Violence against women: what do we want to teach our teachers?

South Africa has a history of very high levels of violence which dates back to the apartheid era, if not further. A women is raped every 35 seconds, estimates the South African Police Service. Gender-based violence (GBV), and its link to HIV infection, is very gradually being discussed in the public domain, but educators have no choice but to provide learners with the basic skills to cope with the dual threat of gender violence and HIV/AIDS now. But how, and when, can this be done within an education system?

The vulnerability of young girls to sexual violence is best illustrated by the findings of a recent study of 30,000 young people conducted by Johannesburg Metropolitan Local Council and a local NGO, the Community Information Empowerment and Transparency Foundation (CIET). One in four of the men interviewed claimed to have had sex without a girl’s consent before the age of 18. At least half of those interviewed – male and female – believe that forcing sex on someone you know is not sexual violence, but that it is just ‘rough sex’. Over half the girls said they believe that they were responsible for sexual abuse. To address this challenge the School of Public Health at the University of the Western Cape developed a model to incorporate the issue of gender-based violence into the primary school curriculum.

Two training models - the ‘whole school’ approach and ‘train the trainer’ were piloted in six primary schools in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town. The models focused on identifying and challenging teachers’ own knowledge and attitudes towards gender and GBV, on encouraging teachers to reflect on the messages they send to students, and on identifying strategies to address GBV.

The project aimed to:

• enable educators to incorporate the issue of violence against females into the primary school curriculum
• identify the capacity and support required within the Provincial Education Department to ensure the model had a fair chance of being implemented within provincial primary schools
• determine how the outcome of the pilot could contribute to the development of similar programmes which address HIV/AIDS, ‘life skills’, and safety within schools.

Findings from the pilot highlighted various avenues that require further exploration:

• Prior to the training 30 percent of teachers felt that schools could play a meaningful role in addressing GBV. After the training 70 percent of teachers felt schools could play a meaningful role.
• 85 percent of teachers felt that GBV was a significant problem in their schools.
• 90 percent of teachers felt the school curriculum should include content on GBV. Following the training, this figure increased to 100 percent.
• 95 percent teachers (pre-training), and 100 percent (post-training) felt that Grade 5 (age 9-10 years old) is an appropriate stage to begin addressing the issue of GBV.

26 teachers (17 women, 9 men) responded to a separate and optional confidential questionnaire about their own experiences of GBV:

• Prior to the training, none of the teachers felt that the sexual harassment of teachers was a problem and this did not change following the training. However, 12 percent of women also said they had experienced harassment from a colleague.
• 47 percent of women teachers reported experiencing physical abuse at the hands of an intimate partner, 31 percent sexual abuse, and 69 percent psychological abuse.
• 25 percent of male teachers admitted that they had been physically abusive, 12 percent sexually abusive, and 33 percent psychologically abusive to an intimate partner.

It is important to recognise that teachers can be key instruments for change. They are role models for school children but also have their own experiences as gendered beings. To play an effective role in addressing gender-based violence in schools, teachers need to understand and confront their own attitudes and experiences regarding gender and gender-based violence. The role of teachers as perpetrators of abuse is highlighted in the most recent Human Rights Watch Report on sexual violence in South African schools. Strategies addressing GBV in schools need to begin by acknowledging and addressing the attitudes and experiences of the teachers themselves.

Source(s):
Action research project. A report on the project to date was presented at the Reproductive Health Priorities Conference and is available from Abigail Dreyer. A teachers' training manual will be published in June 2002

Funded by: Open Society Foundation

id21 Research Highlight: 22 March 2002

Further Information:
Abigail Dreyer
School of Public Health
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535
South Africa

Tel: +021 959 2809
Fax: +021 959 2872
Contact the contributor: adreyer@uwc.ac.za

University of Western Cape, South Africa

Other related links:
'Tackling taboos: abuse of girls in Zimbabwean schools'

'More than bums on seats: making schools responsive to children’s needs'

'Scared at school - Sexual Violence Against Girls in South African Schools'

'Closing the Gender Gap in Education: Curbing Dropout'

The Medical Research Council has research papers on sexual violence