GIRLS

Moletsane, R., Mitchell, C. & Moorosi, P. (2009) Guest editorial: towards a new agenda for girlhood studies in Southern Africa:. Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity. 79:2-5.

Moletsane, R., Mitchell, C., Smith, A. & Chisholm, L. (2008) Methodologies for mapping a southern African girlhood in the age of Aids. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

Methodologies for Mapping a southern African Girlhood in the Age of Aids is located within the new and broader area of Girlhood Studies. Girls have long been considered a rich feminist memory-site for examining the genesis of women's sense of self in the developed world. To date, however, only a few scholars have focused on southern African girlhoods. Even fewer focus on methodologies for resea...

Moletsane, R. (2007) South African girlhood in the age of AIDS: towards girlhood studies. Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity. 72:155-165.

The article explores the concept girlhood in South Africa and the reasons for the continuing marginalisation and brutalisation of girls in communities, schools and other social spaces in spite of government's adoption of rights-based policies in line with international conventions and human rights policies. The article argues for targeted girlhood studies using girl-methods as one way of unders...

Ntombela, S. & Mashiya, N. (2009) "In my time, girls...": reflections of African adolescent girl identities and realities across two generations. Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity. 79:94-106.

Four women who grew up in different contexts of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, during different periods of apartheid reflect on their adolescent years in relation to what girls' realities were. Through these reflections an attempt is made to examine how girlhood realities and constructions of femininities have changed (or not) over two generations. The article also explores whether and how thei...

Puoane, T., Tsolekile, L. & Steyn, N. (2010) Perceptions about body image and sizes among black African girls living in Cape Town. Ethnicity & Disease. 20:29-34.

this study shows that opinions and beliefs about body image start in adolescence. It is therefore important to consider these perceptions when designing interventions for preventing obesity and other chronic non-communicable diseases during early childhood.

Reddy, V. (2009) Turning sugar and spice on its head: recent research on the gendered meanings within girlhood studies. Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity. 79:78-84.

This review focuses on two publications that foreground scholarly perspectives on "girlhood". Focusing on the inaugural issue of Girlhood Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal (Summer 2008, Berghan Books) and Methodologies for Mapping a Southern African Girlhood in the Age of AIDS (Sense Publishers, 2008), the review offer a series of ideas that motivate why these two texts are to be considered...