Communities in Conversation: opportunities for women and girls' self-empowerment

Abstract

Safeguarding the rights of women and girls is a special concern within the context of prevailing gender discrimination and violence in South African societies, often rooted in cultural or religious contexts. In a South Africa Netherlands research Programme on Alternatives in Development (SANPAD)-funded international research project (2010–2013), women teachers, mothers, and caregivers in selected schools were engaged in research which used an innovative approach which we defined as Communities in Conversation (CiC). In this article, we examine the potential of CiC to support women's empowerment, and share our experiences of using CiC in two school communities. CiC involves women in conversations that focused on human rights and human rights education within the context of gender, culture, and religion. As such, it offered participating women opportunities for sharing and learning, and developing friendships and feelings of solidarity which are particularly important for empowerment processes.

La protection des droits des femmes et des filles est une préoccupation spéciale dans le contexte de discrimination et de violence basées sur le genre qui sont répandues dans les sociétés sud-africaines et qui sont souvent ancrées dans des contextes culturels ou religieux. Dans le cadre d'un projet international de recherche financé par le Programme de recherche Pays-Bas-Afrique du Sud sur les alternatives dans le développement (SANPAD) (2010-2013), des enseignantes, des mères et des soignantes et aidantes dans certaines écoles sélectionnées ont pris part à des recherches qui employaient une approche innovante que nous avons définie comme Conversations communautaires (CC – Communities in Conversation). Dans cet article, nous examinons le potentiel de l'approche CC pour soutenir l'autonomisation des femmes, et nous présentons nos expériences de l'utilisation de cette approche dans deux communautés scolaires. L'approche CC a fait participer les femmes à des conversations qui se concentraient sur les droits de l'homme et l’éducation en matière de droits de l'homme dans le contexte du genre, de la culture et de la religion. Cette approche a ainsi offert aux participantes des occasions d’échanger et d'apprendre, et de développer des amitiés et des sentiments de solidarité qui sont tout particulièrement importants pour les processus d'autonomisation.

En las sociedades de Sudáfrica, la defensa de los derechos de las mujeres y de las niñas es de especial importancia en el contexto actual de discriminación de género y de violencia, a menudo arraigado en ámbitos culturales o religiosos. A partir de un proyecto de investigación internacional (2010-2013) financiado por sanpad (siglas en inglés del Programa de Investigación Sudáfrica-Holanda en Alternativas de Desarrollo), maestras, madres y cuidadoras de escuelas seleccionadas, participaron en una investigación a la que se aplicó un enfoque innovador, llamado por las autoras Comunidades en Conversación (CeC). En el presente artículo, las autoras analizan el potencial mostrado por las CeC para fortalecer el empoderamiento de las mujeres; asimismo, comparten sus experiencias en torno al uso de las CeC en dos escuelas. Las CeC son espacios que permiten que las mujeres tengan conversaciones centradas en los derechos humanos y en la educación de derechos humanos, en un contexto de género, de cultura y de religión. A partir de las mismas, las participantes tuvieron la oportunidad de compartir y de aprender, de hacer amistades y de desarrollar sentimientos de solidaridad, aspectos que resultan de particular importancia en los procesos orientados al empoderamiento.

Key words:

• community
• conversation
• safe space
• feminist research paradigm
• human rights
• self-empowerment

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge and thank the research team for collaboration in planning the CiC process and for our research partners, Shan Simmonds and Marisa Verster, specifically: their input during the process of CiC was of immeasurable value.

Notes

1 SANPAD has, since 1997, been financed by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. SANPAD has facilitated and financed research projects, search capacity building, and research support activities over the past ten years. Phase three (2008–13) of the programme contributes to the South African national research and development goals and agenda, the goals of the South African higher education sector and the goals of the Royal Netherlands Embassy on research and development. More information can be found at http://www.sanpad.org.za/sanpad2011/ (last accessed by the authors February 2014)

2 A feminist research paradigm refers to the feminist theoretical lens we use when observing the world. It entails paying particular attention to inter-play between gender and other forms of difference or power. We add an auto-ethnographic approach to this, meaning that we narrate the stories of our research and our research experiences as well as our own reflections when we write up our research.

3 South Africa started out as a Dutch colony, and later became a British colony. Hence, the South African population is diverse in terms of different European ethnicities and languages. After becoming independent and during apartheid pre-1994, the Population Registration Act, 30 of 1950, divided people into four racial groups. ‘White’ referred to people with a white complexion and who were ‘in appearance obviously white’ or ‘generally accepted as white’, ‘Bantu’ or ‘black’ referred to people who were members of any ‘aboriginal tribe or race from Africa’, ‘coloured’ referred to people who were neither white nor black, for example those with mixed heritage. All other ethnicities that were not white, black, or coloured, were classified as ‘other’. Even now, in the new democracy post-1994, the racial divisions are still used on official government forms. Only now, black has changed to ‘Black African’, and a separate category for Indian/Asian has been added.

4 See Note 3.