“Lessons from Learners: Focus on Women’s Issues” by Marie

I could open this entry with some HIV/AIDS statistics or an example from literature about teen pregnancy but I’ll let one of my 11^th grade students do the honors by extracting a quote from one of her essays: “Most of the people that get HIV are girls because they don’t wear proper clothes when going to parties.” Now, let’s all take a moment to contemplate the horrific cultural norms that support that statement……….

Perhaps I should back-track a bit…I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to intern as a teaching assistant at Thandokhulu High School this semester; a position which I find both challenging and rewarding. The main challenge, however, lies with the learners; who must struggle with a multitude of economic, social, and medical issues on a daily basis…issues that we Westerners rarely consider. At the first school assembly I attended, one of the administrative speaker’s main points came in the form of a plea directed toward the students. The message: respect yourselves and don’t get pregnant. With pregnancy remaining one of the top reasons for the high drop-out rate, it’s obvious why emphasizing sexual responsibility is key. However, I was irked that the address was mostly geared toward the teenage girls. Just as the opening quote suggests, it’s almost as if teen boys are not accountable for being sexually responsible. Oftentimes, women are viewed as the root of sexual issues, whether it is rape, HIV/AIDS, or pregnancy. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that South Africa is not the only country where women are held more accountable than men for unplanned pregnancy…U.S. society holds the same ideas; ideas which are changing at a glacial pace.

Until the status of women improves in our world, things like pregnancy will continue to remain solely a woman’s responsibility. Still, there is hope for the future…I found it in my very own classroom. Another student and, may I say, quite a blossoming feminist; wrote a strong essay promoting women in positions of power. I was pleased to find similar essays as my reading went on and, just as I began, I would like to close this entry with a quote from one of my brilliant pupils:  “People say that we are free and equal, but this is not so. It is very rare to find a president who is a woman, but people still say that we are equal. Women have the ability to do more but they are demoted by men. Women are hard-working and dedicated both at home and in the work place. They are powerful but they are not recognized. It is believed that men are the heads of households but, if you look around, many families are headed by single mothers.”

Let us look, let us look around indeed!