Abstract:
This paper explores how economically disadvantaged girls with
disabilities resist masculine domination at Rwanda’s largest
inclusive school, Busengare Secondary. Based on 16 in-depth
interviews and 3 focus group interviews with Rwandan girls with
disabilities, this study draws on critical feminist perspectives to
examine the subjectivities of girls with disabilities marginalised by
virtue of their gender, class and disability. The findings reveal that
girls with disabilities challenge the enduring power of masculine
domination that seeks to limit their leadership and learning in
classrooms through two distinct strategies: assertive resistance
and subversive resistance. At its core, this paper exposes
gendered structures of dominance among young people with
disabilities not yet addressed in gender studies and disability
studies scholarship in Rwanda.
