Excerpts of a discussion paper presented by Dr. Obiozor at the 7th Annual Conference of the Women's Studies Graduate Organization at the Pennsylvania State University campus, University Park, USA, Saturday March 1, 2008.

There are several challenging issues facing the girl child and women in sub-Saharan Africa, aside from our perceptions on their plights which includes, poverty, female circumcision issues, early marriage and domestic violence; these women also have to struggle for love, affection and fidelity from their men, justice, equality and respect of their civil rights. In the sub-Saharan African region of The Gambia, as in a majority of developing countries around the globe, girls continue to face discrimination with regards to access to education. How can these females measure up to the global education and development challenges with these degrading conditions? Well, thanks to the visions of the current Gambian leadership whose campaign for girls enrollment and retention in public schools are gaining momentum and attracting parental support and increase in enrollment rates in Gambian schools.