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In order to gain a better understanding of the position of women in the field of policing, it was necessary to study the attitudes of the policewomen, which presently exist with regard to the role of the woman in the South African Police Service. Although some studies have been done on policewomen world-wide, none have been done in the rural areas of the Vaalrand and this is where the research took place. Only women formed part of this survey. Detailed questions were asked concerning their role in policing. This was an empirical qualitative study. The research procedures as stipulated for a descriptive study were followed, as the main objective of the research was to describe the circumstances of women in the predominantly male environment of policing. A survey interview was drawn up, containing semi-structured in-depth questions regarding their recruitment, motivation for joining and job-related satisfaction and other issues including discrimination and domination by men. Qualitative methods were applied not only for data collection but also for data analysis. The coding consisted of conceptualising the raw data. Open coding was used in this qualitative research. The researcher read through all the collected data and then assigned initial codes to condense the mass of data collected. The following main issues were found: that discrimination still exists in the SAPS, as well as resentment, a lack of recognition, misunderstanding and unfulfilled challenges which relate to conflict being experienced. These respondents have aspirations in their work and aspire to better positions in the SAPS, as there have been major contributions by women in the police. They have also had an impact on policing, as they have become major role players in the field where victims are concerned. The presence of policewomen in the SAPS is an important asset to modern law enforcement and their present day role in policing should be explored and expanded. Qualified women could also be utilised in important staff service units such as planning and research, training, intelligence, inspection, public information, community relations, and as legal advisors instead of being utilised only in administrative work. Recommendations are made for further research on aspects highlighted by the findings. / Criminology and Security Science / D.Litt. et Phil.(Criminology)

Despite the extensive research conducted on sexual harassment, very little work has focused on the legal and psychological constructions of women's resistance to sexual harassment. In exploring the legal and psychological constructions of women's resistance to sexual harassment, we are confronted with salient issues pertaining to the determination of the welcomeness requirement which call for a reflection. A key characteristic of sexual harassment is that it is unwanted by the recipient. It is for each person to decide what behaviour is acceptable to them and what they regard as offensive. Thus, although there is general agreement about what can constitute sexual harassment, the experience of sexual harassment is subjective in nature and the precise quantification of workplace sexual harassment is problematic. The present study aims to: (a) identify the reasoning/history behind the "unwelcomeness/unwanted" requirement, (b) assess the reasonableness of· the requirement of "unwelcomeness/unwanted" conduct, taking into account the various pieces of legislation and case law, (c) determine how the courts have interpreted this requirement and what factors are looked at, (d) determine whether the test is subjective or objective, (e) identify the struggle and debilitating effects sexual harassment has on women in the workplace. The results of this study will assist in gaining knowledge and understanding of the concept of "unwelcomeness/unwanted" conduct in sexual harassment cases and the effects it has on the victim which will go a long way in assisting management in any business to effectively implement strategies and disciplines to manage the problem of sexual harassment in the workplace. / Private Law / LLM (Labour Law)

The successful social development of adolescent girls is dependent on the acquisition of the skills required to face the challenges of adult life. Young girls are faced with the problem of a growing aggressive behaviour displayed by the girls who are supposedly their friends. This aggressive behaviour may negatively affect social, psychological or emotional development, possibly resulting in long term social adjustment problems. This investigation identifies the types and causes of aggressive behaviour displayed by adolescent girls, with the intention of ultimately identifying strategies to address aggressive behaviour. The implementation of a schoolbased approach, including all sectors involved in the education of the child in a whole-school programme to address aggressive behaviour, is recommended. Including all parties, firmly committed to addressing aggressive behaviour from a preventative perspective, may result in reducing aggressive behaviour and possibly provide adolescent girls with the coping skills required for successful social development. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Socio-Education)

Child sexual abuse is a widespread problem in schools globally. Learners are at risk of sexual abuse by teachers. This study set out to explore the perceptions of learners, teachers and educational psychologists on child sexual abuse by teachers in schools. Literature relating to child sexual abuse was reviewed with the aim of obtaining a solid theoretical foundation for the study. The study is informed by the systems theory. In an attempt to provide acceptable answers to the research problem the qualitative phenomenological design was employed and semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data. Purposive sampling was used to select schools and participants in the Masvingo district in Zimbabwe. The schools selected are one rural day, one rural boarding, one urban day and one urban boarding. A total of 8 learners, 2 from each school, 8 teachers, 2 from each school and 3 educational psychologists from the district offices were selected bringing to a total of 19 participants. Accepted ethical measures were adhered to during the study. Tesch’s open coding method of data analysis was used to identify themes and categories. The study indicated that child sexual abuse in schools is rampant and that teachers are among the perpetrators of this abuse. Child sexual abuse in schools is defined by the study as the unwelcome contact or non-contact sexual behaviour by a teacher on a learner. Findings from the study reveal that girls are more vulnerable to sexual abuse than boys and male teachers sexually abuse learners more than female teachers do. There are physical, behavioural, emotional and educational indicators of child sexual abuse. According to the results of the study multiple factors cause teachers to sexually abuse learners. Some of these factors include abuse of power by teachers, poverty of learners, lust on the part of the teacher, and disregard of law by teachers. Students were said to sometimes be contributors to their own sexual abuse through their seductive behaviours and dressing. It emerged from the study that child sexual abuse by teachers has a host of negative physical, emotional, psychological and educational repercussions on the sexually abused learner. It results in serious health effects such as sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS), unwanted pregnancy and psychological trauma. Poor academic performance and failure to complete education are consequences of sexual abuse. Findings from the study revealed that child sexual abuse by teachers in schools should not be tolerated and thus it should be prevented. In light of these findings recommendations are made with regards to how various stakeholders in the school namely the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Zimbabwe, policy makers, school heads, teachers, parents and learners can help fight this scourge. Areas for further research are proposed. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

After teaching in High school for six years, I was frustrated to see the institutional action on the issue of school violence. The creation of a climate conducive to teaching and learning has become a serious challenge to many educators. Through research, it became clear that enough has not yet been done. Therefore, an empirical investigation into this problem was necessary to determine the nature of violence in order to enhance better understanding of the phenomenon under study. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the factors related to the prevalence of violence in rural secondary schools in the Bushbuckridge (Bohlabela) district in Mpumalanga province. This research employed a qualitative research approach to answer the research question. The study aimed to provide an accurate, objective, representative and empirically sound body of data on the extent of violence within schools in the Ximhungwe circuit in Bohlabela district, Mpumalanga. The research design comprised a case study that included focus group interviews with six participants in each group. In addition, I employed participant observation and document analysis. The study focused on four rural secondary schools that were purposefully selected in the Ximhungwe circuit in Bohlabela district, Mpumalanga. Ethical issues were taken into consideration while conducting the sampling and the selection of learners was based on their accounts of frequent violence against learners or teachers, and because they were considered knowledgeable and informative about the phenomenon under study. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

The purpose of this study was to examine how ethnicity and gender of victim and perpetrator might influence students’ assessment of the severity of cyber-harassment in three different contexts. One hypothesis was that severity is mediated by indicators of power (blame, control balance and status-difference), which in turn are dependent on dimensions of ethnicity and gender. A semi-factorial survey was conducted among 365 students in five different high schools in Stockholm county. The students assessed three different vignettes, which described 1) harassment on a blog, 2) grieving in a first-person-shooter video game and 3) the uploading of a nude picture on Facebook. The effects of the dimensions on participants’ perception of the harassment and choice of action were analysed using linear- and logistic regression analysis, respectively. The results showed the following in each respective vignette: 1) Male bystanders were more prone to choose a passive action if the victim was female and the perpetrator male. 2) Men attributed less blame to female victims while women made no such difference. 3) The results indicate that women deemed the situation more severe if the victim was female. To conclude, the effects of the dimensions seem to vary depending on the different contexts.

Digital media have become an integral part of many people’s everyday lives and constitute an intimate presence therein. Utilizing the concept of digital intimacy to focus on these recent developments, this doctoral dissertation takes the perspectives of feminist cultural studies and affect theory to analyze how digital media are becoming more intimate and how in turn intimacy is remediated within digital cultures. This research brings together three different strategic examples of digital intimacy. The first is chosen from the context of online hate and harassment, and works to counteract digital forms of intimidation. The second is from the world of software development training initiatives tailored for women and designed to make them digitally intimate. The third investigates the digital subculture around ASMR (‘autonomous sensory meridian response’), which is an intimate multi-sensory stimulation induced by such things as online video clips. It is argued that these three initiatives are good illustrations of contemporary gender relations in digital cultures, and also do digital media differently. This  means that they develop and apply sometimes straightforward, sometimes rather playful strategies to counteract gender-based inimicalities (such as forms of discrimination or exclusion, or objectification) within digital cultures. The thesis argues that such digitally intimate strategies can be utilized analytically in order to contribute to contemporary feminist internet politics. / Digitala medier har blivit en integrerad del av och en intim närvaro i många människors vardag. Med hjälp av begreppet digital intimitet, som tar dessa förändringar på allvar, analyserar denna avhandling hur digitala medier blir mer intima och hur intimitet remedieras i digitala kulturer. Detta görs utifrån perspektiv hämtade från feministiska kulturstudier och affektteori. Tre olika strategiska exempel på digital intimitet diskuteras. Det första exemplet hanterar näthat och trakasserier online och utgör ett slags  motståndsstrategier. Det andra handlar om utbildningsinitiativ inom programmering riktade till kvinnor, ämnade att ge kvinnor större digital tillgång, närhet och närvaro. Det tredje fallet undersöker den digitala subkulturen kring ASMR (’autonomous sensory meridian response’), en intim multi-sensorisk stimulering som ofta understöds av videoklipp online. Det hävdas här att dessa strategiska exempel, först och främst, synliggör samtida genusrelationer i digitala kulturer, men även visar hur digitala medier gör genus på nya sätt. Med detta menas att i medierna både bevaras genuskonventioner och tillämpas nya, ibland lekfulla strategier för att motverka könsrelaterad fientlighet inom digitala kulturer. Avhandlingen hävdar att de tre studerade strategierna för digital intimitet kan användas analytiskt för att bidra till en samtida feministisk internetpolitik.

After teaching in High school for six years, I was frustrated to see the institutional action on the issue of school violence. The creation of a climate conducive to teaching and learning has become a serious challenge to many educators. Through research, it became clear that enough has not yet been done. Therefore, an empirical investigation into this problem was necessary to determine the nature of violence in order to enhance better understanding of the phenomenon under study. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the factors related to the prevalence of violence in rural secondary schools in the Bushbuckridge (Bohlabela) district in Mpumalanga province. This research employed a qualitative research approach to answer the research question. The study aimed to provide an accurate, objective, representative and empirically sound body of data on the extent of violence within schools in the Ximhungwe circuit in Bohlabela district, Mpumalanga. The research design comprised a case study that included focus group interviews with six participants in each group. In addition, I employed participant observation and document analysis. The study focused on four rural secondary schools that were purposefully selected in the Ximhungwe circuit in Bohlabela district, Mpumalanga. Ethical issues were taken into consideration while conducting the sampling and the selection of learners was based on their accounts of frequent violence against learners or teachers, and because they were considered knowledgeable and informative about the phenomenon under study. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

Bakgrund och problem: Genom flera studier har det framkommit att ovälkomna handlingar är en utbredd problematik inom den svenska Försvarsmakten. Kvinnorna har fortfarande inte en självklar plats på alla befattningar trots att Försvarsmaktens könsbundna yrkesmonopol slutade år 1989. Det formella nätverket Nätverk Officer/Anställd Kvinna (NOAK) infördes av Försvarsmakten för att hantera frågor kring ovälkomna handlingar, för att fungera som stöd och forum där kvinnor kan diskutera problem samt utbyta erfarenheter. Metod och syfte: Denna studie skall beskriva och undersöka hur ett formellt nätverk kan vara gynnsamt eller missgynnsamt som verktyg i arbetet med jämställdhetsintegrering inom en myndighet. Även medarbetarnas upplevelser av nätverket som verktyg kommer att studeras. Vidare ämnar studien till att identifiera eventuella bakomliggande faktorer till medarbetarnas upplevelser av verktyget formellt nätverk genom de sociala normer som påverkar varje individ. Detta för att beskriva och undersöka om formella nätverk är ett verktyg som fungerar vid jämställdhetsintegrering och hur detta då bör vidareutveckling och förbättras. Studiens resultat och slutsatser har baserats på semistrukturerade djupintervjuer med anställda på ett regemente, litteraturöversikt av tidigare forskning och interna dokument från Försvarsmakten. Resultat och slutsats: Under intervjuerna framkom att nätverk likt NOAK kan vara bra om det utformas på ett sätt som har ett förståeligt syfte för medarbetarna inom organisationen. I dagsläget saknas förståelse och kunskap om nätverket och dess syfte. Respondenterna uppgav nätverk som något positivt trots att de inte förstod varför de skulle delta på NOAK-mötena (Nätverk Officer/Anställd Kvinna). Bakomliggande faktorerna är främst okunskap kring jämställdhet, syfte och oviljan att delta i ett ”gnällforum”. / Background and problems: Through several studies it has emerged that unwelcome actions are a widespread problem within the Swedish Armed Forces. The women still do not have a clear place on all positions even though the Swedish Defense Monopoly's was closed in 1989. The formal network Network Officer/Employee Woman (NOAK) was introduced by the Swedish Armed Forces to handle issues concerning unwelcome actions, to serve as support and forums where women can discuss problems and exchange experiences. Method and purpose: This study aims to investigate how formal network can be beneficial or disadvantageous as a tool in the work of gender mainstreaming within an authority. The employees' experiences of the network as a tool will also be studied. Furthermore, the goal is to identify any underlying factors for the employees' experiences of the tool formal network through the social norms that affect everyone. This for research on formal networks is a tool that works in gender mainstreaming and how this should be further developed and improved. The study's results and conclusions have been based on semi-structured deep interviews with employees, literature review of previous research and internal documents from the Armed Forces. Results and conclusion: During the interviews it emerged that networks like NOAK can be good if it is designed in a way that has an understandable purpose for employees within the organization. In the current situation, there is no understanding and knowledge of the network and its purpose. The respondents stated that networks were something positive, even though they did not understand why they would participate in the NOAK meetings(Network Officer/Employee Woman). The underlying factors are primarily lack of knowledge of gender equality, purpose and unwillingness to participate in a "whining forum".