There is a tremendous gender gap between men and women in Sierra Leone. Particularly in rural areas, girls are more likely than to drop out of school due to various socio-economic factors.  Only 41 percent of girls are enrolled in primary school as of 1999, which is extremely low, compared to the rest of the world – education is a luxury they cannot afford.  Less than 1 percent of women in Sierra Leone are internet users and, therefore, few are participating in the global network of information exchange to possibly better their circumstances.  There was no data available for higher education statistics, but I would assume that, considering that as many as 77 percent of the females in Sierra Leone are illiterate and 55 percent of the men are illiterate, I do not see many of them obtaining any higher educational training if they cannot read.  Only 18.2 percent of women are literate while men’s literacy rate is over doubly that (45.4%).  Nearly two thirds of the world’s women are illiterate, and Sierra Leone definitely is consistent with the world statistics in terms of the gender gap in education between females and males. “Women’s equal access to education is seen as key to improving the health, nutrition and education of the whole family as a whole, as well as to empowering women to participate more fully in the development process” (The World’s Women/United Nations, 2000).  We must work to improve female literacy, as this number will only shrink if we do not take measures to bridge the gap, yet, given the instability and lack of resources of Sierra Leone, this will be a difficult task.