South African girlhood in the age of AIDS: towards girlhood studies

Abstract

The article explores the concept girlhood in South Africa and the reasons for the continuing marginalisation and brutalisation of girls in communities, schools and other social spaces in spite of government's adoption of rights-based policies in line with international conventions and human rights policies. The article argues for targeted girlhood studies using girl-methods as one way of understanding girlhood from the girls' perspectives and of sustaining their engagement in interventions that aim to eradicate violence against them.