A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Migration and Displacement) July 2017 / This research report gives an account of the social networks, links, connections and relationships of undocumented Zimbabwean women working as domestic workers in Johannesburg, Gauteng. The primary aim was to understand the role of these ties in providing social, political, emotional and economic support in addressing the challenges that undocumented domestic workers face. The study also explored how social networks enhanced the capabilities and resources of non-national women, particularly focusing on how they defined wellbeing and development. Based on 12 semi-structured interviews with undocumented women living and working in Johannesburg, the findings that emerged from this study, show that unlike what the majority of literature in South Africa points to, undocumented domestic workers do not live in isolation from others, but rather have a diverse range of social networks that allow them to be active agents and participants in their lives. The results highlight that the majority of social networks that undocumented domestic workers use are in actual fact useful to them and how they navigate their contexts. Migrants in this instance are largely dependent on their families for support both in the originating country and in the host community. / XL2018

Thesis (Ph.D. (Economics))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic & Business Sciences, 2016. / No abstract.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Business Executive Coaching Johannesburg, 2017 / “The obligation for working-mothers is a very precise one: the feeling that one ought to work as if one did not have children, while raising one’s children as if one did not have a job.” – Annabel Crabb, Author of The Wife Drought Women play a vital role in organisations, yet world-wide remain under-represented in key leadership positions. South Africa is no different. In addition, research indicates that professional women are ‘opting-out’ of the talent pipeline, further reducing the pool of women available to step in to senior leadership roles. Becoming a mother is life-changing, and when combined with a desire for a fulfilling career, role-conflict can occur. The guilt which accompanies role-conflict can often be overwhelming and may lead to professional women exiting organisations, taking with them valuable industry knowledge and expertise. Hence, retaining female talent is increasingly becoming a business imperative. This study aims to contribute to the field of Business Coaching by researching Maternity ‘Transition’ Coaching in an organisational context. As such, the study explored four research questions aimed at providing a systemic view of the experiences of professional women during the maternity transition period, the line manager’s role during this period, the influence of organisational culture on working-mothers, and the emergence of maternity transition coaching as a support mechanism in organisations. Following a detailed review of the literature, the research methodology of a qualitative, multiple-case study approach was selected. Two organisations (cases) were researched using semi-structured face-to-face interviews with 15 respondents, as the primary sources of data collection. The research was further supported by an analysis of secondary data, both of which allowed for a full investigation of the research questions. The key findings indicated that maternity transition coaching is a strategic necessity for organisations wishing to attract and retain female talent in the 21st Century. Transitional theory along with an understanding of life and career stages are important aspects of this genre of coaching. Coaching increased support at critical transition points, leading to the retention of the professional women in the study along with a more seamless re-integration with their careers. Further, it surfaced that line managers play a critical role in a successful maternity transition, and as such also require support. It was further concluded that a family-friendly organisational culture is an enabler to a successful maternity transition. Maternity transition coaching therefore supports professional women in their desire for a satisfying career and work-life integration. / MT2017

A Research Report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Art in Political Studies, Johannesburg, 2017 / Despite their long history of organising, South African domestic workers are deprived of a platform to organise due to the post-apartheid state positioning itself as the primary articulator, representative, and protector of domestic workers‟ collective interests and the resultant displacement of the domestic workers‟ union in these roles. Even at its peak, the union struggled to rally domestic workers around its cause. The shift from “live-in” domestic work to “live-out” domestic work provides workers with greater personal freedom and less isolation from friends and family; allows them to gain some control over their working conditions and; challenges the “atomised” nature of domestic work as domestic workers interact quite frequently with each other in spaces such as taxis and buses, taxi ranks and street corners as they go about travelling to and from work every day. Domestic workers‟ engagement in the everyday practice of commuting to work and the spaces where domestic workers regularly interact with each other allow for the appearance of social networks where grievances can be shared and rallied around; mutual support is given and; information regarding work can be obtained. Significantly, these social networks are integral to the formation of collective identities and the building of political subjectivities of domestic workers, who as a group are deprived of a platform to organise. Furthermore a fuller conception of political action needs to be adopted. Domestic workers, who are without resources and the leadership of a vital union, find themselves in a position of political marginalization; yet participate in everyday forms of resistance. These coupled with their engagement in everyday life, constitute the invisible face of political mobilization. The social networks that have appeared show promise, however they are under-developed and have not yet been formalised in a way that organised action can ensue. As such it is possible that organisational impetus will have to come from the efforts of middle class actors belonging to NGOs, activists and government agencies as has been experienced in other parts of the globe. / MT2018

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Sociology), 2016 / This research contributes to an understanding of how female mineworkers make sense of themselves and how gender identities are constructed in mining. Mine work has for a long time been seen as allowing for particular masculine self-formations and mineworkers embodying specific mining masculine subjectivities. The entrance of women in South African mines from 2004 and their allocation into occupations that were previously exclusively reserved for men is a significant challenge and a disruption to masculine subjectivities and the occupational culture. This thesis illustrates what transpires when socially constructed gender boundaries are crossed. This is what the women are doing with their entry into underground mining. For ten and a half months, between 2011 and 2012 I worked in the mines and lived with mineworkers. During this period I completely submerged myself into the life world of mine workers to get an in-depth understanding of the ways female mineworkers understand themselves and navigate the masculine mining world. I managed to get the subtle, nuanced, instantaneous and unnoticeable ways which produce and reproduce the fluid and contested gender identities. Drawing on insights from a range of feminist theorists and feminist readings of theories I argue that the construction of gendered identities in mining is an ongoing embodied performative process which is articulated in fluid ways in different mining spaces within certain structural, relational and historical constraints. The thesis presents a typology outlining four categories of femininities; mafazi, money makers, real mafazi and madoda straight, that are performed and produced underground by women mineworkers. At home these performances are unstable and disrupted as women attempt to reconcile their role as mothers, wives and their workplace 2 identities as underground miners with their notions of femininity. This necessitates a renegotiation of gender ideologies, performances and identities. In this thesis I succinctly present the fluid, multiple, contradictory and contested processes involved in constructing gendered identities; above ground, underground, and at home. Drawing from this evidence I conclude that women do not approach the workplace or labour process as empty vessels or act as cogs-in the mining machines but are active agents in the construction of their gender identities. The key elements I use to analyse gendered identities are; gendered spaces, embodiment, social and material bodies (as sites of control, resistance and agency) and performativity. I argue that all of these converge and are central to the construction of gendered identities. Key Words: Women in mining, gendered identities, subjectivities, femininities, masculinities, gender performances, embodiment, gendered spaces, gender transformation. / GR2017

No description available.

A Research report submitted to the School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Humanities University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the field of Demography and Population Studies for the year 2016 / INTRODUCTION: Youth labour force participation (YLFP) measures the level of economic activity among the youth. It is measured as the sum of all young people who are employed, unemployed or looking for work, as a percentage of the youth population. The weakening of the global recovery in 2012 and 2013 further aggravated the youth jobs crisis and the queues for available jobs have become longer for young jobseekers (ILO, 2013). This study examines the association between the level of education and labour force participation among the youth in South Africa. It also seeks to examine other socio-demographic factors influencing YLFP in the country. METHOD: Analysis of the data from a sample of 30144 youth aged 15-35 years who participated in the South African 2014 Quarterly Labour Force Survey was done using logistic regression models. In the multiple logistic regression, two models were used. Model 1 included the following variables: education level, age and gender whilst in model 2 this study controlled for: population group, type of residence and province because these socio-demographic factors influence youth labour force participation. RESULTS: When controlled for potential confounding effects of age, gender, type of residence, population group and province, youth with higher education were more likely to participate in labour force as compared to youth who have no or have primary education [(Q1: OR1 4.28, 95% CI2 3.74 to 4.90); (Q2: OR 4.34, 95% CI 3.78 to 4.97); (Q3: OR 3.91, 95% CI 3.41 to 4.48) & (Q4: OR 3.88, 95% CI 3.38 to 4.45)]. The association between education level and youth labour force participation was found to be statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Young people with tertiary qualifications in South Africa are more likely to participate in the labour force. The evidence from the study shows there is a higher risk of mismatch for youth at the bottom of the educational pyramid, which is reflected in relatively high unemployment rates for the low skilled in comparison with the high skilled / GR2017

Thesis (M.Com. (Management))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic and Business Sciences, 2016. / Graduate unemployment has become a significant factor in the global economy. The economic system now relies on institutional unemployment figures as the indices of the socio-economic well-being of any country. Research shows that graduate unemployment is potentially damaging to the economy. If such unemployment persists, it may lead to the erosion and outdating of graduates' skills–bases, which will affect the economy in the long term. Statistical reports show that there is high graduate unemployment in South Africa; hence graduates struggle to find work despite the skills shortage in the country. This seems to contradict previous studies suggesting that the higher a person‘s education level, the higher his or her probability of finding employment. As a result of the significant rise in unemployment rates among South Africa‘s stock of graduates, the extent of the emerging skills-mismatch possessed by new graduate labour market entrants are increasingly misaligned with the skills demanded by employers.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree oi'Doctor of Philosophy, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg / Abstract not clear. / AC 2018

Research Report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree: Master of Arts in the field of Industrial & Economic Sociology School of Social Sciences, Department of Sociology University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg South Africa July 2016 / This research study seeks to examine the South African labour market, using the case of ex-offenders and their difficulties in entering the formal labour market and securing full-time employment after they have been released from correctional facilities. The „Scarlet letter‟ in the title refers to a euphemism used to describe the effects of the criminal record on the prospect of employment. As part of the research, I also examine the perspectives of employers about their willingness to employ ex-offenders as well as some of the reservations they may have, as representatives of the labour market. Although there is extensive research on reintegration as well as barriers to reintegration, especially in Europe and the United States, none of these have married the labour market experiences and reintegration experiences of ex-offenders, especially in the South African context. This study employed qualitative research methods and techniques to explore the meaning ex-offenders attach to their social experiences. Data was collected by means of in-depth interviews in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the lived experiences of these ex-offenders and a vivid picture from the key informants. In this regard, participants in the study consisted of thirteen Black male ex-offenders, three representatives from the National Institute for Crime Prevention and Reintegration of Offenders (NICRO), one representative from a Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) called We Can Change Our World (WCCOW), five Human resource managers at a property management firm as part of a focus group discussion and one executive at a recruitment company. All interviewed ex-offenders shared similar experiences of their challenges and limited social and economic reintegration, especially related to finding a job in South Africa. The study reveals that discrimination in the workplace continues in contemporary South Africa, but such experiences are even worse for ex-offenders. The study concludes that a lot still needs to be done to transform the South African labour market and correctional facilities, linked policies and practice for the majority, especially ex-offenders who have “paid their debt to society”. / GR2017