Girls rock, but sometimes and some places they need someone to remind them that they do!
A couple of weeks ago PULSE arranged a 3 day workshop for 15 teenage girls in Limpopo. All the girls are dancers in the Field Band, but during the PULSE workshop all of them got to be both percussionists, brass players and singers too!
PULSE see that, as in other parts of the South African society, boys tend to get more attention, more challenges and more encouragement than girls in the band.
When we visit bands we don´t see any reason why it should be like this. Girls can dance and play any instrument as good as boys can, but first of all they have to believe that they can do so themselves.
In addition to try to play new instruments the girls discussed several gender equality issues. The girls believed that boys were stronger than girls so they could drink alcohol, smoke, work and play male dominated sports like soccer. We tried to encourage them to see that being a girl does not limit your abilities to for instance play soccer, be a leader and/or do physical work. Being a girl does not mean that you are restricted to fall pregnant in an early age, stay at home and do the dishes. We believe that girls have excatly the same right to have ambitons, choises and dreams for the future – when it comes to education, work, social relations and physical achievements.
PULSE feel that the girls went home with other thoughs and reflections than they had when they arrived at the workshop. We hope they will keep up the girl power when they get back to their fellow band members in the Field Band rehearsals and to their homes in the local community.
Take a look at some of the girls here:
