Schools, Sex, and Shame: Exploring the Experiences and Struggles of Teachers with Sex Education in Schools in Lahore, Pakistan

• In Event: Teacher, student, and practitioner perspectives on contemporary issues in gender and education

Proposal

In their 2020 rankings, Pakistan was placed at 154th among 189 countries in the Human Development Index (Tribune, 2020). The Global Gender Gap Report 2021, published by the World Economic Forum, ranked Pakistan 153rd out of 156 countries on the gender parity index. The Global Gender Gap Index also ranked Pakistan as the sixth most dangerous country in the world for women. These alarming statistics point to the critical need for policy and legal changes in Pakistan. The youth of Pakistan has suffered extreme challenges in terms of knowledge of sexual and reproductive health issues, including early marriage and pregnancy, low use of contraception, unsafe abortions, menstruation and puberty, sexuality, reproduction, sexually transmitted infections, and limited information and SRH services; all limited primarily by cultural and economic barriers (Svanemyr, Baig and Mouli, 2015, p. 250). As these topics are missing from the school curricula, the main sources of information are then the media, friends, or families. Particularly for growing girls, their mothers have conversations with their daughters, but these are found to be limited and often inaccurate. Parents are often uncomfortable having these discussions about sexuality and bodily changes with their children, and lack proper knowledge themselves (Svanemyr, Baig and Mouli, 2015).
While researchers around the world have examined the importance of school-based sex education in girls’ empowerment (Sinai and Shehade, 2018; Santelli, J et al., 2018), few scholars have investigated the topic in Pakistan (Zakar, Zakar, & Kraemer, 2013) or have taken into consideration the opinions of two key participants: teachers and students themselves. My research fills this gap by exploring public narratives, curricula, and teachers’ and students’ experiences of sex education in schools in Lahore, Pakistan. Utilizing in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and observations, the study explores if and how schools contribute to reinforcing and constructing the concept of shame regarding gender and sexuality through the official and hidden curriculum. This study will be a contribution to the existing literature in sex education and gender and education in South Asia from a much-needed Pakistani lens. It offers a qualitative, in-depth insight into a topic that is deeply rooted in shame and taboo.

The study researches on the perceptions of female school teachers on sex education that explores the reasons, according to them, behind the silencing of the topic and the impact this has on girls. My dissertation expands to include the opinions of female secondary school teachers and administrators about the need for sex education, their perceptions of how sex education could impact their lives, and their experiences of sexual health education in and out of school. I undertook a qualitative study across different types of schools in Pakistan: government, low-cost private, and high-cost private schools. This comparative research allowed me to gather rich and detailed perspectives across different social classes, and rural and urban regions from about eleven schools in total, and twenty participants. This showed how different forms of economic, social, and cultural capital play a role in sex education narratives and experiences of diverse girls. I carried out observations while attending staff meetings and certain classroom discussions, mainly for subjects like science, biology, sociology, Islamic studies, and health, as these are the subjects where certain ‘sex education’ topics are most likely to come up. This study not only initiates and advances research on an otherwise silenced and ignored topic, but also pushes schools and communities to critically analyze the consequences of this ignorance and how much it is adversely affecting girls, their education, and the overall quality of their life. Most importantly, it also provides a safe space for students and teachers to discuss their thoughts, experiences, and feelings with others. This experience both allows their voices to be safely heard by a broader audience via the research, and additionally removes shame and stigma around the topic of sex education and the female body through the act of discussion. The study offers a more in-depth exploration of how gender dynamics and the construction of womanhood in school links to concepts of shame and familial honor defined across the community, which also cuts across class in different ways. By highlighting the limitations and potential opportunities of teachers and educational institutions in a social context where educating young women about their bodies and their fundamental biology can trigger an uproar from parents and the community, I aim to improve our understanding of/the policies related to sex education and the female body.
The study will aim to come up with a proposal for an accurate, appropriate, and culturally acceptable curriculum which can benefit society and young girls without constant objection and protests from the community and parents. The research will also work towards policy changes for safer campuses, high quality learning, and funding towards sexual and reproductive and health and rights. We can also connect the development and need for curriculum changes to the digital society of today and how digital resources and AI can be used to create mediums of instruction to provide students with information regarding sex education and help them protect themselves against harassment, misinformation regarding their bodies, and be a source of empowerment. Since many teachers share how students these days are a target of cybercrime, online harassment and misinformation, it is also useful and crucial to talk about education and particularly sex education for young students in the digital society and how it can also harm students, and how to protect students from that danger.

Author

• Farah Basit, The University of Wisconsin-Madison