Grade 4 children’s engagements in cross-sex relationships: A case from one South African Farm School

Abstract

This study explores Grade 4 school children’s experiences of cross-sex relationships in a co- educational farm school in uMgungundlovu district in South Africa. The aim is to understand if and how constructions of gender bear on young children’s social relations at the school. Informed by children’s geographies and new sociology of childhood studies, this study uses data from semi-structured interviews and photo-voice imagery based on a qualitative narrative study of three girls and three boys aged between 9 and 12 years. The study found that children’s experiences of cross-sex relationships were deeply entrenched in traditional discourses of masculinities and femininities. These rigidly constructed discourses of gender were found to constrain possibilities and fluidities with which children navigated places and spaces of cross- sex relationships in the school. The hegemonic regulatory power of gender norms was a yardstick, informing children’s organisation and performances of cross-sex relationships even if some children had developed creative ways of subverting dominant gender norms in how they navigated in cross-sex relationships. The study argues for the liberalisation of gender norms, in order to allow children to freely – without being constrained by their genitalia – take subject positions of gender in cross-sex relationships. This would promote sustainable equitable gender relations, as children learn how to engage in cross-sex relationships, beyond the constraining prescripts of dominant masculinities and femininities.

Los estereotipos de género y sus limitaciones en el ejercicio de la participación de la infancia en la escuela

“…A partir de los postulados anteriores, los estereotipos son mediadores de las relaciones gestadas en el entorno escolar que acentúan problemas en la interacción entre escolares, y a su vez, delinean las proyecciones de sí mismos. Según Maphanga et al (2018), los niños aplican los estereotipos de género hacia las niñas como fundamento de minusvalía de lo que ellas pueden hacer en espacios y lugares dentro de la escuela, de esa forma, se limitan y reducen sus marcos de acción en las dinámicas escolares. Es por ello que los estereotipos de género pueden ser limitantes del desenvolvimiento de las niñas, pues "durante la adolescencia, el mundo se expande para los niños y se contrae para las niñas.…”

“…Derivado de lo anterior, la escuela impulsa, implícitamente, estereotipos de género con el alumnado, mismos que tienen una influencia en su forma de ejercer la participación dentro del espacio escolar, repercutiendo en sus imaginarios sobre las formas de actuar y relacionarse, mismos que influyen en la convivencia entre estudiantes y fungen como medios restrictivos y discriminatorios en la interacción entre pares (González-Anleo, Cortés y Garcelán 2018; Maphanga, Morojele, y Motsa 2018).…”

Sustainable Development Goals in Early Childhood Education. Empowering Young Girls to Bridge the Gender Gap in Science

“…For several decades, the feminist research method has been used to highlight the hurdles that women face in terms of access to and promotion and leadership in the scientific sphere [12]. A great number of studies [13,14] point out that sexist stereotypes and a scarcity of prominent female scientists are the key factors dissuading girls from going into science, which they view as a professional area alien to their gender. From the early years (specifically, from the age of 6), girls see themselves as having less intellectual capacity for science than boys [15].…”

Vulnerable femininities: Implications for rural girls' schooling experiences in Swaziland

“…Little is known about how vulnerable girls construct femininities, or about the effects of orphanage, child house-heading, and poverty on the social and academic wellbeing of girls. This is despite the body of literature (for instance, Bhana, Nzimakwe, & Nzimakwe, 2011;Maphanga & Morojele, 2016) pointing to these factors as key determinants of children's experiences of schoolingwith implications on whether or not children continue to attend school, the quality of education they receive, and their educational success in general.…”