Child-friendly school: female students’ strategies for equality in accessibility of school playground

Abstract

Female marginalization is a common phenomenon, particularly in public spaces, including schools, which should provide equality of rights in space utilization. This research becomes more relevant because the politics in school playgrounds could represent the politics in urban public space, and the way females strategize to deal with it. This study was conducted at Penuai Indonesia School (PIS), a private, mixed-gender school in Tangerang, Indonesia, a country where patriarchal culture is generally the societal norm. This study was conducted using the grounded theory-based qualitative method, and it involved 47 female and 52 male students aged between eleven and twelve years. The data were obtained through questionnaires and deep interviews with female students and management of PIS. This study aims to understand female students’ strategies to overcome male domination (indicated by peers or invisible leaders) in the school playground. In conclusion, to combat male domination and invisible leaders, female students utilize three strategies depending on behavior patterns: they utilize separate playtime, utilize other playgrounds, and play in flocks. Being in flocks was the ideal strategy to cope with the anxiety they experienced; it is an adaptation through adjustment.

Keywords

• child-friendly school
• adaptation
• adjustment
• architecture
• behavior
• school playground