INITIATION: A DEADLY GENDERED LICENCE TO UNFAIR PATRIARCHAL DIVIDENDS TO HIGH SCHOOL XHOSA YOUNG MEN

Abstract

In the twenty-first century, unfair gender-biased practices that yield patriarchal dividends should have been eradicated in democratic societies worldwide. In South Africa, one of the most respected countries for its world-class Constitution, Xhosa young men continue to receive socially sanctioned preferential treatment over women, uninitiated peers, and non-conformist learners, especially in high schools in the Eastern Cape Province, where the Xhosa clan originates. This study explored the forms of gendered patriarchal dividends, their detrimental effects within high school settings, and possible strategies for mitigation. Framed by Connell’s (1995) Theory of Masculinities and situated within a constructivist paradigm, this qualitative study utilised individual and group interviews to generate data from purposively selected initiated Xhosa learners at a high school in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The findings indicate that initiated learners openly reject familiar forms of address from female and uninitiated peers, challenge authority, and prefer segregation from them within the school environment, thereby undermining SDG 05 (Gender Equality). Furthermore, initiated learners deliberately deviate from the prescribed school uniform by wearing specific colours and regalia associated with initiated men, coerce female learners into performing chores on their behalf, pressure uninitiated and non-conformist peers to undergo initiation, and engage in risky behaviours that reinforce patriarchal power structures. The persistence of these practices signals the need for significant societal reform. Efforts toward gender equality must begin with shifts in mindset, particularly among academics, before extending to educational institutions and, ultimately, to society at large.