No description available.

No description available.

PhD, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand / When a woman is killed she is most likely to be murdered by an intimate partner. This form of homicide known as intimate femicide is conceptualised to be the most extreme consequence of intimate partner violence. Not much is known about such killings in South Africa or in other developing settings. This thesis studied intimate femicide using two complimentary studies from two methodological perspectives. The first study was quantitative with the aim of describing the incidence and pattern of intimate femicide in South Africa. The second study used qualitative methods and explored the social construction of the early formation of violent masculinities. Five papers written from these two studies are presented in this thesis. Study one was a retrospective national mortuary-based study and collected data on all female homicides, 14 years and older, who died in 1999 from a stratified, multi-stage sample of 25 mortuaries. Data was collected from the mortuary file, autopsy report, and a police interview. The second study used a cluster of qualitative in-depth interviews with 20 incarcerated men in prison who have been convicted for the murder of an intimate partner, as well as interviews with family and friends of both the perpetrator and the victim. Overall it was found that 50.3% of women murdered in South Africa are killed by an intimate partner, with an intimate femicide rate of 8.8/100 000 and an intimate-femicide suicide rate of 1.7/100 000 females 14 years and older. Blunt force injuries were shown to be associated with intimate killings, while gun ownership was associated with intimate femicide-suicides. vi Elevated Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) combined with unemployed status was also found to be associated with intimate killings. The qualitative study showed that traumatic childhood experiences such as violent and neglectful parenting practises particularly by mothers made these men feel unloved, inferior and powerless with this found to be a pathway to violent models of masculinity used as a means to attain power and respect. This study shows that such traumatic experiences can lead to a suppression of emotions. It is argued that cognitive dissonance act as a protective mechanism which allows these men to perpetrate acts of violence without consideration of its impact. These findings suggests that intimate femicide is a complex phenomenon with a “web” of associated and mediating factors which all contribute to it excessive levels in South Africa. It shows that intimate femicide is an extension of intimate partner violence and as such has to take into account the unequal gender relations in society. Building gender equity and shifting patterns of femininity and masculinity is a key strategy in reducing this form of violence.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The literary criticism of the so-called cult of Southern femininity in the fiction and drama of Southern writers is well established. However, there is little criticism regarding these figures in Southern poetry. In response to this gap in scholarship, this study examines the changing representations of the belle or lady in Southern poetry from the early nineteenth through the mid-twentieth century. She appears in poems written by white and African American men and women from three distinct historical and literary periods in the South: the antebellum period, the post-bellum period, and the twentieth century. This study examines the manner in which these different groups of poets in each period represent her. The overall trend of Southern poetry’s portrayal of women through these periods is that it moves from an idealized and mythical image in the antebellum period to a more realistic image in the twentieth century.

This study analyses the implications of the state development strategies of the past four decades for gender relations in rural China. Based on rural women's own perspectives, the research examines their gains and losses under the Mao and post-Mao development policies, and allows women themselves to define their needs, priorities and interests as against those defined by the state. The research reveals a fundamental collision of the Maoist urban-centred development strategy of agricultural collectivisation with the interests of rural women. It demonstrates as well an essential congruence of the ostensibly iconoclastic Cultural Revolution with the orthodox Confucian patriarchal familial and state systems, and thus oppressiveness for women. The post-Mao reorientation of the official development strategy has brought a gradual shift in the function of the state, leading to a changing relationship between the state and women. Rural women, in this process, have acted as agents of change in both defying the state-imposed restrictions and contesting the patriarchal gender rules that have posed constraints on their lives. Women's actions as such have constituted an unprecedented challenge to traditional values, gender expectations and the existing political, social and sexual orders. However, rural women's inroads into male-dominated occupations and their hopes for further empowerment through education, training and employment, and through political participation and representation have been impeded by the structural urban-rural cleavage, unequal gender power relations, traditional ideas and male prejudice, as well as inadequate government actions. Sexism has simply assumed new forms: the gendered allocation of rights, opportunities and resources in the marketplace. Women are more able now to organise their independent interests and exert pressure on the authorities. Meanwhile, the growing gender inequalities during the economic transition call for a bigger role of the state in guaranteeing social justice and gender equity in the fresh redistribution of rights and interests.

No description available.