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Focus on Lebanon | Economic & Educational Status Topic Brief

ECONOMIC AND EDUCATIONAL STATUS OF WOMEN IN LEBANON

This topic brief presents key findings on women and men’s economic and educational status based on data from the SWMENA survey in Lebanon. It includes an analysis of women’s economic status, focusing on employment and benefit trends and monthly income. The section on education status identifies demographic information and responses regarding educational aspirations and top fields of study.

Education

Of 2,750 respondents, 650 were under 25 years of age: 465 women and 185 men.

  • Large majorities of both women and men hope to attend college.
  • The differences between the educational aspirations of women and men under 25 are not statistically significant.
  • Among those satisfied with their current level of education (n=135), about one third had completed primary school, three in ten had completed Intermediate school, and one quarter had completed secondary school. Most of the remainder had completed a university degree (Figure 1). Women are significantly more likely than men to perceive obstacles to higher education (Figure 2).
  • Most of the women and men in the survey reported no obstacles to meeting their educational aspirations. However, financial reasons were the barriers that were most commonly cited, by both Lebanese women and men. Fewer women and men cited family norms or obligations as obstacles; nevertheless, women were more likely than men to give norms or obligations as reasons they might not fulfill their educational aspirations.

 

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