The study focused on work-family conflict among females occupying lower level jobs. A quantitative research methodology was conducted on a sample of (N=144) females working on the assembly line in two private sector organisations. The research instrument was a questionnaire comprising six parts. The variables were measured under four categories: work-family conflict, job demands, perceived organisational support and job self-efficacy. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse and interpret the data. A comparative study was done between Hesto and Alpha pharmaceutical employees and it was found that Hesto employees experience greater work-family conflict, job demands, perceived organisational support and job self-efficacy. The correlation results of the study showed that a significant negative relationship exists between perceived organisation support and work-family conflict. There was a weak positive relationship between perceived organisational support and job self-efficacy. Work demands was found to be positively and significantly related to work-family conflict. There was a significant negative relationship between perceived organisational support and work demand. A significant negative relationship was found between job self-efficacy and work-family conflict. Based on these results recommendations were made on how South African companies can help reduce work-family conflict.

Due to the continual constant battle women have to face in order to progress in the workplace, it has become necessary to assess the degree of transformational change within the workplace within South Africa to try to establish just what these barriers are and how it can be overcome. To examine the main problem, three sub-problems were identified. The first sub-problem that had been identified dealt with what the women’s rights in the new South Africa. It was investigated by evaluating the situation in the New South Africa and what has changed from the past. Is there more gender equality or not. The second sub-problem looked at the barriers that women face in the workplace. It is evident that sexual harassment, male chauvinism, trying to balance work and family as well as organisational structure and culture were among the top barriers that are a hindrance to women’s advancement in the workplace. Finally, the third sub-problem investigated what the glass ceiling effect is and the effect that this has on women in the workplace. The investigation evaluated, and emphasised the difficulties that women face in order to progress in the hierarchy of not only management but other occupations as well. Results have shown that most females and males believe that the glass ceiling is prevalent in the workplace. Most people believe that women can however break through the glass ceiling but now there is a new phenomenon, “The Glass Cliff” which allows women to break through the glass ceiling but only of organisations that are already in trouble.

The role that women play in the economy of any society is a desirable goal for equity and efficiency considerations. Just as with the rest of the world, the South African women lagged behind their male counterparts within the economic empowerment space and in the formal labour force. However, the role of women has undergone some transformations with issues relating to employment opportunities, such that their labour force participation has risen considerably since 1994. The female labour force participation rate is still seen to be persistently lower compared to the male participation rate even in the second decade of democracy. The rate of women labour force participation is even lower than the average. On the other hand, the increases have also been coupled with the rising rate of unemployment among women. The objective of this study was to investigate the determinants of female labour force participation in the South African labour market. The study uses a regression analysis on a cross sectional panel data covering a period of 1995 to 2010. Unlike most popular beliefs, the findings of this study reveal that fertility though not statistically significant, positively influences labour force participation of women. Other variables that are statistically significant in explaining female labour force are HIV/AIDS, marital status, age, household income and education. Race was found to be insignificant in explaining female labour force participation in the South African labour force.

The study aimed to test whether or not Organisational-based Self-Esteem (OBSE) mediated the relationship between perceived discrimination and job satisfaction. OBSE was expected to have an impact on Job Satisfaction, whilst Perceived Discrimination was argued to have an effect on OBSE. The study was conducted with a sample of 238 women as previous research indicates women are more likely to experience discrimination in the workplace. Contrary to expectations, the SEM revealed that perceived discrimination did not have a significant impact on job satisfaction. Also, the results obtained suggest that OBSE does not mediate the relationship as there was no significant relationship between perceived discrimination and OBSE. There was evidence that OBSE could be a moderator in the relationship instead. Furthermore, opposing the literature, the results supported the notion of global SE mediating the relationship between perceived discrimination and job satisfaction as it was the only significant path in the SEM. Overall, the study contributed to a body of literature and added value by suggesting that the role of perceived discrimination is underestimated as its impact extend outside of the workplace and may have deeper repercussions.

In this dissertation project, I make three separate contributions to the study of the political economy of automation which center the agency of workers and society over technological change. The papers presented here each take a historical approach, both to contextualize modern debates over new technologies and to describe political responses that may have fallen out of contemporary awareness. In the first paper, I examine the origin of the term “automation” to reveal the ways that this concept has been shaped by social and political imperatives. I then propose a new definition and conceptualization of automation which respect this reality and open new avenues for research into this form of technological change. In the second paper, I examine the role played by the occupational structure of unions in determining their responses to automation. Drawing on a comparison of the cases of 1) the AFL-CIO and its Industrial Union Department and 2) New York Typographical Union No. 6 from approximately 1950–1975, I show that industrially-organized unions are more receptive of automation than are unions organized along craft lines. In the final paper, I examine the role that the different approaches to labor force control adopted by craft unions play in shaping both their responses to new technologies and their inclusion or exclusion of women workers. Through a comparison of the histories of the typographical unions in the United States and the United Kingdom over 150 years, I show that unions adopting an apprenticeship-based system of labor force control are both more resistant to new technologies and more exclusionary of women than are unions adopting a strategy of incorporation. Taken together, these papers show that workers and unions have been neither helpless cogs nor implacable wrenches in the machinery of technological change.

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Gender differences in labor markets and within households have been investigated by researchers for a long time. This dissertation adds new findings to the body of gender-related empirical studies on labor markets and demographic decisions. The first essay deals with the firm size selection behavior of workers and the firms' employment patterns by size in the United States. Using the Current Population Survey, I find that the changes in firm size distribution show different trends by gender between 1987 and 2001. While the percentage of female workers in large firms has increased gradually, that of male workers has hardly changed over time. These trends are not explained by changes in the distribution of demographic and job characteristics alone. I also find that the gender gaps in size-wage premia of workers in large firms decline over the period studied. Using these results, I show that gender wage convergence is partly accounted for by the changes in size distribution and size premia. The second essay examines how internet use affects job search and match outcomes of young workers in South Korea. Using the Youth Panel surveyed in 2001, I find that workers successfully employed through internet search have a significant wage premium over those employed through traditional methods, except for referrals or social networks. The positive wage effect is pronounced among women and previously unemployed workers. I also find that new employees who have ever searched online for jobs are more likely to search for other jobs. The third essay focuses on an idiosyncratic social norm and its effects on demographic outcomes. South Koreans have traditionally considered that the year of the Horse bears inauspicious implications for the birth of daughters. Using monthly longitudinal data at the region level between 1970 and 2003, I find that in the year of the Horse, the sex ratio at birth significantly increases while fertility decreases. The last essay examines how family cultural values, proxied by lunar calendar use for birthday, affect young individuals' marriage and fertility decisions in South Korea. Employing the Youth Panel, I find that young people with lunar birthdays, regardless of gender, are more likely to be married. More interestingly, young married men with lunar birthdays are more likely to have children, while young married women are not influenced by the tradition. These results are consistent with the hypotheses that young men from more traditional families enter into early marriages and that they are more likely to have offspring at earlier ages. / text

Dissertation (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2003.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:29:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-09-02Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:08:58Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 moura_lm_me_fran.pdf: 621004 bytes, checksum: 856908dab8b9f960adc95036948ab37d (MD5) / O presente trabalho incide sobre a realidade de algumas mulheres realmente corajosas e empreendedoras que resolveram deixar de lado os medos e as inseguranças introduzidas na sociedade pela realidade atual do mundo do trabalho. O município de Franca, conhecido mundialmente pela produção do calçado masculino, recebeu, de maneira impactante, todos os choques econômicos e sociais demandados das reestruturações produtivas e suas manifestações e conflitos trazidos à realidade da população. Foi realizada uma perspectiva histórica em relação ao movimento operário, de sua inserção na indústria têxtil, da participação das mulheres como força de trabalho nesse contexto, da trajetória produtiva de Franca e Região e das mudanças ocorridas nesse percurso. Mais do que uma atividade específica, a lingerie representa para as mulheres e para a coletividade Francana uma alternativa, uma perspectiva e uma mudança. Evidencia-se durante o estudo que muitas práticas ainda permanecem, como a do aviltamento do trabalho feminino, a exploração das forças de trabalho, o exercício do trabalho domiciliar e o achatamento dos salários e lucros. Entretanto, é notória, em diversos momentos da pesquisa, a presença da esperança, da satisfação, do encanto pelo trabalho, de melhores condições profissionais, sociais e familiares. Realizar tal estudo gratifica e instiga os pesquisadores e, ao mesmo tempo, traz à tona as responsabilidades acadêmicas e profissionais do Serviço Social / This work focuses on the reality of some truly really courageous and enterprising women who have decided to put aside fears and insecurities in society introduced by the current reality of the world of work. The city of Franca, known worldwide for producing men's shoes, was so impressive, all the economic and social demands of the productive restructuring and its manifestations and conflicts brought to the reality of the population. We performed a historical perspective in relation to the labor movement, its insertion in the textile industry, the participation of women as labor force in this context, the history of France and productive region and to the changes in this route. More than one specific activity, the lingerie is for women and for the collective Francana an alternative perspective and a change. It is of note during the study that many practices still remain, such as the degradation of female labor, the exploitation of the labor force, the exercise of home work and flattening of wages and profits.However, it is notorious, at various times of the study, the presence of hope, of satisfaction, the work of the charm of better employment conditions, social and family. Such a study and rewards entices researchers and at the same time, brings out the responsibilities of academic and professional social work

Orientador: Helen Barbosa Raiz Engler / Banca: Reginaldo Guiraldelli / Banca: Ubaldo Silveira / Resumo: O presente trabalho incide sobre a realidade de algumas mulheres realmente corajosas e empreendedoras que resolveram deixar de lado os medos e as inseguranças introduzidas na sociedade pela realidade atual do mundo do trabalho. O município de Franca, conhecido mundialmente pela produção do calçado masculino, recebeu, de maneira impactante, todos os choques econômicos e sociais demandados das reestruturações produtivas e suas manifestações e conflitos trazidos à realidade da população. Foi realizada uma perspectiva histórica em relação ao movimento operário, de sua inserção na indústria têxtil, da participação das mulheres como força de trabalho nesse contexto, da trajetória produtiva de Franca e Região e das mudanças ocorridas nesse percurso. Mais do que uma atividade específica, a lingerie representa para as mulheres e para a coletividade Francana uma alternativa, uma perspectiva e uma mudança. Evidencia-se durante o estudo que muitas práticas ainda permanecem, como a do aviltamento do trabalho feminino, a exploração das forças de trabalho, o exercício do trabalho domiciliar e o achatamento dos salários e lucros. Entretanto, é notória, em diversos momentos da pesquisa, a presença da esperança, da satisfação, do encanto pelo trabalho, de melhores condições profissionais, sociais e familiares. Realizar tal estudo gratifica e instiga os pesquisadores e, ao mesmo tempo, traz à tona as responsabilidades acadêmicas e profissionais do Serviço Social / Abstract: This work focuses on the reality of some truly really courageous and enterprising women who have decided to put aside fears and insecurities in society introduced by the current reality of the world of work. The city of Franca, known worldwide for producing men's shoes, was so impressive, all the economic and social demands of the productive restructuring and its manifestations and conflicts brought to the reality of the population. We performed a historical perspective in relation to the labor movement, its insertion in the textile industry, the participation of women as labor force in this context, the history of France and productive region and to the changes in this route. More than one specific activity, the lingerie is for women and for the collective Francana an alternative perspective and a change. It is of note during the study that many practices still remain, such as the degradation of female labor, the exploitation of the labor force, the exercise of home work and flattening of wages and profits.However, it is notorious, at various times of the study, the presence of hope, of satisfaction, the work of the charm of better employment conditions, social and family. Such a study and rewards entices researchers and at the same time, brings out the responsibilities of academic and professional social work / Mestre