published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

This thesis analyses the relation between the phenomenon of job scarcity and discrimination against women in the labour market. Job scarcity, that is the inadequate quantity of available jobs relative to the number of persons able to hold them, which is a chronic problem, has played an important role in the development of discrimination. The hypothesis of the thesis is that a positive relation exists between discrimination against women and job scarcity: as employment opportunities deteriorate discrimination intensifies. / The thesis verifies the discriminatory effects of job scarcity by examining the process of job allocation in the economy. An historical study covering the end of the last century to the crisis of the 1930's is the vehicle used to examine the employment rationing mechanisms that consolidated discriminatory practices.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Murdoch University, 1998. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Social Sciences, Humanities and Education. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [275]-290).

Thesis (M.P.A.)--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 1993. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2960. Abstract precedes thesis as [1] preliminary leaf. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-125).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references ( p. 133-138). Also available online.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-105).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-105). Also available in print.

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2009. / Title from title page (Digital Archive@GSU, viewed July 20, 2010) Michael Herb, committee chair; Jelena Subotic, Scott Graves, committee members. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis makes a unique contribution in exploring the relationship between international legal commitments and women's poverty. Three normative arguments underpin this thesis. First, that poverty is a gender-based phenomenon. Second, that gender-based poverty is a obstacle to human rights. Third, if the promise of human rights is to be realised for all people it is necessary to move gender-based poverty into the realm of international human rights law. The ideal place to theorise on the relationship between human rights and gender-based poverty is CEDAW. Notwithstanding that CEDAW addresses civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights and negative cultural attitudes on women, there is no substantive provision in CEDAW requiring State to ameliorate gender-based poverty. The first part of my thesis argues that this gap can be overcome by an evolutionary interpretation of CEDAW. I make the argument, that equality and non-discrimination, two norms that permeate all of CEDAW, can be interpreted to incorporate the harms of gender-based poverty comprehensively into the treaty framework. I use public international law interpretative framework and the Committee's own work to demonstrate that the commitment to eliminating discrimination against women and achieving gender equality in CEDAW necessarily requires State to respect, protect and fulfill the human rights of women in poverty. The second part of thesis shifts to examine how this interpretation can be integrated into the work of the Committee. To ensure a coherent and comprehensive approach to gender-based poverty that is consistent with my proposed interpretation of CEDAW in I propose: (i) modifications to the State reporting guidelines and (ii) a comprehensive General Recommendation on women and poverty. This thesis lays the necessary theoretical and practical groundwork so that the Committee and other relevant national and international actors can hold States accountable for women in poverty's human rights.

The objective of this study was to identify the strategies (personal and organisational) that would enable South African women to break through the glass ceiling. A questionaire was designed based on the strategies found in a literature study on the topic and used to gather inputs from executive women in South Africa. A combination of snowball and self-selection sampling was used. The questionaire was sent to 138 potential respondents, mostly by means of electronic mail. Of the 47 completed questionairs returned, 44 could be used. These were processed and anaylsed using Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and the STATISTICA Version 6 software. In generaL, support was found for personal strategies pertaining to career management, networking (especially the relationship building activities), the reconciliation of home and work responsibilities with the emphasis on building a support system, education, business and organisational insught, skills development and increased input, but not for the assimilation of masculine attributes. Networking opportunities and education, training and development activities were regarded as the organisational strategies with the strongest impact on career progress. The literature was confirmed regarding top management support, an organisational culture conducive to women's advancement, mentorship programmes and a few career development initiatives. Although more than half of the respondents had been exposed to employment equity and affirmative action programmes, they were perceived to have only little to moderate impact on career progress. This was also the case with diversity management programmes. Flexible work arrangements, career adaptation schemes and childcare facilities and programmes were seen as having had little impact on the respondents' career advancement. Only a few of the organisational practices to support women balancing family and work responsibilities were utilised by the respondents' employers. Respondents perceived personal strategies as having greater value than organisational strategies in their progress to executive levels.