Engaging with human rights and gender in curriculum spaces: a Religion and Education (RaE) perspective

Abstract

The introduction of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) and how it positions religion in the curriculum requires rethinking. This article first argues that Religion and Education (RaE) has the propensity to engage a broader perspective than Religion in Education (RiE) in curriculum inquiry. The opportunity to engage in RaE in curriculum spaces has its origins in debates on religion as private or public domain. The article explores how adolescent girls from diverse religious and cultural contexts experience gender issues in their communities and society. We report on adolescent girls’ voices, their experiences and how they value gender in their own religion and culture, as well as in that of others. This viewpoint is significant for RaE for two reasons. Firstly, using gender as the research focus provides an alternative form of inquiry to create a discourse in and around RaE. Secondly, we consider how theoretical underpinnings of human rights, namely universalism and particularism, can inform thinking about RaE epistemologically. This article argues that one needs to think differently about RaE, to consider human rights and gender theories in order to prevent voices being silenced, curriculum restricted and oppression continued