What about the Boy Child? 22 August 2017
We held a Roundtable Discussion asking the question ‘What about the Boy Child’? While in the past Roundtable Discussions on ‘Gender Based Violence’, ‘Positive Discipline’ and the ‘Vulnerability of the Girl Child’ have been held. However, there is a tendency to overlook the boy child. Real transformation of gender relations requires an equal focus on the boy child. The Roundtable was addressed by Mr Thulani Velebayi of Sonke Gender Justice; Ms Zainab Kader from James House and Ms Bettie Niewoudt from the Stellenbosch Child Welfare Society. Themes from the Roundtable Discussion suggest that boys lack solid role-models and fall victim to all kinds of social pathologies – including participation in gangs, drug and alcohol abuse, violence crime and abusive domestic relationships. It was made clear that urgent interventions are needed. As Prof Paul Wandere has said, “If you save the boy child, you save a generation.”
Standing: Ms Lois Law (Family and Vulnerable Sectors Researcher, CPLO) and Fr Matsepane Morare SJ (Moderator and Researcher, CPLO)
Seated, L-R: Ms Zainub Kader, Ms Bettie Niewoudt, and Mr Thulani Velebayi
Presentations: