Women's rights,the family,and organisational culture: a Lesotho case study

Traditional cultural norms have had significant implications for the work and internal structure of Lesotho Save the Children (LSC). From 1964-90, the organization's work focused entirely on the needs of neglected and abandoned boys, for whom it provided residential care. After consultation with the Department of Social Welfare, it was decided to make the residential center a haven for girls as well as boys in need of protection. Many girls in Lesotho experience physical and sexual abuse within their families; moreover, daughters in poor families are often placed in households of wealthier extended family as domestics, where further abuse occurs. Cultural discomfort acknowledging and discussing sexuality extended to Children's Village staff responsible for the care of child rape victims. Coercive sex is often a prelude to marriage in Lesotho, where many women are kidnapped and raped by their prospective bridegrooms. In-service training has enabled staff to overcome their reticence regarding sexual issues and view rape as a criminal act. Although LSC is unable to challenge the oppression of women and children implicit in the traditional family, it continues to encourage girls and women to protest sexual violence, the abuse of their daughters, and the unequal distribution of labor within the family. All children in the LSC residence perform both male- and female-defined duties and attempts are being made to reduce the division of labor among staff in which females are caretakers and males are authority figures.