Psychology / M. A. (Clinical Psychology)

In the Central African Presbyterian Church (C.C.A.P.) women are marginalised in its synods. The Nkhoma Synod has taken the strictest measures in marginalising women in the sense that, unlike the other synods, at the time of writing this dissertation, they did not allow women to be deacons, elders or ministers. The dissertation is a quest to find out the root cause of this marginalisation. The main focus has been on finding out to what extent the Pauline writings influenced this marginalisation. Chapter 1 describes the extent of women marginalisation in the C.C.A.P. Synods in Malawi, focusing especially on the Nkhoma Synod. Chapter 2 deals with the unparalleled contribution of women to the success of the Nkhoma Synod’s work. The position of women in Malawi and within the Chewa society is discussed in chapter 3. Chapter 4 deals with various interpretations of 1 Corinthians 11:2–16; 14:34, 35. These are Pauline texts which seem to support the marginalisation of women. Chapter 5 presents the results of the research, while in chapter 6 suggestions are made with regard to the future improvement of the position of women. / New Testament / M.A. (Biblical Studies)

This research project arose from my journeys with Protestant Christian women who were living in sexually unhappy marriages. In South African Protestant faith communities there is the expectation that Christian marriages will experience sexual fulfilment. For many Christian women however, sexual unhappiness becomes their reality. Sexuality is cocooned in silence not only within the church, but also in many Christian marriages. This leaves many Christian women (and men) with little or no recourse to address sexually unhappy marriages. My research journey briefly explored the social construction of sexuality within the history of Christianity to see which discourses underpin current constructions of White Christian female sexuality. This participatory feminist action research journey centralised the voices of present-day contexts: Protestant Christian women, as well as clergy, were invited to share their understandings and interpretations of matrimony and sexual practices in relation to their faith. With the help of narrative therapeutic practices, some of the dominant social and religious discourses that constitute White Christian female sexuality were explored, deconstructed and challenged. This research journey aimed to penetrate this silence and to invite Christian women, who are living in sexually unhappy marriages, to share their experiences. This exploration included the faith predicaments and relational complexities, challenges and dilemmas Protestant Christian women experience when living in sexually unhappy marriages. This feminist-grounded action research explored the effects and consequences which living in sexually unhappy marriages held for the cosearchers. / Practical Theology / D.Th. (Specialisation in Pastoral Therapy)

The overarching goal of this thesis was to compare the mother-child relationship and child behaviour across cultures. The three articles in this thesis were part of a multi-method investigation comparing England (an individualistic culture) and Turkey (a collectivistic culture). Accounts from two children and their mothers were obtained from 218 two-parent families in total. Mothers completed questionnaires, children were interviewed using the Berkeley Puppet Interview, and observations recorded during various play tasks. The study was unique as it recorded the perspectives of mothers and young children aged from 4 to 8 in each family across cultures. Results showed that English mothers used more positive methods of discipline with their older children, and reported less conflict with both of their children compared to Turkish mothers. In contrast, English children reported more anger and hostility from their mothers than did their Turkish peers (Paper 1). Cultural differences in maternal values partially explained these differences in positive discipline and anger and hostility (Paper 1). Using structural equation modelling, partial cross-cultural measurement invariance for parenting and child adjustment was revealed (Paper 2), and a stronger association between parenting and child adjustment was found for the English versus Turkish families (Paper 2). Finally, multi-level modelling yielded significant prediction of children's adjustment from both family-wide and child-specific aspects of parenting (Paper 3). The implications of the findings include appreciating different perspectives of parenting when conducting cross-cultural research (Paper 1); the culturally distinct meanings of both parent and child adjustment should be considered when interpreting their association (Paper 2); and that differential parenting within families can also have distinct cultural meaning (Paper 3). Future research would benefit from exploring within-and between-cultural differences in parent-child relationships further, across multiple countries, over time and in larger samples.

Dans un contexte de déclin de la norme de « l’homme gagne-pain », s’appuyant sur une démarche pluridisciplinaire, cettethèse revisite le cadre d’analyse du travail domestique. Un premier chapitre adopte une perspective internationale incluant lespays en développement (PED) en vue de discerner la diversité et la singularité des institutions du travail. Vient ensuitel’étude du cas de l’Uruguay qui montre une rupture récente dans le legs, certes hybride, des institutions du travail libérales etla mise en place d’un modèle dit post-libéral, où la négociation collective occupe une place clé, y compris aux marges dusalariat, en intégrant le service domestique. La réflexion théorique renvoie sur le plan des structures à l’unité définitionnelledu mode de production domestique, souligne les limites des principaux corpus – la rationalité instrumentale de la théorienéoclassique et le fonctionnalisme de l’approche marxiste – et explore le renouveau conceptuel porté par le care dès lorsqu’il introduit la dimension interpersonnelle et les affects. Cette recherche s’empare des défis méthodologiques soulevés parles enquêtes emploi du temps (EET) dans les PED, outil privilégié pour mesurer le temps de travail domestique à partir de lacollecte de données sur les activités quotidiennes. L’exploitation de l’EET uruguayenne (MUT-ECH 2007) permetd’identifier les déterminants de la charge domestique des conjointes et teste pour les biactives l’hypothèse dite d’autonomieet ses prolongements. Leur revenu en termes absolus constitue un facteur notable diminuant le volume domestique qu’ellesaccomplissent. Le service domestique est la seule forme d’externalisation exerçant un effet substitutif. Toutefois, ces résultatssont nuancés au regard du caractère composite du travail domestique et de son inégale répartition dans le couple. / In a context of decline of the male breadwinner standard, based on a pluridisciplinary approach, this thesis revisits thedomestic labour framework analysis. The first chapter carries an international perspective including developing countries(DCs) in order to discern the diversity and singularity of labour institutions. Follows the case study of Uruguay pointing out arecent break in the legacy, certainly hybrid, with liberal labour institutions and the implementation of a model labelled aspost-liberal, where collective bargaining takes a major role, including at the margins of wage labour, i.e. integrating paiddomestic workers. Theoretical arguments refer, in terms of structures, to the definitional unit of the domestic mode ofproduction, underline the limits of main corpus – the instrumental rationality of the neoclassical theory and functionalism ofthe Marxist approach – and explore the renew involving the concept of care in its consideration of the interpersonaldimension and affects. This research examines the methodological challenges raised by time use surveys (TUSs) in DCs, thistool particularly adapted to measure the domestic labour time through the collection of data on daily activities. Using theUruguayan TUS (MUT-ECH 2007), we identify the determinants of domestic burden carried by wives and test for dualearner,the so-called autonomy hypothesis and its extensions. Their earnings considered in absolute terms are a key factordecreasing the domestic volume they do. The domestic service represents the only form of outsourcing exercising asubstitution effect. However, these results are modified when considering the composite nature of domestic labour and itsunequal marital distribution

In this thesis we study the interdependency of individual decisions on work and family, particularly the dynamic interaction of the marriage market and the labor market. My basic idea is that marital status affects individual labor supply decisions, and in turn, labor market condition influences marriage formation and dissolution. While these interactions are evident, the overwhelming majority of research on labor or family economics usually simplifies the individual decision-making by assuming that one of two markets outcomes is given while studying the other one. In the empirical study, endogeneity issues are troublesome, especially under the dynamic setting. My work takes a different approach. I directly model the individual decision-making, which describes how marriage market and labor market interact with each other; and matching with survey data we empirically recover the underlying economic environments that characterize the structure of the marriage market and the labor market. I further examine to what extent my model explains the observed facts. Very few studies have been conducted to explore work and family issues in this direction partly due to its complexity. The structural models, besides the conventional regression, improve our perceptions on how individuals form decisions on work and family, which have far-reaching implications on policy designs and welfare evaluations. In my thesis, I explore all these issues in three steps. In chapter 1, I explain a stylized fact that there exists a positive correlation between rising wage inequality and declining marriage rates. A two-sided matching model is developed to exploit a theoretical channel through which wage inequality affects marriage rates. My model features a steady state equilibrium in which the whole marriage market is divided into groups and only people in the same group will marry each other. Using the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) data from 1970 to 2000, my estimates indicate that a structural change occurs in the U.S. marriage market. The higher matching efficiency and declining elasticity of men suggest that the nowadays marriage market provides more chance to meet and better gender equity, though higher arrival rates also raise the outside options of getting married. Additionally, I find that wage inequality accounts for over 38% of the decline in marriage rate, which is underestimated in Gould (2003). Chapter 2 examines household dynamic labor supply after introducing bargaining between husbands and wives, which has not been thoroughly studied previously in literature. Here bargaining between husbands and wives determines the amount of husbands' earnings that are transferred to wives for their private consumption. A household search model that incorporates the intrahousehold bargaining is developed and estimated using panel data from the year 2001 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). My results show that the portion of household income shared by husbands for private consumption is responsive to their employment status, suggesting the existence of the bargaining between the U.S. couples. My findings also imply that the labor supply of women will increase with higher women wage and lower money transfer from husbands to wives, showing that the income effect dominates for wives. Moreover, the wage frontier of husbands is positively correlated with wives' wages and negatively correlated with husbands' earnings transferred to wives, highlighting that husbands are subject to both the income effect and intra-household bargaining, and their decisions depend on which effect dominates. In the third and the last chapter, I study household unemployment duration. Previously, most studies have addressed the topic of job search at the individual level. This chapter studies job search patterns of married couples and in particular compares couple's unemployment duration given their spousal earnings. A household search model is introduced, which includes the bargaining between husbands and wives. I use the year 2001 panel data Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) to estimate the structural model of family decisions. Our findings reveal that there exists a gender asymmetry in job search of the U.S. household: The more husbands earn, the longer wives search for a job; but the more wives earn, the sooner husbands find a job. / text

Psychology / M. A. (Clinical Psychology)

In the Central African Presbyterian Church (C.C.A.P.) women are marginalised in its synods. The Nkhoma Synod has taken the strictest measures in marginalising women in the sense that, unlike the other synods, at the time of writing this dissertation, they did not allow women to be deacons, elders or ministers. The dissertation is a quest to find out the root cause of this marginalisation. The main focus has been on finding out to what extent the Pauline writings influenced this marginalisation. Chapter 1 describes the extent of women marginalisation in the C.C.A.P. Synods in Malawi, focusing especially on the Nkhoma Synod. Chapter 2 deals with the unparalleled contribution of women to the success of the Nkhoma Synod’s work. The position of women in Malawi and within the Chewa society is discussed in chapter 3. Chapter 4 deals with various interpretations of 1 Corinthians 11:2–16; 14:34, 35. These are Pauline texts which seem to support the marginalisation of women. Chapter 5 presents the results of the research, while in chapter 6 suggestions are made with regard to the future improvement of the position of women. / New Testament / M.A. (Biblical Studies)

This research project arose from my journeys with Protestant Christian women who were living in sexually unhappy marriages. In South African Protestant faith communities there is the expectation that Christian marriages will experience sexual fulfilment. For many Christian women however, sexual unhappiness becomes their reality. Sexuality is cocooned in silence not only within the church, but also in many Christian marriages. This leaves many Christian women (and men) with little or no recourse to address sexually unhappy marriages. My research journey briefly explored the social construction of sexuality within the history of Christianity to see which discourses underpin current constructions of White Christian female sexuality. This participatory feminist action research journey centralised the voices of present-day contexts: Protestant Christian women, as well as clergy, were invited to share their understandings and interpretations of matrimony and sexual practices in relation to their faith. With the help of narrative therapeutic practices, some of the dominant social and religious discourses that constitute White Christian female sexuality were explored, deconstructed and challenged. This research journey aimed to penetrate this silence and to invite Christian women, who are living in sexually unhappy marriages, to share their experiences. This exploration included the faith predicaments and relational complexities, challenges and dilemmas Protestant Christian women experience when living in sexually unhappy marriages. This feminist-grounded action research explored the effects and consequences which living in sexually unhappy marriages held for the cosearchers. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D.Th. (Specialisation in Pastoral Therapy)

This thesis explores the extent to which elite women of the eighteenth century commissioned architectural works and the extent to which the type and scale of their projects was dictated by their marital status. Traditionally, architectural historians have advocated that eighteenth-century architecture was purely the pursuit of men. Women, of course, were not absent during this period, but their involvement with architecture has been largely obscured and largely overlooked. This doctoral research has redressed this oversight through the scrutinising of known sources and the unearthing of new archival material. This thesis begins with an exploration of the legal and financial statuses of elite women, as encapsulated by the eighteenth-century marriage settlement. This encompasses brides’ portions or dowries, wives’ annuities or ‘pin-money’, widows’ dower or jointure, and provisions made for daughters and younger children. Following this, the thesis is divided into three main sections which each look at the ways in which women, depending upon their marital status, could engage in architecture. The first of these sections discusses unmarried women, where the patronage of the following patroness is examined: Anne Robinson; Lady Isabella Finch; Lady Elizabeth Hastings; Sophia Baddeley; George Anne Bellamy and Teresa Cornelys. The second section explores the patronage of married women, namely Jemima Yorke, Marchioness Grey; Amabel Hume-Campbell, Lady Polwarth; Mary Robinson, Baroness Grantham; Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough; Frances Boscawen; Elizabeth Herbert, Countess of Pembroke and Montgomery; Henrietta Knight, Baroness Luxborough and Lady Sarah Bunbury. The third and final section discusses the architectural patronage of widowed women, including Susanna Montgomery, Countess of Eglinton; Georgianna Spencer, Countess Spencer; Elizabeth Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort; Elizabeth Home, Countess of Home; Elizabeth Montagu; Mary Hervey, Lady Hervey; Henrietta Fermor, Countess of Pomfret; the Hon. Charlotte Digby; the Hon. Charlotte Boyle Walsingham; the Hon. Agneta Yorke and Albinia Brodrick, Viscountess Midleton. Collectively, all three sections advocate that elite women were at the heart of the architectural patronage system and exerted more influence and agency over architecture than has previously been recognised by architectural historians.