ID21 - Insights Issue 35

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		Issue #35
		Do men matter? New horizons in gender and development

		Pillow talk: changing men’s behaviour

		Targeting men for a change

		Breadwinners and homemakers? Children explore gender

		Why men? Why now?

		Men against marital violence: a Nicaraguan campaign

		Boys behaving badly: challenging sexism in Namibia

		Do weak states undermine masculinities?

		Sites for Sore Eyes: online sources on men and masculinities

December 2000 Insights Issue #35

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Boys behaving badly: challenging sexism in Namibia

Namibians are still coping with the legacies of apartheid ten years after independence. The social manipulation of black communities has left its mark: increased domestic violence, child abuse, rape, self-destructive behaviour, and dysfunctional gender relations are being transferred from the apartheid generation to their children. How can Namibian society create new patterns of behaviour that give value to individual rights and responsibilities? How can young girls and boys achieve self-esteem and treat each other with respect?

Access to work and education forced many men and older children to leave the communal areas, abandoning homesteads to the elderly, women, and small children. Discrimination and humiliation in the workplace pushed men to respond through avoidance, anger, turning to alcohol and violence, or internalising racism and transferring it to other ethnic groups. Back home, seeing the women fulfilling traditional male roles was a further affront to male self-esteem.

To reassert their worth, men unleashed their frustrations on the women, becoming more aggressive, authoritarian, and sexually unaccountable. Responsibility for the resulting illegitimate children fell to wives and mothers, who in turn took their frustrations out on these 'adopted' children, and children from 'lesser' ethnic groups. San children especially, face discrimination and exclusion in the community and in schools. Children from isolated areas board in tough, spartan hostels with minimal parental or adult guidance. Negative self-images picked up from their parents, have lead to exploitative and abusive relations between boys and girls and self-destructive behaviour.

To identify causes and solutions to the problems faced in schools, five communities in Aminuis District, Eastern Namibia, approached The Agency for Cooperation and Research in Development (ACORD) for help. Together they piloted a participatory methodology through which all stakeholders, from the state to the children, would analyse child socialisation and establish dialogue.

Preliminary research found, that racism, sexism, and adult power over the young had become intertwined, creating distortions in traditional gender identities, but assimilated as traditional culture, in the following ways:

Boys 'hunt' - or rape - and abuse girls with little or no response from staff.
Girls seek out wealthy older men for self-esteem, leading to exploitation, single motherhood, increased HIV, and school dropouts.
Girls exploit the system for material gratification but are punished by boys who cannot compete.
Male irresponsibility is considered admirable - measured in the number of lovers had and children sired.
Personal wealth makes up for loss of male dignity at the expense of family welfare.
Schools and communities prepare girls for single motherhood rather than promote understanding and responsibility amongst boys and men.

The Total Child project has encouraged communities to understand the systemic nature of racism, sexism and adultism. Having recognised assimilated attitudes, stereotypes and values, and identified the underpinnings and effects of discrimination on all sides, men, women, boys, and girls of all ages are together seeking to identify the capacity and responsibility of everyone to act against injustice. 'Total Child Associations' comprising of teachers, community members, hostel matrons, parents and learners aim to develop their knowledge and skills and alter their attitudes through:

critical enquiry using a human rights approach and social exclusion analysis
workshops on social exclusion and counselling to redirect children's behaviour
forum theatre and school-community projects to promote dialogue
new learner reception strategies
training for teachers and governors
advocacy within school communities on issues of child rights infringement
training for Directorate of Community Development staff and volunteers in early childhood socialisation

Lessons learnt in Aminius are now being mainstreamed throughout Namibia:

The Ministry of Basic Education and Culture (MBEC), school principals, UNICEF, NGOs, donors and the Presidential Commission on Education are encouraging increased dialogue and action to reduce social exclusion.

The MBEC is assessing the impact of the pilot with the intention of rolling out its methodology into the education system.

The Ministries of Women's Affairs and Child Welfare are integrating Total Child methodology into national early childhood development programmes.

ACORD is providing methodological support to a national pilot programme designed to increase the participation of children and parents of marginalised ethnic groups in the education system.

Contributor(s): Niki Kandirikirira

Further information:
Niki Kandirikirira
ACORD Namibia
12 Hidas Centre
Klein Windhoek
Namibia

Tel: +264 61 22 00 34
Fax: + 264 61 249819
Email: acordnik@mweb.com.na
ACORD, UK

Other related links:
Search Eldis for sources on gender

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