Introduction: Epidemiological studies suggest that at least 1 in 29 South African women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. Breast cancer is not a single disease. The heterogeneity of breast cancer results in four distinct molecular subtypes including aggressive human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (Her-2) positive, where Her-2 receptors are overexpressed. Trastuzumab (Herceptin®), is a recombinant, humanized, anti-Her-2 monoclonal antibody that specifically targets subdomain IV of the extracellular domain of the Her-2 receptor and has dramatically altered the prognosis of Her-2 positive breast cancer. Trastuzumab is, however, associated with problems such as primary and acquired resistance, which has prompted investigation into improving its efficacy. Aim: To investigate the ability of selected therapeutic agents to alter in-vitro cell viability, cell cycling, apoptosis and Her-2 expression in models of Her-2-positive and oestrogen receptor positive, Her-2 negative breast adenocarcinoma and bring about an alteration in the efficacy of trastuzumab. Methods: MCF-7 cells which retain the ability to process oestrogen, and SK-Br-3 cells which overexpress Her-2 gene products were used. Cells were exposed to trastuzumab, aspirin, calcipotriol, doxorubicin, epidermal growth factor (EGF-human), geldanamycin, heregulin-β1 and β-oestradiol as single agents and in combination with trastuzumab. Research methodologies included tetrazolium conversion assay for cell viability, AMC-substrate cleavage and annexin-V for apoptosis, propidium iodide staining for cell cycle analysis and anti-Her-2 affibody molecule for relative Her-2 receptor density. Results: Cell survival of 95.39% (±2.69) for MCF-7 cells and 74.17% (±1.60) for SK-Br-3 cells was observed following trastuzumab (100 μg/ml) exposure. Trastuzumab resulted in statistically significant G1 phase accumulation in MCF-7 cells at 72 hours and in SK-Br-3 cells from 24 hours. Furthermore, trastuzumab decreased relative Her-2 receptor density in SK-Br-3 cells by approximately 35% by 24 hours but had no effect in MCF-7 cells. The anti-proliferative effects of trastuzumab were abrogated by EGF, a Her-1 ligand and heregulin-β1, a Her-3 and Her-4 ligand. Most agents altered distribution throughout the phases of cell cycle to a certain degree, with the G1 phase accumulation observed for trastuzumab being potentiated in some combinations. Most of the agents, with the exception of doxorubicin and geldanamycin, did not promote apoptosis and appeared instead to be anti-proliferative. Geldanamycin had the greatest effect on Her-2 receptor density (approximately 80% by 24 hours) followed by EGF, heregulin and trastuzumab, with the biological molecules in combination with trastuzumab producing a further significant reduction. Conclusion: Endogenous Her-receptor ligands (EGF and heregulin) differentially altered the viability parameters for trastuzumab which could play a role in the emergence of clinical resistance to targeted therapy. Doxorubicin with concurrent trastuzumab significantly reduced cell viability compared to each single agent in both cell lines. Furthermore, the cytostatic and cytotoxic abilities of each of the other agents either mimicked trastuzumab alone or the selected agent alone when exposed concurrently. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Pharmacology / Unrestricted

Magister Legum - LLM / In South Africa corrective rape is committed by African men as a form of social control to cure women of their homosexuality. The problem with corrective rape is that the victims of this crime are mainly black African lesbians, particularly those in townships who are seen to challenge patriarchal gender norms. Therefore discrimination on the basis of gender, race, sex and sexual orientation is called into play. Section 9 of the Constitution provides that the state may not unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on one or more specified ground which include gender, race, sex and as well as sexual orientation. Further, no person may unfairly discriminate against anyone on one or more of the same specified grounds. Thus, the black African lesbians affected by corrective rape are protected by the equality provisions of the Constitution upon which discrimination is prohibited. In addition, the impact of discrimination on lesbians is thus rendered more serious and their vulnerability increased by the fact that the victims are black women. In the context of black African lesbians, it is believed that these women are a threat to the manhood as well as cultural beliefs of the perpetrators. Perpetrators, therefore, can justify their actions on the constitutional right to culture. This position obviously reopens the debate on the conflicts between African culture and tradition with human rights within the context of corrective rape which ultimately continues to militate against the adequate protection of women’s rights. Against this background, this research will focus on how South Africa is balancing its constitutional mandate in relation to the black African lesbians affected by corrective rape. It will be argued that for victims of corrective rape to be adequately protected it is necessary to define corrective as a hate crime and not merely the crime of rape. In addition, it will also be argued that because there is an inherent conflict between the right to culture of the perpetrators and the constitutionally protected rights of the victims of corrective rape, courts, in enforcing the rights of these victims should also address this conflict. The importance in recognising this conflict lies in the fact that one needs to take into account that both the perpetrators and the victims are protected by the Bill of Rights and that one cannot disregard the importance of either of their rights.

The aim of this thesis was to explore the experiences of black, married, working, South African women in relation to financial decision-making processes within private households from a working-woman’s perspective. The focus was on married women in middle and senior management positions in their workplaces. Following a literature review to accumulate empirical evidence from similar studies in the areas of Economics, Sociology, Psychology, Feminism and Economic Psychology, eight, individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted with black South African women in managerial positions to establish the women’s understanding of the meaning of money, concepts and practices of sharing of monetary resources between husband and wife in the household, the allocation of money as a resource in the household, control of money between husband and wife in the household, and decision-making processes between husband and wives. The key findings of the study were: · The diverse construction of the meaning of money. Women’s views on money had an impact on how they viewed their roles in household financial management and decision-making. · The absence of equal sharing of money and the existence of breadwinning/caregiver ideologies. Three patterns of money management were identified. Joint pooling, where equality of sharing, control and decision-making was greatest, was associated with higher income levels and availability of personal spending money. The female whole wage system, with minimal control and joint decision-making, was associated only with women with high-level income and minimal personal spending money. The independent managed system was associated with completely separate money management, unequal sharing of money, increased power, inequality in decision-making, and increased personal spending money by the breadwinner. · The pattern of financial allocation adopted had an influence on control and decision-making in the household. In all the systems of financial allocation adopted, women indicated that their partners had a final say in the financial decision-making processes. The study highlights some policy implications of inequality in financial decision-making. Due to the fact that household based analysis assumes that financial decision-making is shared equally in the households, women and children will most of the time lose out when this is not the case. It was therefore recommended that a deeper understanding of household decision-making may help the policy makers and researchers alike to focus on women in a more effective way, for example, by designing empowering programmes that will assist women to be involved in the financial planning and decision making in their households. / Dissertation (MA (Research Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Psychology / unrestricted

Magister Psychologiae - MPsych / Throughout recorded history, women have resorted to abortion to terminate unwanted pregnancies, despite religious and legal sanctions, and frequently at significant personal risk. Abortion is, therefore, one of the oldest and at the same time most controversial of approaches to fertility control. More than most procedures, abortion is embedded in a social context that has implications for psychological responses of women. However, whilst South Africa's restrictive abortion legislation has come to the forefront of public scrutiny in recent years, research on the psychological aspects of induced abortion among black South African women has received minimal attention from social science researchers. This consideration requires redress since South Africa's abortion policy has undoubtedly had an impact on black women's mental health. Although unwanted pregnancy and the decision to abort are frequently perceived as stressful, evidence to date suggests that women do not experience severe negative reactions to abortion. Nevertheless, research has shown that some women do experience negative reactions following abortion. The responses of these women, placed within the context of the large numbers of black women who procure abortions and the immense social significance of the issue, point to a need to identify those women who are at risk for experiencing difficulties after abortion. This thesis, therefore, aimed to explore women's interpretations of the factors that influence short-term post-abortion adjustment. Five women who had procured illegal abortions were interviewed. A thematic analysis was utilised to explore participants' accounts of their abortion experiences. Furthermore, the present inquiry attempted to identify, through participants' discourses, psycho-social factors that may serve as 'risk factors' for poor post-abortion adjustment. The findings revealed that the abortion experience varies in the amount and type of stress it engenders for women. The manner in which these women responded to the procedure was found to be a joint function of their psychological state and of the social milieu in which the abortion occurred. Participants' post-abortion adjustment was found to be significantly influenced by the extent to which they experienced decision difficulty, the nature of the social environment surrounding the abortion process and individual coping responses. Thus, the findings of the study accentuate the need for counselling interventions designed to facilitate adjustment to abortion. These issues are likely to become of increased importance as the South African government deliberates on its public policy on abortion.

There are many documented reasons why both men and women fail to complete their doctoral studies such as insufficient funding, family responsibilities as well as demotivation due to lack of progress in their research (Herman, 2011c, Gardner, 2008, Magano, 2011). However, it is arguable that men are at an advantage of completing their doctoral studies at a higher rate compared to women, partly due to the masculine culture within higher education institutions, which includes aspects such as having more male senior lecturers/academics (Brown and Watson, 2010, Ismail, 2011, Haake, 2011). Several studies have shown how African women’s experience and performance in doctoral studies are impacted by several relations within the learning environment such as lack of role models, mentorship, insufficient funding, dual identities and masculine environment (Brown and Watson, 2010, Johnson-Bailey, Velentine, Cervero, and Bowles, 2008). Despite such obstacles, it is important to mention that there are some women, who successfully complete their doctoral studies. This study, therefore, aims to focus on African women who have successfully completed their doctoral studies in South Africa in order to bring forth positive narratives of African women’s success in doctoral education. Using the capabilities approach as the analytical framework, and in-depth interviews with fourteen selected African women doctoral graduates from a South African university, this study examines women’s experiences of accessing, participating and progressing through doctoral programmes in higher education. The research adopts an interpretative model, which results in principles that are necessary for interpreting the actions and behaviours of people, such as agency, opportunities, and beings and doings in seeking to answer the following questions: 1) What capabilities using the capabilities approach enabled African women, doctoral students’ success in higher education? 2) What functionings did African women, doctoral graduates hope for after completion of their doctoral studies? 3) How did African women use their agency to develop capabilities (opportunities and freedoms) for academic success? 4) What conversion factors enabled or constrained African women’s success in their doctoral journeys? / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2021. / Education Management and Policy Studies / PhD / Unrestricted

Bibliography: pages 269-280. / The focus of this thesis on African women's experiences as domestic workers results from the fact that the majority of women within the African population in Cape Town are employed in this sector of economy. Further, the African working class is in a peculiar position as a result of the strict enforcement of the Coloured Labour Preference Policy. This policy ensured the almost total exclusion of the African population from decent housing and education as well as employment. In fact, the policy has hamstrung almost every aspect of the African population's life. The Coloured Labour Preferential Policy was coupled with the strict enforcement of influx control, governed by the Urban Areas Act No. 25 of 1945 as amended. Worst hit by this law were the African women. An attempt was made to understand the experiences of African women both in and outside their work situation. The examination of their gendered experiences of 'race' and class divisions has led to the identification of a number of issues, among them poverty, exploitation as rightless workers and payment of low wages, fragmentation of family life and subordination in marriage relations, childcare problems, housing problems and isolation as mothers and workers. Further, their dreams, which include a wish for securing property, a secure family life and educating their children, as well as self-employment, are all indications of their deprivation and exploitation as women. In this thesis gender has been prioritised, as it emerged as the prime feature of African women's experiences of social divisions. Being a woman in a society divided by 'race' and class, has created hierarchies which carry unequal relationships between employer and employee and the payment of low wages. The privatised nature of this unequal relationship is the key to the oppression and exploitation of domestic workers. Moreover, the impact of the double day on African Women domestic workers has resulted in particular experiences of exploitation and oppression. Because of the limited material currently available on domestic workers, this study is seen as a contribution to the study of women as well as a contribution to a gender-sensitive, working class history of Cape Town. The selected literature that has been reviewed has left the gendered experiences of African women unexposed within their households. The focus has been on the work situation only. Failure to recognise or identify these gendered experiences within both class and 'race' divisions results in obscuring the daily struggles that African women face regarding housing, family life and childcare facilities. The review of the two commissions of enquiry, namely the Riekert and Wiehahn Commissions has shown that the State is still unresponsive to the needs of women as workers and in particular, as domestic workers. Riekert has tied the availability of housing to employment, thus excluding a large number of women in the Cape Town urban area.

Self-employment is a popular occupation line among immigrants living in Malmö. East African women are however observed to be particularly absent with this regard. This thesis aims to investigate how East African women perceive self-employment in a bid to understand why few of them are entrepreneurs in Malmö. To this effect, the thesis questions whether East African women experience any barriers with regards to getting self-employed in Malmö. The working of gender and ethnicity in shaping self-employment perceptions among these women is also questioned. Unstructured and semi-structured interviews are used to gather material from the field with Intersectionality Theory picked to make sense of these material. Gender, ethnicity and immigrant status are found to be enmeshed and working recursively in different societal levels to shape East African women perceptions and also bar them from getting self-employed in Malmö. It is concluded that there is need for responsible actors to acknowledge the qualitative difference of immigrants as entrepreneurial Intersectional experiences are dissimilar between immigrant groups. As such, this research recommends a comparative study between various immigrant groups in Malmö. Further, a study that demarcates the working of agency and structure when it comes to self-employment motivation among people in an Intersectionality is also recommended.Key Words: Self-employment, East African women, Malmö, Intersectionality

MA (English) / Department of English / The prevalence of patriarchal norms and the privileging of the African man in African literary works gradually led to an erasure of women‘s identities, thereby leaving them to hold peripheral positions. This has motivated African women critics to engage in linguistic and performative methodologies to restructure African women‘s status in postcolonial writings. Using feminist literary theory, Marxist literary criticism and postcolonial theory, among others, this study explores the changing images of women as depicted in a selection of Yvonne Vera‘s works, namely: Butterfly Burning (1998); Under the Tongue (1996); Without a Name (1994) and Nehanda (1993). Close reading and textual analysis are employed in examining the strategies devised by Vera to assess patriarchal attitudes that suppress women as well as reconfiguring their identities. This study is inspired by the desire to investigate the techniques employed by an African woman writer in speaking against marginalisation, exploitation and oppression of women in a postcolonial literary environment. Of primary concern to this study, is an examination of how Vera unleashes, re-writes and re-negotiates the potential of an African woman in her novels. This study distinctly shows that, as a subaltern writer, Vera reconfigures her female characters‘ identities through social and economic liberalisation. It is clear in this study that economic liberty has a great impact on the life of an African woman. This study contributes to the growing body of works that appreciates women writers‘ efforts in transforming, reifying and reinstating the image of African women in fictional works. / NRF

Student Number : 0500547G - PhD thesis - School of Psychology - Faculty of Humanities / This study is aimed at understanding the role of assault severity, personality traits and rape myths in predicting rape victims’ psychological responses and coping styles. Specifically, the study assessed the mediating role of victims’ attribution in predicting psychological impacts of rape victimization and the coping styles. On the basis of theory, it was postulated that the severity of assault (as determined by either the use of physical force and/or the presence of weapons); intrapersonal resources of hardiness; and the acceptance of rape myths would have a direct influence on survivors’ psychological impact and on coping. The thesis provides comprehensive coverage of the prevalence of rape victimization; the trauma and psychological impacts of rape victimization; coping with rape victimization; and the theory on the role of social cognition (appraisal and attribution) in explaining victims’ responses to rape. The theoretical conceptualisation underpinning the study offers a unique integration of this body of knowledge within the South African context. In investigating the research question, two hundred and fifty adult black (African) South African women who had experienced rape in the previous month were interviewed about the event and their subsequent responses. The interviewees were drawn from Xhosa, SePedi and Zulu speaking communities. The study was located within the quantitative research tradition. A structured interview questionnaire was developed. Descriptive statistics were calculated and the emphasis of the analysis was in the area of the Structural Equation Model. The model was successful in terms of explained variance in accounting for the two types of coping; approach and avoidance coping dimensions followed by the psychological impact and attribution. The results showed psychological impact as explained through the symptoms of Hyperarousal, Intrusion and Avoidance had the greatest influence on coping of rape survivors. As hypothesized, the results confirmed that an increase in rape assaults severity resulted into increased levels of psychological distress. The findings indicated that internal styles of self-blame attribution (behavioural and characterological attribution) were prevalent among victims of rape in the present study. Although hardiness (commitment and control) dimensions were not found to significantly influence coping, an orientation of control and commitment amongst survivors was found to significantly influence the attribution styles. Furthermore, the control dimension was found to have a significant influence on victims’ psychological distress. Interestingly, the results revealed that acceptance of rape myths among survivors resulted in a decrease in psychological distress. The findings demonstrate the strength of the current study in the development and testing of theoretically based models of processing rape victimization recovery among rape survivors. The implications of the data are explored.

Thesis advisor: Rosanna DeMarco / The purpose of this study was to explore the Zimbabwean women's experiences of being diagnosed and living with HIV/AIDS on a daily basis. This phenomenological study used the van Manen (1984, 1997) method of phenomenological inquiry and approach to phenomenological analysis to uncover the women's experiences and meaning of being diagnosed and living with HIV/AIDS. Seventeen HIV positive women participating in a development of antiretroviral therapies (DART) clinical trial in Harare, Zimbabwe, were recruited through snowball sampling and by word of mouth were interviewed. The study revealed that women experienced the dread of living with suspicion prior to a confirmed HIV diagnosis, pain and suffering when diagnosed, renewal and rebirth from the effects of antiretroviral medications and DART clinical trial while simultaneously experiencing the burden of living with HIV/AIDS. With time the women came to terms with their HIV positive statuses, and used their experiences to help others. The themes living with suspicion of HIV/AIDS and sensing the engulfing anguish of HIV/AIDS were found to be the core essence of being diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. The themes knowing the restorative power of antiretroviral medications, the heavy burden of HIV, and finding meaning in being HIV positive were found to be the core essence of living with HIV/AIDS on a daily basis. The findings inform health care providers on the trauma and suffering of being diagnosed and living with HIV/AIDS, and the benefits of antiretroviral medications. These study findings have significant implications for Zimbabwean nurses and other health care personnel committed to improving the lives of women, their families and their communities. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Connell School of Nursing. / Discipline: Nursing.