Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008. / Women globally, and especially in sub Saharan Africa, are disproportionately affected by HIV and AIDS. Factors driving the HIV and AIDS pandemics include the oppression of women and gender inequality. Despite an intensified focus on women and girls in an attempt to reduce vulnerability to HIV little real progress has been made. This is in part because the sophisticated analysis of risk, vulnerability and our understanding of the pandemics is not match by equally sophisticated responses to prevention, care, treatment and support. Power over / male domination, evident at every level of society, fuels the pandemics, and makes women vulnerable. Using feminist understandings of power and domination this thesis explores the notion of subverting power. Through a series of case studies the notion of negative and positive power is explored; positive power includes power with, power to and power within. Examples of women’s resistance individually and collectively using the different types of power are highlighted. The thesis demonstrates that that women are not powerless and can and do affect change in their lives in all sites of struggle, that is can increase bodily autonomy, improve intimate relationships and challenge inequality in the households and community. Based on the learnings from the case study a theoretical model that addressed power as problem and solution in the context of HIV and AIDS is presented.

Voluntary Counselling and Testing for HIV is an effective and important strategy for prevention, care and support. The study examines factors affecting utilization of VCT among pregnant women in Lesotho. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was employed. The quantitative part of the study utilized the 2004 Lesotho Demographic and Health Survey data and the qualitative study drew on data from focus group discussions among women attending antenatal clinics in Maseru and Leribe. The majority of pregnant women have never been tested for HIV/AIDS. Married women were less likely to go for VCT as compared with those who are not married. The study also established that place of residence, education and marital status were significantly associated with knowledge of HIV/AIDS and ever been tested for HIV. Stigma and discriminations and fear associated with HIV testing were highlighted as the main factors hindering the use of VCT services among pregnant women. However, knowing one’s status in order to access early treatment was the main reason for utilizing VCT. The VCT promotion programme for pregnant women in Lesotho has to focus on enhancing positive perception of VCT and alleviating perceived barriers related to the use of VCT services. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

HIV/AIDS remains overpoweringly an illness of the marginalized and stigmatized in / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.

Purpose: To explore sexual practices of married women, which make them vulnerable to HIV infection in a rural setting, and the implications such practices have for the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Methodology: An ethnographic approach was used to explore the phenomenon of, which was sexual practices of married women, both ancient and contemporary. Unstructured interviews and focus group discussions were undertaken. The researcher applied the principle of theoretical saturation and a total of fifty participants were included in the study. All the interviews were taped and transcribed. Data analysis was done manually by the researcher, using themes and sub-themes. Findings: Married women engage in short term sexual relationships with secret lovers which are either concurrent or frequent while their husbands are away on migrant labour. A number of factors that cause women to engage in such risky sexual practices were identified. Some of these factors included scarcity of men due to migration and economical resources, the fact that women cannot negotiate safe sex due to gender and cultural factors; limited knowledge of infections particularly HIV/AIDS, life skills including their sexual rights and how to exercises these rights, and economic skills. Recommendations included the designing of an intervention program to sensitise and empower women on factors that make them vulnerable to HIV infection. Conclusions: Married women in the rural KwaZulu-Natal indulge in multiple concurrent or successive extramarital partnerships in the absence of their migrant men. These sexual practices place them in a vulnerable position to get HIV infection as they engage in risky sexual behavior without condom use. They also have fear of being rejected by their secret lovers and their own husbands because of women's economic dependency on men. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

No abstract available. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, 2000.

The focus of this thesis is to look at breastfeeding patterns in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa in relation to HIV infected women, who as mothers may, transmit the HIV virus to their child. It seeks to understand in depth the social context of HIV and AIDS in the time of the AIDS pandemic looking at gender culture; powerlessness of women in households in society. These dynamics occurring at such a crucial time and moment of this spiral explosive epidemic reflects a more broader concerted effort to understand and find solutions. This study emerges from a larger research project conducted under the auspices of the Medical Research Council, which was examining the transmission rates of HIV infection in babies born to HIV positive woman for a period of six months, on breastfeeding having given these women nevirapine as well. The study was HIVNET 023, which looked at the use of NVP that was given to breastfed infants in order to reduce MTCT of HIV, Phase 1,11 Study. This work was conducted from 2000 and completed in 2001. This thesis seeks to further explore challenges experienced by these breastfeeding HIV positive women in the public domain (i.e. in the clinics, hospitals as well as in communities), and how these challenges impinge in their daily lives as women. Issues of gender inequality, the social context of culture in the midst of a health crisis, and suggestions for change in the context of clinical practice, make up the bulk of the thesis argument. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Kwazulu-Natal, 2003.

The way gender relations influence access to care and treatment particularly access to antiretroviral medicines is a challenge to HIV/AIDS programmes and to the individuals and families with HIV. Gender norms that push women and men to adhere to dominant ideals of femininity and masculinity may restrict women's access to economic resources, health care and fuel the spread of HIV. The aim of this study was to determine the role of gender relations in influencing decision-making for access to antiretroviral medicines between partners and in the family.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Toronto, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 175-187).

Thesis (PhD) -- University of Western Sydney, 2001. / "Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of Western Sydney, School of Nursing, Family and Community Studies." Bibliography: leaves 219-254.

Thesis (MA (Psychology))-University of Pretoria, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.