In order to achieve good apparel fit, it is necessary to identify, define and classify the size and shape of a population based on a combination of key body measurements (Petrova & Ashdown, 2008). Unrepresentative sizing systems ultimately lead to apparel fit problems which are further compounded by an unstandardised and ambiguous communication of sizing and fit within the apparel manufacturing sector (Chun-Yoon & Jasper, 1996; Winks, 1997; Simmons & Istook, 2004). According to Magagula and Zwane (2006), the sizing system used by the apparel industry in Swaziland is based on British anthropometric measurements taken in the 1940s; yet there is a significant variance in the body proportions and dimensions of different ethnic groups and within ethnic groups (Yu, 2004c:183). It is therefore predictable that young Swazi women would experience apparel fit problems with ready-to-wear apparel. Body forms are manufactured using body dimensions of the apparel manufacturer’s target market in order to yield satisfactory levels of fit. This is however not the case for the Swazi market, as very little current anthropometric data exists on Swazi women. As a result, small-scale apparel manufacturers encounter problems with regard to body forms that are not manufactured according to the shape of Swazi women. The aim of this research was therefore to identify and describe the most prevalent body shapes of young Swazi women using body dimensions, to identify and describe the body shapes of the currently used body forms through body dimensions, to describe and compare the most prevalent body measurements and proportions of young Swazi women and those of currently used body forms, and finally to test and evaluate the fit of the test garment which represents the most prevalent size and shape of the Swazi women, on the body forms. This study is explorative in nature as it helped to clarify a largely undefined area of body shape analysis in respect of young Swazi women. Under the quantitative research strategy, a survey research methodology was used. Anthropometric techniques and traditional tailor’s measurements were used to obtain body measurements for various dimensions of young Swazi women, and training in anthropometry was undertaken to ensure that the measurements were taken reliably and accurately. It emerges from the results of this study that the most prevalent body shape of young Swazi women is the triangular body shape, followed by the hourglass body shape, while the inverted triangle is the least common body shape. The two body form brands employed in this study on the other hand are found to bear different body shapes from each other. Though one brand appears to have the same shape as that of the most prevalent body shape of young Swazi women, it is apparent that there are notable differences regarding the degree of the body contours, i.e. the Swazi women are conspicuously heavier and more rounded at the hip area – as the measurement differences show. The expectation that this body form will offer a better fit to Swazi women as they have similar body shapes in principle, is not realised when the fit of the test garment is evaluated, due to the vast differences in the drop values. The fit problems that are predicted to be experienced by young Swazi women when using the body forms for pattern generation, based on the significant measurement differences, are indeed observed during the evaluation of the fit of the test garment on the body forms. The fit problems exhibited during the testing of the fit of the test garment based on the most prevalent body shape of young Swazi women on the body forms, are mainly due to a wider lower hip girth and shorter length proportions at the upper torso of the young Swazi women. The results of this study contribute to a better understanding of the body shapes that exist among young Swazi women and the fit problems that young Swazi women experience as a consequence of unrepresentative body forms being used in terms of size and shape. Furthermore, the need for all stakeholders in the apparel manufacturing industry to reach consensus on the standardisation and communication of sizing emerges as a step toward affording better fitting apparel to the Swazi women. / Dissertation (MConsumer Science)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / gm2014 / Consumer Science / unrestricted

Although Swazi women's contribution to national development has been phenomenal, they like any other women in patriarchal societies confront an overbearing situation in which they have been regarded and treated as minors, both in the family and most spheres of public life. This has largely been due to the social construction of gender. Traditional gender-based attitudes, deeply ingrained in the people's mind set, not infrequently, have limited women's access to and control of various aspects of public life, and impinge on their rights, most especially the rights to selfdetermination and equal participation in the decision making process. Coupled with religion which influences "the deepest level of what it means to be human" (King, 1994:4) and zealous cultural conservatism, the Swazi women, with a few notable exceptions, experience an asymmetry of power due to the pervasive nature of gender. Nonetheless, the history of Swaziland bears testimony, however muted, to a legacy ofwomen's struggles to overcome gendered conditions imposed upon them either by taking full advantage of their spiritual endowment and charisma to overcome attitudinal barriers or by organising themselves into groups to work for the social transformation of their conditions and status. This study examines the Swazi women's search for gender equality. It discusses the social and cultural context of gender in Swaziland, the various moments in the Swazi women's quest for equality and its manifestations, and the push and pull effect of religion and culture. Particular attention is given to four organisations, namely Lutsango lwakaNgwane (loosely referred to as women's regiments), the Council of Swaziland Churches, the Women's Resource Centre (Umtapo waBomake) and Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA). The study shows that Swazi women have, across a passage of time, adopted different strategies, including ritual, economic empowerment and creation of new knowledge through promotion of gender awareness and social advocacy either in a womanist approach that accepts women's embeddedness in Swazi culture or in the liberal feminist tradition that espouses women's individual rights. However, the study shows that the women's movement has yet to reach the critical mass level so as to influence public policy and come to terms with the deconstruction of the dominant gender ideology. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies)

Although Swazi women's contribution to national development has been phenomenal, they like any other women in patriarchal societies confront an overbearing situation in which they have been regarded and treated as minors, both in the family and most spheres of public life. This has largely been due to the social construction of gender. Traditional gender-based attitudes, deeply ingrained in the people's mind set, not infrequently, have limited women's access to and control of various aspects of public life, and impinge on their rights, most especially the rights to selfdetermination and equal participation in the decision making process. Coupled with religion which influences "the deepest level of what it means to be human" (King, 1994:4) and zealous cultural conservatism, the Swazi women, with a few notable exceptions, experience an asymmetry of power due to the pervasive nature of gender. Nonetheless, the history of Swaziland bears testimony, however muted, to a legacy ofwomen's struggles to overcome gendered conditions imposed upon them either by taking full advantage of their spiritual endowment and charisma to overcome attitudinal barriers or by organising themselves into groups to work for the social transformation of their conditions and status. This study examines the Swazi women's search for gender equality. It discusses the social and cultural context of gender in Swaziland, the various moments in the Swazi women's quest for equality and its manifestations, and the push and pull effect of religion and culture. Particular attention is given to four organisations, namely Lutsango lwakaNgwane (loosely referred to as women's regiments), the Council of Swaziland Churches, the Women's Resource Centre (Umtapo waBomake) and Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA). The study shows that Swazi women have, across a passage of time, adopted different strategies, including ritual, economic empowerment and creation of new knowledge through promotion of gender awareness and social advocacy either in a womanist approach that accepts women's embeddedness in Swazi culture or in the liberal feminist tradition that espouses women's individual rights. However, the study shows that the women's movement has yet to reach the critical mass level so as to influence public policy and come to terms with the deconstruction of the dominant gender ideology. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies)