market-related infrastructure gaps Weak market infrastructure is another limiting factor. On-site observations show that markets lack basic facilities and infrastructure, such as water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities; trash collection; warehouses; and the like. Moreover, women may lose their daily income if they do not sell all their products, because the markets have no adequate and affordable storage facilities. Therefore, general interventions that aim to improve the infrastructure of these markets would have positive effects on women informal traders’ working conditions and income. Furthermore, women need a reliable and affordable network of transportation to and from markets, especially in the evenings and at night. Interviewees note the lack of transportation connection to and from markets, with some women having to walk long distances home after a long daily work routine. On the one hand, lack of transportation presents a health concern: women might experience back and muscle pain as well as physical injuries because of long walking hours (Porter 2008). On the other hand, this challenge also presents safety concerns, making women more vulnerable to robberies and street violence. Therefore, extending the coverage of the formal public transportation system is essential, especially for those who commute from underserved areas. Moreover, making transportation and infrastructure planning more gender-sensitive requires including gender mainstreaming and consideration of specific challenges that women encounter while commuting (UNECE 2009). Strategic direction 4: Alleviate women’s burden of unpaid domestic work and care Given the labor intensity of women’s domestic responsibilities in Angola, promoting positive social norms and equitable gender roles can support women’s employment and economic opportunities. Findings from the interviews indicate strong occupational segregation by gender, which makes market trading nearly exclusively a woman’s task. Similarly, household chores and childcare are considered women’s duties, with men and boys rarely involved. Interventions that aim to challenge traditional gender roles and social norms offer potential for economic empowerment of women. An effective strategy involves inviting male family members and husbands to business trainings targeted to women. For example, evidence from Rwanda and Vietnam shows that engaging men in women’s business-related programs has led to increased household income, higher involvement of men in childcare and household work, and improved women’s participation in decision-making (Slegh et al. 2013; Vu et al. 2015). Interventions that aim to encourage men’s involvement in childcare also show promise in increasing women’s autonomy and, thus, their potential to access economic opportunities. In addition, community- and couple-based interventions aiming to promote equitable social norms and gender roles can support women’s paid employment. 98 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda For example, a couple-based intervention in Rwanda invited men to participate in a 15-session program whose curriculum covered topics of gender and power, fatherhood, couple communication, and decision-making. The results indicate that, after the end of the program, participating men demonstrated higher participation in childcare and household tasks and less dominance in household decision-making (Doyle et al. 2018). Likewise, participants of the community based SASA! Program in Uganda reported improvements in communication, reductions in tension, and strengthened trust and joint decision-making (Kyegombe et al. 2015). Finally, increased access to affordable early childhood programs, including daycare and pre-school can help reduce household care activities while providing an important investment in the human capital of younger generations. In Burkina Faso, a short- course training and temporary job program at public works sites was accompanied by the provision of mobile childcare units. This innovation helped participating women to increase their work productivity, increased their productivity, save a considerable portion of their wages, and use this money to start up a business once their temporary job contracts ended (World Bank 2021b). The mobile childcare units have also started up a cooperative initiative with the Ministry of Health and local clinics to monitor children’s growth and ensure that they are vaccinated (ibid). Another strategy is to reduce financial constraints of ECDE facilities. Hence, in Kenya, women who received vouchers for the use of daily childcare facilities, were 8.5-percentage-point more likely to be employed than those who were not given vouchers (Clark et al. 2019).47 One option to consider would be community childcare at the markets. This would not only alleviate the burden on women’s time, but also ensure better investments in children’s human capital, in terms of nutritional inputs, parenting practices, addressing gender norms, and cognitive development. In their turn, better investments in children’s education and health have potential to bring gains in other dimensions of life and significantly reduce the intergenerational transmission of poverty (Aizer 2017; Lee and Seshadri 2019). 47 Most of the employment gains were realized by married mothers. Single mothers, in contrast, benefited by significantly reducing the time spent working without any loss to their earnings by shifting to jobs with more regular hours. 5. Informal Trading: A Necessity for Vulnerable Women Amidst Limited Infrastructure and a Challenging Job Market 99 Appendix A. Methodological Aspects T his report is based on qualitative data collected in Luanda in April 2022. Prior to the qualitative data collection with young women, an initial learning phase helped prepare the actual research design while already yielding some interesting findings. During the initial learning phase, the team conducted a quantitative analysis, a literature review, a review of the current legal system, and 18 key informant interviews. The key informants interviewed included a range of representatives from relevant government institutions, international cooperation agencies, researchers, nongovernmental organizations active in relevant areas, and activists. Given challenges related to COVID-19, all key informant interviews were conducted virtually, recorded, fully transcribed, and coded. The interviews followed a series of questions intended to illuminate girls’ and young women’s access to education and the labor market in poor areas of Angola. Questions asked informants to reflect on and discuss barriers, facilitators, and other important aspects of their experiences with schooling and work. This phase elicited often contradictory statements depending on the role and focus of the respective informant. Findings from the interviews informed the design of the subsequent qualitative research in terms of which groups to target and the best practical strategy for conducting in-depth interviews with girls and young women. On the basis of those key informant interviews, initial quantitative data analysis, and literature review, a subsequent dedicated qualitative data collection effort focused on exploring the issues faced by young women in Luanda. The overall qualitative research aimed to generate knowledge on a range of factors contributing to gender gaps in the Angolan labor market, focusing on low-income urban women and girls.48 Building on a life cycle approach, the study focused on the issues young women in urban Angola face in their educational and work trajectories, particularly in their transitions from primary to secondary school, from school to work, and into higher-quality jobs. It also explored the process of family formation. This research followed the principles of protection of human subjects outlined by the Belmont Report (National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research 1979) and the World Health Organization’s “Putting Women First: Ethical and Safety Recommendations for Research on Domestic Violence against Women” (WHO 2001).49 In addition, all WHO and national COVID-19 protocols were followed to ensure the safety of the research team and participants. The qualitative research consisted of two components – one focusing on education, and second focusing on work (informal trading). Component 1 explored the factors that enable and prevent girls from completing primary and secondary education in urban low-income contexts in Angola. The interview questions in this component explored young women’s educational trajectories, decision-making processes and factors that supported or interrupted those trajectories, the perceived relevance of education in young women’s lives, and women’s aspirations regarding education and how those 48 Our definition considers individuals ages 15–34 as young, and it aligns with the government definition available for the Angolan Youth National Policy in the Decreto Presidencial 273/19 (Política Nacional da Juventude). In contrast, the United Nations defines young people as individuals ages 15–24. We define low-income as the two lowest wealth quintiles. 49 All research protocols were submitted to an ethical review board for approval prior to data collection. Appendix A. Methodological Aspects 101 aspirations interconnect with decisions around work and family formation. Data for this component were collected through 44 individual interviews: 40 in-depth interviews and 4 key informant interviews. The sample mostly consisted of girls from low-income urban areas, subdivided into two groups of 15-to-24-year-olds. The first group consisted of young women who dropped out before completing secondary school and had not returned. The second group consisted of positive deviants (PDs): A PD approach implies a focus on researching individuals who confront similar challenges and constraints as their peers but who employ strategies and behaviors that help them overcome those constraints and achieve positive outcomes that are unusual in their own contexts. The advantage of this approach is the ability to identify solutions that some individuals are already employing (Pascale and Monique 2010) In this component, the PDs consisted of young women who either (1) were currently attending the last year of secondary school and had continuously remained on track in the conventional school system; (2) were currently attending the last year of secondary school and had attended adult education programs after dropping out at some point; or (3) were currently attending technical schools in a male-dominated field such as civil works and electricity.50 In addition, the sample included interviews with parents or legal guardians of selected interviewees and key informant interviews with teachers and principals of the three schools from which students were recruited. Research sites for component 1 were identified with the support of the Ministry of Education and consisted of four schools—two public schools, one public-private school including EJA (youth and adult education) from which PDs were recruited) and one technical high school in Luanda51. Participants were recruited through gatekeepers’ suggestions and snowballing.52 Component 2 investigated the factors shaping the labor market experiences of young women from poor urban contexts, focusing on informal traders. Interviews explored young women’s educational trajectories, decision-making processes and factors that supported or interrupted these trajectories, the perceived relevance of education in their lives, and other topics. Data for this component were collected through 41 interviews in total: 39 in-depth interviews and 2 key informant interviews. The sample was composed mainly of young women ages 18–34 years who worked mostly as informal traders and resided in low-income urban areas. That sample subdivided into zungueiras (walking petty sellers), vendedoras (market sellers with a fixed stand who have not benefited from an entrepreneurship program and continue in informality), and women who completed technical school but work in another field. The sample was also stratified by age group to explore different challenges facing women across levels of work experience and family 50 In Angola, secondary schooling is divided in two cycles. Government adult education programs (Educação de Jovens e Adultos, or EJA) cover only the first cycle, which implies that any student seeking to complete their education after remaining out of school for a significant number of years will have to conclude the first cycle through EJA and the second cycle (high school) through the conventional system. 51 Field site names are omitted to safeguard participants’ confidentiality. 52 Snowballing is a nonprobability method used when the desired sample characteristic is rare. Respondents are selected on the basis of their ability to provide certain information that may be relevant to the study. 102 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda responsibility. Research participants for component 2 were recruited from a central market in Luanda with the support of market administration. Like component 1, component 2 also included a group of PDs. In this case, the sample consisted of women in self- employment who have been able to expand their business (benefiting from government entrepreneurship programs) and women who concluded the first cycle of secondary school and secured a stable job that they have kept for more than one year). Comparison between PDs and regular participants helps to identify feasible strategies to support vulnerable women who are unable to reengage in the education system to access higher- quality jobs. Some themes were discussed across both samples (education and work) – namely those related to family formation, education, work (aspirations) and support mechanisms and structures. Finally, the team conducted interviews with implementors of programs focused on promoting women’s entrepreneurship. Table 4. Summary of study sample Component 1 Component 2 Sample IDI KII Sample IDI KII Implementers of programs supporting female School principals 4 2 entrepreneurs Young women who dropped out before 16 Zungueiras (walking petty sellers), ages 18–24 5 completing secondary school, ages 15–24 Parents or legal guardians of interviewed girls 4 Zungueiras (walking petty sellers), ages 25–34 7 (individual, all mothers) Market sellers, fixed stand, ages 18–24 (have not benefited 8 from entrepreneurship programs) Market sellers, fixed stand, ages 25–34 (have not benefited 6 from entrepreneurship programs) Women who completed technical school but work in 4 another field, ages 18–34 TOTAL 20 4 30 2 POSITIVE DEVIANTS Market sellers/entrepreneurs, have participated in Youth in the last year of secondary school, 4 entrepreneurship programs (mostly kit, credit and 5 conventional schools, ages 15–17 technical courses), ages 18–34 Youth who are concluding the first cycle of Women who concluded the first cycle of secondary school 4 10 secondary in EJA, ages 15–24 and have secured a stable job (over one year), ages 18–34 Youth who are in a technical school male- dominated fields (civil works and electricity, 6 ages 18–24 TOTAL 20 9 TOTAL: COMPONENT 1 40 4 TOTAL: COMPONENT 2 39 2 Source: World Bank. Note: EJA = Educação de Jovens e Adultos (youth and adult education); IDI = individual in-depth interview; KII = key informant interview. Appendix A. Methodological Aspects 103 There are two main reasons behind the choice of individual in-depth interviews as the main data collection tool: First, focus group discussions were initially considered as a complementary data collection tool for both components but abandoned because of COVID-19-related concerns and restrictions and measures needed to be taken to reduce risk of contagion among participants. Hence, by avoiding group settings, the potential number of people exposed to each other was reduced. Second, the research aimed at exploring the intersection between education, work and family formation and the way how individual young women make related decisions. Therefore, significant value was placed on the concrete lived experience of each individual as a source of understanding, through the individuals’ life stories we can learn about the individual experiences, but also about society and culture more broadly. Throughout the development of the study design and implementation, the team partnered with the Ministério de Educação (Ministry of Education) and the Instituto Nacional de Emprego e Formação Profissional (National Institute of Employment and Professional Training) to ensure compliance with national requirements for the implementation of this research. The two entities also supported the recruitment of research participants. Fieldwork was overseen by an international consultant and conducted by a team of three local researchers. A two-day training workshop53 was held to train the field research team. Seventy-nine individual interviews were conducted with girls, their parents or guardians, and young women from different subgroups (see Table 4). The individual interviews were complemented by six key informant interviews with school staff and implementers of entrepreneurship programs. Data collection focused in the capital Luanda. The team encountered several challenges during fieldwork. The very stratified samples required managing many gatekeepers, which turned out to be very complicated and led to multiple delays, cancellations, and rescheduling of interviews. With regards to participant recruitment, some initial criteria were not realistic, especially in component 1; for example, very narrow age brackets (due to high levels of age-grade distortion), separating government EJA programs from regular school, and recruiting technical schoolgirls who participated in EJA. These recruitment difficulties caused some changes in the sample as well as the addition of more sites (from initially two to four: two public schools, one public-private school [PD], and one technical school) to recruit from. With regards to dropouts, it turned out that primary school dropouts are less prevalent in urban areas and those former students are more disconnected from school. In component 2, participants’ time presented a significant constraint. The team adapted by slightly shortening the interview guides, especially for zungueiras. Criteria for recruiting PDs were slightly adapted to better match the criteria in reality. 53 This training covered the following issues: objectives of the study, data collection methods, simulating recruitment of research participants, the process of seeking consent, guidelines for conducting interviews, ethical guidelines for conducting human subjects research, writing transcripts and general data management principles, protocols for responding to difficult situations, and protocols to mitigate risks related to COVID-19. It included training on gender-based violence and how to address related risks during fieldwork in the event that any gender-based violence case arose during interviews. 104 Navigating Education, Motherhood, and Informal Labor: The Experiences of Young Women in Luanda This study has a number of limitations. The research did not conduct in-depth explorations of certain themes and realities, including gender-based violence (because of concerns about the safety of participants and to avoid revictimization). The sample was limited to low-income populations in certain locations of Luanda, implying that those interviewees may face a reality different from that of youth and young women with higher incomes or in other geographic locations. For example, different socioeconomic realities may shape young people’s experiences with education systems and their access to the labor market. The decision to focus on Luanda exclusively was driven mainly by the inability to set up a more complex data collection during the pandemic (fieldwork was conducted in April 2022). Moreover, a significant proportion of the population resides in the country’s capital, and interventions informed by this work could benefit a large number of people. 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