Moral Dilemmas II - girls and boys

Growing up in the US, I was the generation after Title IX. I spent hours in front of the TV watching Mia Hamm and the US women’s soccer team as they took on the world in the World Cup. I played on all-girls’ soccer teams, I participated in every season of sports at my school, and I did everything the boys did.

Here in Namibia, it’s a little different. I’m lucky to be working and living in the south, which is at least a bit more similar to home. Women are more accepted as equals here, and at least some of the schools have girls’ teams and support girls’ activities. But we have limited resources, just like every school in Namibia, and I have been struggling with the issue of equality lately.

Because when it comes down to it, my boys are more motivated than my girls in most areas. They practice soccer on their own, they fundraise by themselves to earn money to travel with their soccer team to have matches in other villages, they come and ask “when is practice” and run away from class to come and tell me to call the other schools to request a game this weekend. So at the end of the day, I am more likely to take the boys for practice than the girls. I am more likely to funnel funds towards the boys’ teams, because they practice more and show me that they really care.

I’m not sure this is right. I grew up in a family that was very encouraging, and I was NEVER given the impression that girls and boys should be treated differently. I think the only difference between my brother and me was that I wore dresses sometimes – and heck, I wore his clothes half the time too.

The girls here are probably less motivated for several reasons. The big #1 is that they’ve never been given these opportunities before, and they don’t really know how to train on their own! They probably don’t know what opportunities are even there, so how should they know to come and ask me to schedule games for them? They are usually kicked out of the boys’ games, or they are afraid to play because the boys are so rough and so much better already, so they have fewer opportunities to practice.

#2, girls are still expected to fulfill different roles than boys in our society. The girls in the hostel wash WAY more often than the boys, and they usually wash the boys’ clothes for them, too. They are busier, and it is harder for them to find time to practice.

So what should I do? I am the only Sport Teacher, and I want to give my attention to the kids who really want it. But at the same time, how can I be here, and be given this opportunity to do whatever I want with the sports teams (and I am a female sports teacher, which is rare!) and not take advantage of it to give girls the chance? No, my girls will probably never be great, and maybe it won’t make much difference in the end. But I think I gained a lot of confidence and grew a lot from participating in team sports and “doing everything the boys did” growing up, and my girls could use that even more.