Girls' and boys' reasoning on cultural and religious practices: a human rights education perspective

Abstract

Human rights play a vital role in citizens' political, religious and cultural life (Wang 2002, 171). Due to the prominence of human rights in the everyday life of citizens, including those of South Africa, human rights education has been included in many school curricula. Human rights education aims to develop responsible citizens who inter alia foster an understanding of gender, ethnical, religious and cultural diversities. This, it is hoped will encourage and maintain peace, as outlined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Departing from a human rights position, a qualitative study commenced in 2009 to explore how girls and boys reason about the cultural and religious practices of girls in their communities and families. Narratives by girls and boys highlighted their views on girls' positioning in their specific communities. From the findings it became evident that the participants were aware of conforming to particular cultural and religious practices. However, some participants also challenged how they perceived these practices and the roles of girls in their communities. The article highlights the necessity of embarking on a gendered perspective towards human rights education.

Keywords:

• gender-based reasoning
• human rights
• cultural and religious practices
• gendered human rights
• initiation
• gender role

Notes

In a forthcoming publication on piloting processes ‘Piloting: Refining and variation’ C.D. Roux & I. Ter Avest.

Titana is a Sotho-word and it is a string of beads girls put around their waist when partaking in this dance. Traditionally the girls will not wear underwear when dancing and it might be that this was the case the girl participant referred to.

The Tswanas are one of the ethnic and language groups in South Africa.