Integrating Afrikaner women's history in senior secondary school CAPS through an evaluation of women's "sense of independence"

Charl Blignaut

doi:10.17159/2223-0386/2017/n18a1

Abstract

Integrating Afrikaner women's history in senior secondary school CAPS through an evaluation of women's "sense of independence"

Highlights

In 2011 the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement for History in senior secondary school was released
The theories and methodologies of gender history are of the utmost importance to realise the civic aims of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS), but the discussion of gender is beyond the scope of this article
This article identifies the lack of focus on women in the History CAPS despite the claim that history supports citizenship within a democracy by representing gender-issues

Summary

Introduction

In 2011 the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement for History in senior secondary school was released. The placing of gender on the agenda can be applauded, but this entails a thorough engagement with the existence of gender differences, the social construction of gendered identities, the contingency of gender, and dichotomies taking the form of hierarchical oppositions. This includes a particular emphasis on women’s history that “strives to make students sensitive to the way meanings, past and present, are assigned to femininity and masculinity and how these meanings change”.2. Within the context of the CAPS document, it would be fruitful to view women’s history in light of the civil responsibility as at least a noble aim concerning the inclusion of women and the acknowledgement of gender as a factor in history

Objectives

Conclusion