Grandmothers: A Learning Institution - Basic Education and Policy ...

“The status of eldersin traditional societiesreflects the fundamentalrole theyplay in the functioningand survival ofthose societies.”FugelsangAbout Understanding:Ideas andObservations onCross-CulturalUnderstandingers. She laments the fact that these seniorwomen have generally been excludedfrom health, nutrition, and childrearing programsoften on the pretense that they areilliterate.The literature reviewed above shows thatin numerous non-western cultures inAfrica, Asia, Latin America and The Pacific,as well as in indigenous cultures in NorthAmerica and Australia, grandmothers playa significant role in children’s health anddevelopment. Based on this review, thefollowing section is a discussion of a seriesof core roles of grandmothers that wouldappear to be universal.CORE ROLES OFGRANDMOTHERS ACROSSCULTURESBased on a synthesis of the literaturereviewed above, as well as that included inAppendix B., on grandmothers’ roles inchild development in different non-westernsocieties, several conclusions emergerelated to a series of core roles andexpectations of grandmothers that appearto be common across these cultures.While the focus of our discussion is on therole of “grandmothers” given their genderrelatedspecialization in child developmentissues, in some cases the core roles andexpectations refer more broadly to therole of “grandparents.” The core roles andexpectations identified across cultures areas follows:• All cultures recognize the critical roleof grandparents as guides and advisorsto younger generations.Family members expect grandparentsto play a role in teaching, guiding, andadvising the younger generations.Resonating Margaret Mead’s words,grandparents are expected to passonto the next generation the“model” for how things should bedone whether it is in Nepal,Colombia, or Nigeria. Furthermore,in virtually all of the non-western culturesrepresented in the reviewed literature,age and experience are valuedand family members are expectedto show respect for the statusand advice of grandparents.• In all cultures grandparents play gender-specificroles related to childdevelopment.In all societies, different roles are designatedto grandfathers and to grandmothers,just as gender-specific rolesare assigned to younger men andwomen. Senior women have primaryresponsibility for socializing youngerfemales to their role in the family andsociety, while senior men have analogousresponsibility for providing informaltraining to male family membersonce they pass childhood, often fromthe age of seven or eight. While inall cases grandmothers are moreinvolved in the care of children andwomen in the family than are grandfathers,given their lifetime experience,the degree of involvement ofgrandfathers in childcare varies considerablyfrom one society to another.• Grandmothers are responsible fortransmitting cultural valuesWhile grandfathers too, are involvedin this important task, in most soci­14 UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT