This thesis analyses the effects of gender inclusive policies or the lack of such on development at a time of conflict transformation. It has nowadays been established that the presence of women and the existence of gendered policies at a time of peace building are vital for the development of any country or region presently in this situation. Despite this knowledge, inclusion of women and gender has remained scarce and effects of their integration have thus proven difficult to measure. It is the aim of this thesis to support research in this area, by demonstrating the implications of incorporating or failing to implement different types of gender inclusive policies on the example of the actions taken in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The Kurdistan Region is currently in a unique position of its development. After withstanding decades of armed conflict, the region today is greatly autonomous and economically prosperous. For the previous decade it has been the government’s aim to decrease the potential of new conflict, to become internationally competitive and to increase positive development for its people. One of their stated foci was thereby the promotion of gender and women’s inclusion in public policies. By comparing the policies deployed in the Kurdistan Region with experiences and knowledge from around the world, and by using the citizens of the region themselves as validators, this thesis will examine if the existing policies have had the desired effect, and if not, what should be changed. This will be done in the political, economic and social sphere (focusing on education), with the outcome that policies introduced by Kurdistan’s decision makers are partly positive, but lack in consistency, inclusiveness and gender sensitivity. This leads to a loss of human resources for the region, as well as to unequal effects within society, and thus to a lack of sustainable peace.

This thesis explores the relationship between time, gender and moments of conflict in the Mystery Plays. Examining a range of encounters between male and female characters in the plays, I propose that characters’ differing and subjective experiences of time are often at the heart of their conflict. Time, moreover, provides a new methodology with which to understand the ways in which both gender and narrative operate within the plays. In doing so, I chart a number of conflicts staged between characters in plays concerned with biblical narratives which signify transition or rupture: the Incarnation; the Flood; and the slaughter of the Bethlehem Innocents. Engaging with established critical approaches towards medieval models of supersession and typology, as well as recent works in the field of Jewish Studies concerning the medieval Christian preoccupation with what it asserted was a superseded, yet nevertheless ‘present’ Jewish past, I interrogate the ways in which such models are subverted when placed into dialogue with characters whose world-view supports alternative readings of time. First, I provide a reading of Joseph’s age and error in the N-Town Joseph’s Doubt as a meeting of ‘Old’ and ‘New’ theologies. I argue that Joseph’s journey from disbelief in Mary’s virgin pregnancy to eventual acceptance performs as a primarily linear conversion narrative, whilst also proposing that, as a medieval performance of a New Testament time, the N-Town Marian plays’ engagements with multiple levels of time work to complicate models of temporal, supersessionary linearity. I then examine Noah and his wife in the Chester and York Flood plays as participating in very different understandings of time from each other. While Noah adheres to a supersessionary understanding of the Flood which demands a full erasure of the past in order to begin the world anew, his Wife engages with temporal models that promote collapse between medieval and Old Testament times and command the explosive ability to performatively recall the past into the present. Finally, I engage with Serres’ model of topological time in examining the highly complex, multi-linked times operating in the Towneley play Herod the Great. Here, I examine how the play amplifies the ways in which its biblical sources work to bring together events from the Old and New Testaments in processes of prophecy and validation, whilst also asking whether characters such as Herod and the mothers defending their children from him may be said to command agency over their time. In bringing together theories of time, gender, antisemitism and periodization, I not only nuance the ways in which moments of conflict between the mystery plays’ male and female biblical characters are analysed, but also highlight the complex ways in which the late medieval producers and audiences of the mystery plays were themselves encouraged to question, experience, read and understand time.

This thesis takes a gender-sensitive approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and asks whether and how Palestinian women’s different formal and informal political activism in ‘peacebuilding’ and ‘resistance’ can make a contribution to positive sustainable social and political change. Taking a bottom-up qualitative approach to conflict research, and deriving data mainly from in-depth interviews, participant observation and textual analyses, I problematise mainstream international conflict resolution and gender development approaches, revealing their mismatch with the Palestinian reality of prolonged occupation and settler colonialism on the ground. I critique in particular two aspects of mainstream gender and conflict approaches: Firstly, the essentialist feminist assertion that women are better ‘peacemakers’ than men due to their (alleged) more peaceful nature, and, secondly, the ‘liberal’ peace argument that dialogue is the best (and only) way to resolve conflict. These two claims are hardly applicable to the Palestinian context, and their implementation through policy programmes can even block genuine political and social change. Through their tendency to trace the roots of conflict in social gender relations and at the level of identity, they tend to give a distorted depoliticised picture of the conflict. Doing so, they risk alienating local constituencies and might even exacerbate social and political fragmentation. My analysis counters such (mostly western-originated) mainstream gender and conflict initiatives by starting from the local. Proposing a contextualised gender-sensitive approach to conflict transformation, which pays attention to intra-party dynamics such as ‘indigenous’ gender constructions and the political culture of resistance, I trace those forms of female political agency that are able to gain societal support and are conducive to sustainable social and political change. Bridging theoretical insights from the fields of conflict resolution and gender theory and questioning some of their widely held assumptions, I hope to contribute to knowledge in both fields.

This study, which is entitled, “Elizabeth I and the 1559 Act of Uniformity: A Study of the Impact of Gender Roles and Religious Conflict” analyzes the impact of 16th century gender roles and religious conflict to explain the decision of Elizabeth I, Queen of England from 1558 – 1603, to champion the passage of the Act of Uniformity through Parliament in 1559. Through the analysis of primary sources, specifically Elizabeth’s letters from her childhood through the Act’s passing in 1559, an understanding of these influences on Elizabeth is developed which illuminates important turning points in her life and the subsequent development of her personal desire to mitigate religious conflict in England and to bring unity to her people. The analysis was conducted through the use of historical analysis of primary sources in combination with the use of Narrative Thematic Analysis in order to discover themes within the sources. The themes which emerged then offered insight into Elizabeth’s personal development and her decisions regarding the Act of Uniformity. The focus of this dissertation is guided by the context of 16th century gender roles and the 16th century Protestant Reformation which ultimately laid the foundation for Elizabeth’s birth and directly influenced her education as well as religious and personal development. The impact of gender roles and the expectations placed upon Elizabeth is intertwined with the subsequent religious conflict Elizabeth witnessed in England from her birth. The results focus on illustrating areas of conflict in the 16th century and how each area of conflict is relevant to comprehend if there is to be success in altering the path of both gender conflict and religious conflict in the modern era.

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree Master of Education in the Department of Educational Planning and Administration at the University of Zululand, 2000. / This study investigated the management of gender conflict among high school learners. The researcher has identified the types of gender conflict that are perceived to be more serious and the frequencies of different types of gender conflict. The researcher has also determined the ways of managing gender conflict in the high school and established alternative approaches of managing it. Finally, the research recommends possible initiatives on the part of the management staff, educators, learners, governing body and parents, as well as the community at large to promote gender equity * and peaceful coexistence in schools.

A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the Requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Communication Science University of Zululand, 2003. / This thesis entails a literature survey of the forms of communication required for the successful management of primary schools and high schools by principals and their management teams, followed by an empirical survey of the management team communication practices of 367 principals in the northern section of the eThekwini Region (the area that until 2003 was known as the North Durban Region) in the KwaZulu-Natal Province, on the eastern seaboard of South Africa. In brief, my research shows that female principals predominate in primary schools and male principals in high schools. My research further shows a number of significant differences in the way that female and male principals communicate with parents.