Traditional ethical views have tended to define moral agency from the patriarchal perspective. Seen and defined from this perspective, it has been maintained that women are not transmitters or teachers of good morals, let alone makers of sound moral judgments. This biased stance on women and moral agency is not only prevalent in Western traditional ethical approaches. It is also found in the thinking and practice of contemporary African society. Contrary to traditional ethical views on moral agency, both Western and African, this work argues that African women are good moral agents. They have always demonstrated moral responsibility through participation in the overall life of their society. To ensure maximum participation of all African women in society, the dissertation suggests that a process of conscientization for a liberative culture should become a priority for African society. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Theological Ethics)

This dissertation examines how contentious collective action in two post communist states, Poland and the Czech Republic, has broadened to include European and international actors. It identifies the emergence of new opportunities for contention brought about by recent episodes of institutional change, specifically EU accession, and questions how they benefit materially or politically weak NGOs. With the intention of determining how three interrelated processes, democratization, Europeanization and internationalization, affect the nature and scope of contentious politics, this dissertation carries out an investigation of several concrete episodes of political mobilization and contention. As shown these 'contentious events' involved a myriad of national, European and international actors, mobilizing to challenge national policy. Data from NGO questionnaires, interviews and newswire/newspaper archives are used to discern the nature and scope of contentious collective action. This dissertation assesses the extent to which transnationalization of advocacy politics has disrupted existing power arrangements at the national level between NGOs and government. Hypothesizing that European Union accession in 2004 changed the nature and scope of contentious collective action in post communist Europe, this dissertation undertakes a comparative empirical examination of three sectors, environment, women and Roma, and twenty-nine representative NGOs. My research identifies three important developments in the Polish and Czech nonprofit sector: first, European advocacy networks and institutions are helping national NGOs overcome power disparities at the national level; second, issues once confined to national political space have acquired a European dimension, and; third, despite Europeanization, a few notable policy issues (i.e. reproductive rights, nuclear energy and domestic violence) remain firmly under national jurisdiction. This dissertation contributes to existing collective action/post communist scholarship in three ways. It applies established theories of contention/collective action to several recent episodes of political mobilization; it confirms that post accession institutional change does offer new political opportunity structures to national NGOs, and finally; it presents new empirical research on post communist collective action.

published_or_final_version / Chinese Historical Studies / Master / Master of Arts

The premise of this dissertation is that the political literature and rhetoric of the two opposing sides (femininism and anti-femininism) in the struggle over the recognition and advancement of the rights of women in America illuminate the existence of at least two traditions of American political thought and practice. These two traditions are based on distinct epistemological premises about how an object or person is considered to be known. The epistemological categories explicated by F. S. C. Northrop ("concepts by postulation" and "concepts by intuition") and two of the categories of legal and ethical views developed by Northrop ("abstract contractual" and "natural history") provide the framework within which feminist and antifeminist political literature and rhetoric are examined. It is argued that feminism is informed by an abstract contractual legal and ethical view based on a postulational epistemology which considers the truly known individual to be an instance of deductively postulated universal laws. Anti-feminism is argued to be informed by a natural history legal and ethical view based on an intuitional epistemology which considers the truly known individual to be as given by the senses (which are informed in what is directly observed by customs and tradition). The distinct epistemological premises of feminists and anti-feminists and their divergent legal and ethical views are shown to inform and structure their positions on the issues of political authority and political membership, equality of rights before the law, and of the status of woman as a distinct and individual person. It is demonstrated that feminists define women as autonomous individual persons who are, for political and legal purposes, essentially similar to men. Thus, political authority relations, political membership, and rights before the law must recognize the equality, individuality, and autonomy of each person. Anti-feminists are shown to define women by their reproductive difference from men and to argue that men and women are, thus, essentially dissimilar. Woman, by nature, belongs in a family headed by man, which family is the unit of society and polity. Woman's rights and her relation to the polity are directly linked to her nature as mother-wife.

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Law, 2014 / This study is interested in questions of law and social change, with a particular focus on how litigation can be used strategically to change the law to benefit women. Given law’s patriarchal nature, feminist litigators have often asked questions about whether, and how the law can be used to reflect women’s experience and to improve women’s lives. In this sense, the feminist project in law considers how feminist theory and methodology can be used in constructing legal arguments that seek the improvement of women’s rights and gender equality. The focal point of this study is amicus curiae participation and how this participation is employed by means of feminist litigation strategy so that it enhances rights-claiming and advances gender equality for women within the court system. I examine the way in which amicus curiae participation promotes litigation from a feminist and gendered viewpoint and validates the employment of feminist method to create effective arguments. The main body of the dissertation is dedicated to a case analysis of the Constitutional Court’s core gender jurisprudence and the amici curiae that have participated in these matters. The case discussions are divided into three categories: violence against women, women as part of cultural communities, and specific areas of vulnerability including prostitution and domestic partnerships (between heterosexual couples). The purpose of this analysis is to establish whether the amici curiae that have participated in these matters were able to influence judicial decisions, and how the amici used litigation to communicate a feminist and gendered viewpoint. The study concludes that, whether the relevant amici curiae participation had a direct or indirect impact on judicial decisions or not, its importance lies in engaging the law from a feminist and gendered viewpoint to create awareness of gender inequality, how this inequality is entrenched in the legal system and how it might be remedied.

Research Paper Submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial completion of the requirements for a Masters Degree (MA) in the field of Demography and Population Studies 2016 / Context: Various reforms that are approved by the law and are intended to foster gender equality have been established by eleven nations in the Southern African Development Community Region (SADC). However, irrespective of the efforts exercised to eliminate practices that inhibit females from being able to attain their human rights, early marriage remains to be one of the discriminatory traditional practices which occur under harmful customary laws and societal norms in a number of SADC nations. The practice of early marriage violates international human rights laws that are aimed at fostering gender equality, in particular, those of females. In addition, early marriage poses a serious threat to the health and social standing of females which often results in females being politically and financially subordinated in relation to their male counterparts as well as being subjected to sexual abuse and control by males. Despite several strategies that have been established by the Mozambican government that intend to improve education and employment as well as decrease the levels of impoverishment, gender inequality is still a predominant phenomenon that leaves females being the most marginalised in relation to males, in all sociocultural, political and financial domains. This research study sought to explore whether demographic and socioeconomic characteristics including region of residence, current age of the respondent, educational level, religious affiliation, type of place of residence, and wealth status are influential on age at first marriage. Methods: This study utilised secondary statistics acquired from the 2011 Mozambique Demographic and Health Survey. The 2011 Mozambique Demographic and Health Survey is a survey that includes a sample of 13 745 females who are between the ages 15-49 years old. The sample of respondents consisted of females who have been or are in a marital union of childbearing ages 15-49. Due to the event of interest being marriage, only 10893 females were or had been in a marital union while the remaining 2852 had never been in a union. Thus the analytic sample size utilised in this study was 10893 and the remaining 2852 cases were simply right censored. The outcome variable was age at first marriage and the predictors were the respondent’s current age, region of residence, educational level, religious affiliation, type of place of residence and wealth status. A Cox Proportional Hazard Regression model was employed in order to analyse the time of first entry into a marital union, systematically. The data analysis was done in three phases. The first phase included descriptive analyses of the variables utilised in the study through a series of frequency tables and discussions. The second stage included Kaplan-Meier graphs which were used to estimate levels of age at first marriage. The third stage included an unadjusted (bivariate) and adjusted (multivariate) Cox Regression model which was employed to determine characteristics that had an influence on age of first marriage. Results: Hazard ratios shown in the multivariate Cox Proportional Hazard Regression model showed that the respondent’s age, level of education and region of residence are significant predictors of age at first marriage among females in Mozambique. These associations indicated that early marriage is highest in Mozambique’s northern regions with females residing in Manica exhibiting a 19% increased hazard ratio of exposure to early marriage, followed by females residing in Cabo Delgado who exhibit an 11% increased hazard ratio of exposure to early marriage. The lowest rates of early marriage were found in Mozambique’s southern regions with females residing in Maputo exhibiting a 20% lower risk of exposure to early marriage, followed by females residing in Gaza who exhibit a 14% lower risk of exposure to early marriage and this can be attributed to cultural and societal differences. Early age of marriage is highest among females in the 15-19 year age groups and early age of marriage starts to decrease with an in increase in the female’s age. This is evident from the presented hazard ratios which indicated that females aged 45-49 exhibited a 73% lower risk of exposure to early marriage, followed by females aged 40-44 who exhibited a 71% lower risk of exposure to early marriage and females aged 35-39 who exhibited a 70% lower risk, in relation to the younger-aged females. Furthermore, the more education a female attains, the more her age of marriage increases. This is evident from the results as they show that females with a primary education have a 5% higher hazard ratio of exposure to early marriage while females with a secondary education have a 21% reduced hazard ratio of exposure, followed by females with a tertiary education who have a 46% reduced hazard ratio of exposure to early marriage. Conclusion: The overall inference drawn from this study was that early marriage is a pervasive phenomenon that is still carried out in the northern regions of Mozambique and is particularly prevalent among young females aged 15-19 who have a primary or no education. Results demonstrated that a number of inequalities exist in the country and these inequalities are not only exclusive between males and females but also exist among young females themselves, particularly those who reside in the rural regions of Mozambique and this is due to the different lifestyles led in the rural and urban areas. Furthermore, the results showed that customary laws of marriage that have been imposed by traditional authorities specifically among citizens living in the rural areas of Mozambique are not aligned with the main civil laws that have been implemented by the Mozambican government and made rigid in order to foster gender equality and improve the situation of women. This thus suggests that there are inconsistencies in the laws and thus they do not sufficiently protect young females from entry into early marriages. Thus, the Mozambican government needs to scale up strategies that will be beneficial in eradicating the practice of early marriage. / MT2017

Research report in the Masters of Management in Public Policy, 2016 / This research assesses the challenges and prospects of the South African ‘Women Empowerment and Gender Equality (WEGE) Bill’. The bill, passed by the National Council of Provinces in March, 2014 seeks to reinforce rights and opportunities in advancing gender equality and women empowerment in the country. The scope of this study is national and uses scenario planning to explore the future of the WEGE Bill through reviewing fifteen written parliamentary submissions and eighteen questionnaires. Questionnaires were distributed to representatives from government, civil society organisations and the private sector. The findings of the study revealed that while South Africa has made great legal and policy strides in advancing gender equality, a lot still needs to be done to realise that end. The promulgation of the new WEGE Bill has also not provided sufficient justification or prospects for any greater impact in addressing gender inequalities more than any other existing laws or policies would. Greater political will and more robust processes of consultation and stakeholder engagement are essential to making decisions on future gender equality policy making. / MT2017

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a global problem that stems from gender inequality. Increased migration from countries that perform FGM to England has led to the practice travelling across borders. FGM is subject to heightened political debate and media sensitivity in the England and across the Western world. Debates about FGM often proceed from a universal standpoint that the practice should be prohibited through law. However, the efficacy of FGM legislation is questionable and rarely subjected to scrutiny. Despite implementing a criminal offence of FGM in 1985 and introducing subsequent stringent legal changes, there has not been one conviction for a practice, which remains prevalent in England. A failure to secure convictions for a practice that continues suggests that the law has left women and girls unprotected. To understand why the practice persists in a context in which FGM is criminalised, this thesis aims to address the potential and limitations of social and cultural change through the law. My qualitative research findings are based on two focus groups each with 11 women from FGM-performing communities and 79 semi-structured interviews with women and stakeholders who are responsible for designing and enforcing FGM legislation, including legal professionals, police officers, Members of Parliament and Members of the House of Lords. I chose to interview these two groups of participants to understand the different perspectives of women subject to the law and stakeholders responsible for enforcing the law. The interview data shows the importance of an intersectional analysis of FGM that accounts for women’s experiences of gender, race, ethnicity, nation, nationality and religion. While FGM is performed upon girls and women’s bodies to control their sexuality, women also identified FGM as representative of other identity issues including race, group rights, migrant culture and religion. The data highlights the complex meanings women ascribe to FGM and the challenges they encounter in accessing the criminal justice system. In contrast, stakeholders believe anti-FGM legislation is a means for the state to eliminate ‘cultural’ violence against women and girls and enforce British values upon minority groups. The findings from the interviews with women and stakeholders revealed a stark divide in the two groups understanding of FGM and their attitudes towards the law. Examining FGM in the context of criminalisation from two different perspectives highlights the core barriers to the enforcement of law.

No description available.

The purpose of this research is to explore the impact of America’s influence on Japanese women’s efforts to obtain equal rights. America’s role in various Japanese women’s rights groups and movements has been the subject of essays and theses in the past, yet the topic is generally centered specifically on the period during the American occupation following World War II in 1945. This paper aims to take a broader look at Japanese Women’s Rights efforts before and after the war to garner a better understanding of the ways in which the American influence aided in the development of the movement. Japanese women have fought for their rights without the aid of American influence, yet the relationship between the two has had benefits for both parties.