What does it mean to be a girl? Implications of girls' and boys' experiences of gender roles in rural Lesotho primary schools

Abstract

A doctoral study on constructions of gender has found that meanings attached to children's identities play a role in their experiences of gender in schools. From the view of the sociological theory of social constructionism the data were analysed to search for everyday gendered experiences of female and male children in a primary school. Drawing from ethnographic data (conversations, observations and informal discussions), this article discusses girls' and boys' experiences of gender in three co-educational rural primary schools in Lesotho. Analysis denotes experiences of sexual violence and gender-motivated fights as predominant in girls' and boys' experiences of gender, and that these had inequitable effects that militated against girls more than boys. These painful experiences occurred against the backdrop of high female enrolment in Lesotho primary schools (Unicef 2008). The article cautions that statistics on increased girls' school attendance might create a false impression concerning gender equality in these schools.

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