Teaching teachers about gender violence

In a country long-sickened by the level of sexual violence, South African teachers have been encouraged to provide students with skills to cope with the dual threat of gender-based violence and HIV/AIDS. The vulnerability of young girls to sexual violence is reflected in the findings of a study covering over 30,000 young people, conducted by the Johannesburg Metropolitan Local Council and a local NGO, the Community Information Empowerment and Transparency Foundation. One in four of the men interviewed claimed to have had sex without the girl's consent. At least half those interviewed - male and female - believed that forcing sex on someone you know is not sexual violence, but just "rough sex", the study found. Over half the girls who participated in the study believed they were responsible for their own sexual abuse. The University of Western Cape's (UWC) School of Public Health recently embarked on a project focused on identifying and challenging teachers' own knowledge of, and attitudes to, gender and sexual violence, with a view to including these issues in the primary school curriculum. The training programme was piloted in six primary schools in the township of Mitchell's Plain in Cape Town, and has since been expanded into a training module for student teachers. "Teachers already in the system are so entrenched in their attitudes and values [that] they are not likely to benefit much. But student teachers are still developing and are key change agents," Abigail Dreyer, project manager at the UWC School of Public Health, told PlusNews. Although HIV/AIDS has been incorporated into all school curricula in the country, it was still taught "in isolation", and teachers have not had an opportunity to see the link between gender-based violence and the HIV/AIDS epidemic, she added. The project used HIV/AIDS education as an entry point for looking at sexual violence. "We had to address what HIV has in common with gender-based violence, because it is important for them to acknowledge that gender inequality plays a major role in both," she noted. According to Dreyer, when AIDS information was complemented by information on sexual violence, it would make a "bigger impact" on students. Responding to questions about their own experiences of gender-based violence, 47 percent of women teachers reported experiencing physical abuse at the hands of an intimate partner, while 31 percent also reported experiencing sexual abuse. Up to 25 percent of male teachers admitted they had been physically abusive, while 12 percent said they had been sexually abusive, the pilot project found. "The experiences of teachers have not been adequately addressed. These can be used to make an even more powerful impact in the classroom," Dreyer said. But she acknowledged that caution needed to be exercised. "We had anticipated that teachers would be change agents, but other research has shown that they are sometimes the perpetrators of the very acts we are trying to address," Dreyer said. The role of teachers as perpetrators of abuse would continue to be an obstacle in programmes such as these, she pointed out. "Maybe we need to look at the participation of learners, and encourage them to take more ownership towards preventing sexual violence in schools," she said.