Warning: This article makes mention of sexual assault
Young women who experience earlier pregnancies are often subjected to large-scale stigmatisation. And, often, this is not the case for their male counterparts who find themselves in the same position. This is according to Christina Nomdo, the Western Cape commissioner for children. It is suggested that the destigmatisation of earlier pregnancies starts with strong family support structures. However, the issue of whether or not comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) in schools has a role to play in the destigmatisation discourse, remains a contentious matter.
It is now five years after Odette Claasen experienced an earlier pregnancy. Claasen excitedly shares how her first-born is about to become an older sister later this year. This excitement has, however, not always been the case for her.
“There were people who were negative about my pregnancy,” says Claasen. “But it didn’t bother me, because my mom and my family were very supportive.”
For many other young women, the experience is different, though.
The stigmatisation of early pregnancies remains one of the biggest challenges hindering adolescents from accessing necessary information and resources surrounding sexual health, explains Christina Nomdo, the Western Cape commissioner for children. While her institution is independent from the government, it reports to the provincial parliament.
“We need to be transparent with children,” says Christina Nomdo, the Western Cape commissioner for children. “We need to talk to them about sex and provide life guidance.” Nomdo highlights that from birth, it is mandatory that parents build a relationship with their children based on trust. “They must know when they ask a question, they are going to receive an answer that is truthful,” she says. PHOTO: Sibulela Bolarinwa
“‘Teenage pregnancy’ is a stigmatising term which is not sensitive to the gendered power dynamics within our society,” says Nomdo. “The blame and shame game is not in anybody’s interest, not the girl child and not the new-born.”
She explains that the South African Constitution does not criminalise adolescents for something that is developmentally normative. “As a society we are unwilling to accept that teenagers actually engage in sexual activities willingly, and with mutual consent,” says Nomdo.
A broader understanding
The Western Cape Department of Health outlines that “in the last 12 months until June 2021, there have been 99 931 deliveries of babies to women of various ages in public health facilities in the Western Cape. Of these, a total of 314 have been deliveries to women aged 10 to 14, and 10 773 to women aged 15 to 19.”
“When you have reports that 10 year olds are giving birth, then this is the result of a criminal act,” says Nomdo. We need to be cognisant of who we are referring to when we speak of earlier pregnancies, explains Nomdo. She highlights that social science studies have indicated that the first sexual encounter for girls is usually coerced.
Adolescants under the age of 12 cannot give consent to sex, as it is illegal, explains Nomdo. “Between 12 to 16, you can only give consent to sexual activity with your peers in the same age group,” explains Nomdo. However, “16 is the age of consent with anybody. If you haven’t prepared your child at 16, to make a good decision about sex, then they are going to fall into many pitfalls,” says Nomdo.
Providing identity-forming information about a broad variety of topics relating to sexuality, puberty and relationships establishes a relationship of trust between adults and adolescents, according to Nomdo. It also empowers adolescents to seek guidance when they are unsure, she adds.
“Children need to be guided by how to recognise when they are in an unhealthy relationship, and to determine when they are being coerced into doing something that they don’t want to do,” says Nomdo.
The sex education debate
According to the Western Cape Education Department (WCED), 547 learner pregnancies have been reported to their districts since April 2020, as per reports that have been received via the districts’ specialised support teams.
“There are organisations that focus on sexuality and sexual and reproductive health rights access, which are good options for children to turn to,” explains Nomdo. However, children are unaware of these organisations, she says.
“Sex education should start at home, with girls and boys alike, and then spill over into the schools and community programmes,” says Abigail Osborne, a registered counsellor and programme facilitator at the Usapho Foundation. The Usapho Foundation is a Durbanville-based non-profit organisation that runs a host of programmes, including a positive teenage-parenting coaching programme.
“We try and run programmes in the community, as there is a little bit more discretion. But at schools [the programmes] are not as readily accepted,” says Osborne.
“The sad thing is, [sex education] is still a taboo in communities and in schools. At one point we went to a school to introduce the teen-parenting programme into the school and the principal thought that we were advocating for teen parents,” says Abigail Osborne, a registered counsellor and programme facilitator at the Usapho Foundation, a Durbanville-based non-profit organisation. PHOTO: Sibulela Bolarinwa
Nomdo notes how the reintroduction of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) in schools, in the last couple of years, has resulted in uproar and opposition from parents nationwide.
According to the Department of Basic Education, Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) has been introduced into the Life Orientation curriculum in schools since 2000. INFOGRAPHIC: Sibulela Bolarinwa
“Sex education in schools leads to risky sexual behaviour and can expose children to gender-based violence,” says Dr Elfrieda Fleischmann, secretary of the Concerned Young People of South Africa (CYPSA), a public-benefit organisation (PBO) which aims to voice the various needs of communities nationwide. “When boys start to look at girls as sex objects and vice versa then it is unsafe and degrading,” she says.
Fleischmann argues that a holistic approach to sex education is needed. Ideally, teachers need to be equipped to look for certain signs in children who may be struggling, and educate those children about sexual matters on an individual basis. According to Fleischmann, this is to avoid retraumatising children in the classroom who have been victims of sexual assault.
“We need to teach [the] youth to know that there is a place for sex […] and that it is something that is beautiful in the right context,” says Fleischmann. Attempts need to be made to “try to encourage the youth to put their energy into their future”, she adds.
Conversely, Osborne argues that in this day and age abstinence-based teaching does not take into account the reality unfolding around us.
“Our focus must be on maths, science, accounting, how to start a business, how to start a vegetable garden, teaching innovation and projects – and not these things in academic hours,” argues Fleischmann.
Gendered power dynamics
Where earlier pregnancies do occur, young mothers are faced with the consequences of childbearing while young fathers are often able to continue attending school and lead a normal life, says Osborne.
Abigail Osborne, registered counsellor and programme facilitator at the Usapho Foundation, a Durbanville-based non-profit organisation, explains her observations surrounding young fathers.
“Inequality that is created by gendered power dynamics is problematic,” says Nomdo. “Blaming the girl child for a sexual act that requires two people […], one of the opposite sex, and then absolving the male in the story, is completely unacceptable.”
The focus of the interventions by the WCED have changed from “merely providing information on pregnancy prevention, to teaching and discussing values with both female and male learners”, according to Kerry Mauchline, spokesperson for Debbie Schäfer, Western Cape minister of education.
Reimagining and remaking childhood
Nomdo explains how the “support of one’s family is integral to any situation – when you have been violated or when you have reached a crisis point or when you have been in a consenting relationship – and you made a mistake.”
Christina Nomdo, Western Cape commissioner of children explains the importance of parental support in the case of an earlier pregnancy.
Claasen explains that she wants to ensure that she motivates her children to pursue their dreams and to make good decisions.
“In my case, I never thought I would be a mom at a young age, but my daughter has brought me joy and hope. My life is better with her in it,” says Claasen.
Prior to her pregnancy, Claasen was completing her studies in hospitality. She explains how her studies had to be put on hold in order for her to raise her daughter. Claasen plans to complete her studies in the near future.