M.A. / Women engineers operating in a male-dominated environment face many challenges and are critical to retain in South Africa’s developing economy. The main aim of this research study was to determine the strategies that women engineers use in negotiating their work identity. The strategies were identified by using the Conceptual Model of Engineers’ Identities as a framework to develop an understanding of women engineers’ identity work. A qualitative method was employed to gather the data for this study. The research design that determined how the data would be analysed was a qualitative survey. This study consisted of ten research participants working in different organisations situated in Gauteng and Pretoria, South Africa...

M.Comm. (Economics) / Gender wage inequality in South Africa from 2001 to 2010 is investigated in this dissertation. This is done through the decomposition of the gender wage gap and quantile regression. It is shown that the gender wage gap in South Africa is highest both at lower and higher parts of the wage distribution. Moreover, the gender wage gaps at the 50th and 75th quantiles are either not statistically significant or they are in favour of women. It is shown that the gender wage gap is largely driven by the size of the coefficients component, even in the face of a positive characteristics component indicating that there is a level of discrimination along the wage distribution. In the assessment of the gender wage gap between black females and white males, it is shown that the gender wage gap is always in favour of white males. However, since it is lowest at higher points of the wage distribution, the conclusion is that black women at lower points of the wage distribution face the most adverse effects of the intersection of race and gender in terms of the gender wage gap. Moreover, black women at higher points of the wage distribution have been the most likely beneficiaries of the employment equity policies.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of the Witwatersrand, 1999. / Recent developments in South Africa and the impending changes in the workplace, have placed new challenges and demands on managers of both big and small organisations. One of these challenges is the introduction and implementation of successful Affirmative Action (AA) programme. However, preparatory to this, it is important to gain an understanding of the perceptions of employees concerning AA because the way perceptions of employees may influence the manner in which such programmes are implemented in companies. The Employment Equity Act No. 55 (Republic of South Africa, 1998) makes it clear that every designated employer must, in order to achieve employment equity, implement AA measures. A survey method was used in this study, and opinions were sought from 209 supervisors and junior managers at Eskom Head Office, Megawatt Park. The results were analysed quantitatively in order to gain an insight into their perceptions of issues concerning AA. The results reveal that there are differences of opinion about AA amongst the junior and middle management employees. The differences are mainly racially based. There is no common understanding of AA and this leads to a dysfunctional effort in the implementation of this change. As resistance to change is a natural behavior of organisations and its members, naturally AA can be expected to be resisted by most employees. The present study suggests ways to overcome this problem and identifies the need for intervention to be undertaken concerning changing perceptions before AA can be understood and successfully implemented .

A discourse submitted to the Department of Town and Regional Planning, Faculty of Architecture, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Development Planning, October 1994 / Women and gender have not been adequately considered in development planning and practise. [Abbreviated Abstract. Open document to view full version] / GR 2016

A project report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Engineering. / Until recently use of ionic chemical soil stabilisers seemed hit or miss. The paper by paige-Green and Bennett explains that the stabilisers work only on soils containing reactive clays. The author's findings confirm this conclusion. It was shown that a CBR test, which can be done in any road soils laboratory, can be used to measure the chanqe in strength caused by the treatment of the soil with a chosen ionic stabiliser. South Africa is faced with a serious unemployment problem. The World Bank and the International Labour Organisation have shown that employment in construction can be significantly increased by the use of labour instead of machinery. Field trials showed that ionic stabilisers can readily be applied labour intensively. These stabilisers could improve marginal materials to road-building standard and this could further reduce the dependence on machinery by reducing the need to transport quantities of high quality gravel. / Andrew Chakane 2019

This study examines the problems relating to alcohol abuse in the workplace. The factors investigated include workplace safety, absenteeism and tardiness, productivity, and job satisfaction. Questions were also included to ascertain the individual's alcohol consumption patterns, both current (past 30 days) and over the past year. Finally, questions pertaining to the organisations' rules and policies on alcohol consumption were asked. The survey was undertaken in three organisations, two of which were private, and the third was a government department. The research sample of 280 subjects was drawn using the cluster sampling method. The data obtained from the sample was quantitatively analysed, by making use of various descriptive and inferential statistics. Qualitative data analysis was also conducted. Results indicated that a mere 2.5% of the subjects were notified by their organisations about the problems of alcohol abuse in the workplace. It is essential that organisations provide adequate information to their employees, both on the organisations' rules and policies on alcohol consumption, and on the workplace consequences of excessive alcohol consumption. Furthermore, a recommendation which follows from the results is that the organisations should implement an alcohol and drug abuse programme, which would ideally consist of a written policy on alcohol consumption at work, and the establishment of an Employment Assistance Programme (EAP), in addition to testing for alcohol levels at work. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2000.

Gender inequality remains the greatest challenge for many societies and this has implications for the sustainable development and well-being of societies. There exists gender inequalities with regards to access to resources such as land, healthcare, credit, information, education and decision-making power between races and between the sexes. The advent of democracy brought freedom for all South Africans and the new government understood gender inequality as a deterrent to the achievement of sustainable development for all and the building of a democratic state. The National Policy Framework for Women‟s Empowerment and Gender Equality provides a roadmap through which gender should be mainstreamed within government and elsewhere towards achieving the goal of gender equality. It stresses that the shift from inequality to equality requires the transformation of government and civil society. The efforts of the Department of Social Development towards gender mainstreaming are premised in this national framework. The purpose of the present research is to ascertain whether and how gender is being mainstreamed in the National Department of Social Development (DSD), specifically looking at the conceptualization, management and structures in place for gender mainstreaming. This is a qualitative research analysis, using in-depth interviews as primary data collection methods, as well as a review of official gender mainstreaming documents of the DSD. Eighteen officials in middle management from all the different branches (reflected in the organogram in Figure 1) of DSD were selected. Middle management refers to staff that have the rank of Assistant and Deputy- Director. These are members of staff who are directly involved in policy implementation and, in many instances, contribute to the development of policies. The findings indicate that the implementation of gender mainstreaming is varied in the Department, with considerable success towards the attainment of employment equity target of 50/50 women representation in senior management. According to the DSD Employment Equity Report 2007/2008, women constituted 48% of senior managers. The official reports of the DSD point to progress being made in gender mainstreaming within the Department. This includes working towards approving a range of service delivery policies that address concerns of women and men, in intensifying service provision to respond to people‟s vulnerabilities and to ensure sustainable development of communities. The respondents in this study argued that policy commitments to gender equality are not supported by political and administrative will and necessary resources. The majority of the respondents did not know that there was a Gender Focal Point, whose responsibility is the facilitation of gender mainstreaming in the Department. They struggled to define basic gender concepts with gender mainstreaming, mainly understood to be employment equity. The respondents were also not conversant with the Gender Mainstreaming Guidelines and did not know what is needed in implementing gender mainstreaming. The gap between the official reports of the Department on successful gender mainstreaming implementation and the negative perspectives of the respondents needs further investigation. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

In this thesis, I analyse the gender earnings gap in South Africa using Labour Force Survey (LFS) data, for the period between 2001 and 2005. In addition to providing estimates of the gender earnings differential at the mean of the wage distribution (using a pooled regression), I also provide quantile regression estimates to account for the gap at different points of the distribution. To further explore reasons for the gender earnings gap, I separate the male and female earnings equations and employ a decomposition technique. This allows me to determine the proportion of the gap that is not explained by differences in observable characteristics between men and women. The 'unexplained' part of the earnings gap is suggestive of gender discrimination in the labour market. Using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) the pooled regression (controlling for sample selection), indicates an increase in the gender pay gap between 2001 and 2005. In turn, the quantile regression estimates for the period also illustrate a widening gender earnings differential throughout the distribution, except at the mean. By contrast, the descriptive statistics and the separated male and female earnings estimations show a decrease in the earnings gap over the period. Given that the pooled regression assumes the same returns to observable characteristics for males and females, which I reject through the use of a Chow test, the results from the separated estimations hold more weight. The Oaxaca (1973) decomposition on the separated male and female earnings estimations illustrates that the 'unexplained' component of the gap accounts for a greater proportion of the gap than the 'explained' component in both years. Furthermore, the 'unexplained' proportion of the gap increased in the period, while the 'explained' proportion decreased. Thus, if the 'unexplained' part of the gap is considered to be a measure of discrimination, then the data indicates an increase in discrimination in earnings between the sexes over the period 2001 to 2005, even though there was a narrowing of the gender earnings differential. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2008.

Thesis (DTech (Public Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2008. / The research investigates trends in the employment of people with disabilities within the Provincial Government of the Western Cape (PGWC) and develops a normative model to address the matter of low employment and progression rates of people with disabilities within the PGWC. The advent of democracy in 1994 in South Africa witnessed the enshrinement of the fundamental human rights of all citizens, particularly within previously disadvantaged groups. Yet, in spite of rights being legislated for people with disabilities, such people within the public service represented only 0.15% of the total staff complement of the public service nationwide, as at December 2004, compared to the 2% target legislated in 1995. The research examines a philosophical and theoretical approach to managing the employment and retention of people with disabilities within the public service in Chapter Two, before providing a synopsis of the existing constitutional and legislative framework that supports access to employment for people with disabilities. The subsequent Chapters examine trends in the employment of people with disabilities within the PGWC, in conjunction with a situational analysis of disability in South Africa. The recruitment and selection practices within the PGWC are then examined in order to determine whether specific disability actions have been incorporated into the documentation. Finally, key recommendations follow a description of the research methodology and the presentation of the most salient findings of the study. The proposed normative model incorporates eight sets of criteria jointly derived from the literature and the empirical survey. The sets of criteria must be put in place for the achievement of a sustained increase in the employment of people with disabilities. The findings on disability employment in the PGWC are generalised to the remaining eight provinces in the country on the basis that the same policy and procedure documents are regulatory in all nine provinces.

Thesis (MTech (Marketing))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2005 / Although South African companies seem to make an attempt to employ more women to meet the required employment quotas, not enough is being done to allow women to grow beyond certain levels in their jobs, and it appears that women are still under-represented at top management level in corporate S.A. Despite employment-equity laws, gender inequalities regarding representative male-female ratios in corporate S.A. still appear to be prevalent at executive level. A more representative profile of male-female ratios at executive level in corporate S.A. might contribute towards a higher level of bottom-line performance for any organisation. The underlying premise is that by recognizing and utilizing their human potential to the fullest, the under-utilised available female talents and skills can contribute towards a larger skills pool within the organisation. In an attempt to assist m bridging the gap of gender inequality in corporate S.A., professional women may be branded as a valuable company asset. For females to be accepted and recognized by corporate S.A. as a brand, it is important to position them as a brand. To position a brand means emphasizing the distinctive characteristics that differentiate that brand from its competitors in a way that appeals to its target market. Identity, quality, differentiation, guaranteed consistency and clear communication to the target audience are the cornerstones of the branding process. In order for female professionals to be identified as a successful brand. these elements of the branding process need to be adhered to. What have traditionally been perceived to be inherent female qualities appear to meet the demands of contemporary management and leadership paradigms in a way that adds benefit to any leadership or management role in corporate S.A.