Efforts to increase girls‘ access to quality education focus mostly on removing obstacles linked to poverty and discrimination, and often fail to acknowledge the violence many of them suffer in, around, and on the way to and from school. The objective of the present research is to examine the barriers to combating male sexual and gender-based violence in schools at the community level, and to consider community and expert-issued suggestions on removing these obstacles in the Ghanaian context. It does so through the lens of the Gender and Development approach and uses the Ecological Model of Gender-based Violence. Inspired by the standpoint feminist approach to research, data collection in Awaso and Accra involved classroom observation in four (4) Junior high school classes, 19 qualitative interviews with government and civil society personnel, and four (4) focus group discussions with parents, students and teachers. The findings show that barriers to eliminating male sexual and gender-based violence in Awaso include lack of knowledge of girls‘ rights to protection from violence, of consequences of violence against women and girls and of reporting mechanisms. Other barriers identified were lack of resources at the family and government levels, traditional values of family, community and religion, and social perceptions of both gender hierarchies and violence against women and girls. Gendered power dynamics underlie these barriers and hinder progress on the issue of girls‘ protection from violence, but groups of Ghanaian women, girls, men and boys are challenging these dynamics and finding ways to make schools safer for girls. Their strategies for change are also featured in the present research.

Efforts to increase girls‘ access to quality education focus mostly on removing obstacles linked to poverty and discrimination, and often fail to acknowledge the violence many of them suffer in, around, and on the way to and from school. The objective of the present research is to examine the barriers to combating male sexual and gender-based violence in schools at the community level, and to consider community and expert-issued suggestions on removing these obstacles in the Ghanaian context. It does so through the lens of the Gender and Development approach and uses the Ecological Model of Gender-based Violence. Inspired by the standpoint feminist approach to research, data collection in Awaso and Accra involved classroom observation in four (4) Junior high school classes, 19 qualitative interviews with government and civil society personnel, and four (4) focus group discussions with parents, students and teachers. The findings show that barriers to eliminating male sexual and gender-based violence in Awaso include lack of knowledge of girls‘ rights to protection from violence, of consequences of violence against women and girls and of reporting mechanisms. Other barriers identified were lack of resources at the family and government levels, traditional values of family, community and religion, and social perceptions of both gender hierarchies and violence against women and girls. Gendered power dynamics underlie these barriers and hinder progress on the issue of girls‘ protection from violence, but groups of Ghanaian women, girls, men and boys are challenging these dynamics and finding ways to make schools safer for girls. Their strategies for change are also featured in the present research.

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This study examined how group work can provide a culturally-competent, gender and agesensitive model of social work practice with girls of colour. I developed and implemented a school-based girls' group program specifically designed to outreach to girls of colour between thirteen and eighteen years of age. Results from the program demonstrated that through purposeful efforts to develop collaborative, non-hierarchical relationships, adult facilitators played a significant role in creating an environment in which girls could speak about issues that were important to them, including those related to race and culture. During the group sessions, girls learned about each other and themselves, identified similarities in their experiences as immigrants to Canada, and created a sense of group belonging. Similarity in non-dominant cultural status and gender among participants and facilitators appeared to have contributed to the group's cohesiveness and countered structural barriers to addressing race and culture. This study highlighted the value of a group model of practice to provide girls of colour with their own space to freely explore individual experiences and a vehicle for community organizing.

Efforts to increase girls‘ access to quality education focus mostly on removing obstacles linked to poverty and discrimination, and often fail to acknowledge the violence many of them suffer in, around, and on the way to and from school. The objective of the present research is to examine the barriers to combating male sexual and gender-based violence in schools at the community level, and to consider community and expert-issued suggestions on removing these obstacles in the Ghanaian context. It does so through the lens of the Gender and Development approach and uses the Ecological Model of Gender-based Violence. Inspired by the standpoint feminist approach to research, data collection in Awaso and Accra involved classroom observation in four (4) Junior high school classes, 19 qualitative interviews with government and civil society personnel, and four (4) focus group discussions with parents, students and teachers. The findings show that barriers to eliminating male sexual and gender-based violence in Awaso include lack of knowledge of girls‘ rights to protection from violence, of consequences of violence against women and girls and of reporting mechanisms. Other barriers identified were lack of resources at the family and government levels, traditional values of family, community and religion, and social perceptions of both gender hierarchies and violence against women and girls. Gendered power dynamics underlie these barriers and hinder progress on the issue of girls‘ protection from violence, but groups of Ghanaian women, girls, men and boys are challenging these dynamics and finding ways to make schools safer for girls. Their strategies for change are also featured in the present research.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2008. / Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 174-190).

Efforts to increase girls‘ access to quality education focus mostly on removing obstacles linked to poverty and discrimination, and often fail to acknowledge the violence many of them suffer in, around, and on the way to and from school. The objective of the present research is to examine the barriers to combating male sexual and gender-based violence in schools at the community level, and to consider community and expert-issued suggestions on removing these obstacles in the Ghanaian context. It does so through the lens of the Gender and Development approach and uses the Ecological Model of Gender-based Violence. Inspired by the standpoint feminist approach to research, data collection in Awaso and Accra involved classroom observation in four (4) Junior high school classes, 19 qualitative interviews with government and civil society personnel, and four (4) focus group discussions with parents, students and teachers. The findings show that barriers to eliminating male sexual and gender-based violence in Awaso include lack of knowledge of girls‘ rights to protection from violence, of consequences of violence against women and girls and of reporting mechanisms. Other barriers identified were lack of resources at the family and government levels, traditional values of family, community and religion, and social perceptions of both gender hierarchies and violence against women and girls. Gendered power dynamics underlie these barriers and hinder progress on the issue of girls‘ protection from violence, but groups of Ghanaian women, girls, men and boys are challenging these dynamics and finding ways to make schools safer for girls. Their strategies for change are also featured in the present research.

This study examined how group work can provide a culturally-competent, gender and agesensitive model of social work practice with girls of colour. I developed and implemented a school-based girls' group program specifically designed to outreach to girls of colour between thirteen and eighteen years of age. Results from the program demonstrated that through purposeful efforts to develop collaborative, non-hierarchical relationships, adult facilitators played a significant role in creating an environment in which girls could speak about issues that were important to them, including those related to race and culture. During the group sessions, girls learned about each other and themselves, identified similarities in their experiences as immigrants to Canada, and created a sense of group belonging. Similarity in non-dominant cultural status and gender among participants and facilitators appeared to have contributed to the group's cohesiveness and countered structural barriers to addressing race and culture. This study highlighted the value of a group model of practice to provide girls of colour with their own space to freely explore individual experiences and a vehicle for community organizing. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

Several researchers report that object control skills, health-related physical fitness and physical activity are not optimally developed in children. It is also evident from the literature that children, especially girls, are not active enough these days. These trends are disturbing as these are important factors that play a role in the health and sports development later in the child's life. Firstly, this dissertation attempts to examine the relationship between object control skills and health-related physical fitness in nine to ten-year old girls in the North-West Province of South Africa. Secondly, the relationship between object control skills and physical activity levels and patterns in nine to ten-year old girls in the North-West Province of South Africa was investigated. Data were collected by means of a stratified randomised sample of 408 girls with a mean age of 9,86 years (±0,42) who participated in the NW-CHILD study. The Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-2 (BOT-2) (Bruininks & Bruininks, 2005) strength sub-test (standing long jump, push-ups, sit-ups, wall sit and V-up) was used to determine the girls’ strength, the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 (TGMD-2) (Ulrich, 2000) was used to determine the learners’ object control skills and the FITNESSGRAM (Meredith & Welk, 2008) was used to evaluate the girls’ cardiovascular endurance. The Children’s Leisure Activities Study Survey (CLASS) was used to evaluate the physical activity pattern of the girls. Stature, body mass and skinfolds (subscapular, triceps and calf) were measured according to standard kinantropometric protocols. The STATISTICA software package was used to analyse the data. Small but significant correlations were found between object control skills and strength, aerobic fitness and the body composition of the group. According to the healty fitness zone (HFZ) classification, 49.62% (n=198) of girls were categorised as being in the HFZ with regard to their BMI and 54.14% (n=216) in the HFZ with regards to the FAT%. This indicates that object control skills are influenced by factors that can contribute to the health of young girls. Participation in physical activities should therefore be increased. Appropriate development of object control skills (OC) and strength skills in girls is recommended to prevent delays in sports participation. Further investigation involved racial differences in activity performances. Ninety white and 318 black girls with a mean age of 9.86 years participated in this study. OC skills were assessed. Statistically (p≤0.001) and practically significant differences between the white and black girls were found, where the white girls participated more in ten of the moderate intensity physical activities than the black girls and the black girls participated more in three of these activities. Activities in which white girls mostly participated contributed significantly to higher moderate to high intensity. / MA (Kinderkinetics), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Several researchers report that object control skills, health-related physical fitness and physical activity are not optimally developed in children. It is also evident from the literature that children, especially girls, are not active enough these days. These trends are disturbing as these are important factors that play a role in the health and sports development later in the child's life. Firstly, this dissertation attempts to examine the relationship between object control skills and health-related physical fitness in nine to ten-year old girls in the North-West Province of South Africa. Secondly, the relationship between object control skills and physical activity levels and patterns in nine to ten-year old girls in the North-West Province of South Africa was investigated. Data were collected by means of a stratified randomised sample of 408 girls with a mean age of 9,86 years (±0,42) who participated in the NW-CHILD study. The Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-2 (BOT-2) (Bruininks & Bruininks, 2005) strength sub-test (standing long jump, push-ups, sit-ups, wall sit and V-up) was used to determine the girls’ strength, the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 (TGMD-2) (Ulrich, 2000) was used to determine the learners’ object control skills and the FITNESSGRAM (Meredith & Welk, 2008) was used to evaluate the girls’ cardiovascular endurance. The Children’s Leisure Activities Study Survey (CLASS) was used to evaluate the physical activity pattern of the girls. Stature, body mass and skinfolds (subscapular, triceps and calf) were measured according to standard kinantropometric protocols. The STATISTICA software package was used to analyse the data. Small but significant correlations were found between object control skills and strength, aerobic fitness and the body composition of the group. According to the healty fitness zone (HFZ) classification, 49.62% (n=198) of girls were categorised as being in the HFZ with regard to their BMI and 54.14% (n=216) in the HFZ with regards to the FAT%. This indicates that object control skills are influenced by factors that can contribute to the health of young girls. Participation in physical activities should therefore be increased. Appropriate development of object control skills (OC) and strength skills in girls is recommended to prevent delays in sports participation. Further investigation involved racial differences in activity performances. Ninety white and 318 black girls with a mean age of 9.86 years participated in this study. OC skills were assessed. Statistically (p≤0.001) and practically significant differences between the white and black girls were found, where the white girls participated more in ten of the moderate intensity physical activities than the black girls and the black girls participated more in three of these activities. Activities in which white girls mostly participated contributed significantly to higher moderate to high intensity. / MA (Kinderkinetics), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015