Sexual harassment in elementary and secondary education : a comparative analysis of South Africa and the United States

Abstract

South Africa has one of the highest rates of violence against women in the world. The South African Government regards the rape and sexual abuse of children as a grave concern. On a daily basis in schools across the nation, South African girls of every race and economic class encounter sexual violence and harassment at school that impedes their realization of the right to education. A 2002 research report showed that one out of three black students in the Johannesburg area experienced sexual violence in their schools. At a majority of the predominately black schools, there was little or no monitoring of what happened on school premises during and after school hours. This report led to a campaign in all nine provinces of South Africa to investigate the prevalence of sexual violence in schools. As the National Government admitted, culturally there is a problem with reporting sexual abuse, because victims are afraid of being victimized or stigmatized and amongst boys it is not acceptable to admit sexual abuse.