This dissertation traces the literary and cultural phenomenon of “bad readers” across a range of Greek and Latin texts from the late first to late second centuries CE. By jointly engaging the framework of book history with the insights of feminist, queer, critical theory, it offers a methodology for understanding why certain readerly embodiments and modes are stigmatized for deviating from the hegemonic norm, and how the contested space of reading intersects with negotiations of power, embodiment, and identity. I argue that “bad readers” are not “bad” in any inherent or universal sense, but rather that “bad readers” intersect with particular literary, cultural, and ideological agendas. I also show how “bad readers” help illuminate the broader material, social networks that are adumbrated by books as objects in antiquity, thus contributing to recent work that has emphasized the importance of situating “reading” within its ancient, sociocultural context. At the same time, this study lays bare how such work has also tended to leave the question of modern readerly poses and politics to the side. Ultimately, this study shows how literary representations of “bad readers” offer a powerful locus for telling a different story about books and reading in the ancient Mediterranean, as well as a lens for theorizing how certain hermeneutic modes in the discipline today participate in and reproduce hierarchies of power.

This study addresses the extent to which feminist jurisprudence literature has developed the potential to initiate a legal paradigm shift leading to legal and consequent social change that would alleviate gender inequality. Drawing upon Kuhn's (1970) and Stacey and Thorne's (1985) arguments, I theorized that for a paradigm shift centered upon women and women's experiences to occur, feminist jurisprudence, particularly second- and third-phase feminist jurisprudence, needs to be incorporated into, and accepted by the mainstream. Through quantitative analysis I evaluated, first, the publication and citation patterns and the diffusion of feminist jurisprudence litearature as evidenced in articles published between the years 1983 and 1994 in legal journals assigned impact factors by the Social Science Citation Index. Second, using content analysis, I classified feminist jurisprudence articles published in the subfields of family and penal law --theorized to differ in degree of androcentrism-- according to the three phases of feminist jurisprudence theory. My quantitative analysis showed that the number of feminist jurisprudence articles published in mainstream legal journals is increasing over time. Further, feminist jurisprudence articles published in legal journals with higher impact factors tend to receive larger numbers of citations than articles published in journals with lower impact factors. Finally, although the overall impact factor of journals publishing feminist jurisprudence articles is declining, feminist jurisprudence literature is present among a wide spectrum of legal specializations. My qualitative analysis showed that there was an equivalent number of family and penal law articles which exhibited second- and third-phase characteristics. However, family law articles tended to cover a wider range of topics than penal law articles. Furthermore, family law scholars were more likely than penal law scholars to address issues of differences among women and feminists, thus, exhibiting third-phase characteristics. In constrast, penal law scholars tended to focus upon differences between feminists and non-feminists and the practical difficulties resulting from the structure, organization and practitioners of the criminal justice. Overall, my analysis showed that feminist jurisprudence appears to have developed the potential to initiate a paradigm shift within the legal discipline. However, in addition to feminist theorizing, feminist activism is important for the realization of legal and social changes that will alleviate gender inequality. / Ph. D.

Historically, women all over the world have been subjected to several kinds of discriminatory behaviour, attitudes and stereotypes. This results from long-held patriarchal values and male dominance. In the workplace, women suffer prejudice against their role in society, which often limits their chances of reaching top leadership positions. Women are faced with many challenges in the workplace, including, inter alia: the glass ceiling , work/life demands, workplace inequality, sexual harassment, poor career development and tokenism. The goal of this study is to explore the leadership challenges facing female managers in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. Fifteen operational managers were purposively selected by means of the non-probability sampling method. The research approach to this study is the qualitative approach. For the purpose of this study, the collective case study design was used. Qualitative researchers are interested primarily in the meaning subjects give to their life experiences. The researcher made use of the collective case study design to gain insight into the experiences by the female managers in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. Semi-structured one-on-one interviews were conducted as the primary data collection method. The findings of this study reveal that female managers are experiencing leadership challenges, including reaching the `glass ceiling´, work/life demands, workplace inequality, workplace discrimination and lack of promotional prospects. The findings call for a concerted effort by senior management to ensure equal opportunities for women in the workplace. The City of Johannesburg should take the lead in addressing these challenges in order to champion the course of women’s emancipation. / Dissertation (MSW (EAP))--University of Pretoria, 2014. / Social Work and Criminology / MSW (EAP) / Unrestricted

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Gendered power relations in sport pose important problems for mainstream feminist and ethical arguments for the alleviation of gender-based oppression. Though mainstream feminist theorists and applied ethicists have largely left sport undertheorized, some multi- and inter-disciplinary scholarly attention has been devoted to analyzing gender and sport. However, this scholarship encompasses disparate lines of thought with a range of philosophical, political, disciplinary, methodological and theoretical commitments, which translate into conflicting and competing normative views on how to best conceptualize, theorize, and practically navigate gender relations in sporting contexts. My dissertation remedies the tensions between these conflicting normative views by excavating and critically evaluating the political and philosophical assumptions that ground these views of gender relations in sport. I define 'sport feminism' as the normative views and consequent practical strategies that are concerned with interpreting, navigating, and eliminating the unjust restrictions on women's freedom in sporting contexts. I identify and critically evaluate four sport feminist views: liberal, radical, somatic, and post-structuralist. These views are distinct from one another as they differ in their conceptualizations and interpretations of three elements: (1) the nature of gender and the significance of physiological difference; (2) the function of sport and fitness practices; and (3) the ethical grounds and strategies for defining and alleviating gender-based oppression. Drawing from the merits of these views, my project develops a feminist framework for ethical action with regard to unequal gendered power relations in sport. / Philosophy

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