Beyond passivity: constructions of femininities in a single‐sex South African school

Abstract

In the context of the calamitous effects of gender violence on the experience of schooling for South African girls, single‐sex schools have been advanced as a strategy to protect girls from violence. In this paper, the experiences of a selected group of girls in a single‐sex school in Durban, South Africa are illustrated to provide a counter argument to the logic upon which single‐sex schooling in the country rests. It is argued that single sex schooling and its assumed association with non‐violence are premised upon notions of passive femininity, without consideration of the cultural variants of femininities. Drawing on interviews with girls in a single‐sex school, this article goes beyond passivity and illustrates the social complexity in the construction of alternate forms of femininity. Such forms of femininity draw on physical and verbal contestation and are tied to sexuality, race and ethnicity. The article concludes by drawing attention to the variable forms of femininities and to patterns of violence and in doing so breaks the logic prevalent in the country that associated single‐sex schooling with girls’ safety.