A significant proportion of the world's population are routinely subjected to abuse, torture, humiliation, starvation and mutilation simply because they are female, more so in Africa where women's rights are still often viewed as distinct from human rights. This raises the question of state responsibility for protecting women's human rights. Women, as much as men, are entitled to full protection of their rights and freedoms because they are human beings. A decade ago, the United Nations summarized the burden of gender inequality by stating that women composed one--half of the world's population and performed two thirds of the world's work, but earned only one tenth of the world's income and owned only one hundredth of the worlds property. A look at the constitutions of many Southern African states would suggest that women enjoy equality and access to first generation hunlan rights across the region. In most of these constitutions 'discrimination' on the grounds of gender is prohibited, but the governments frequently do not have the nlechanisms in place to enforce these constitutional provisions effectively and women are therefore subjected to widespread practices of discrimination, violence and inequality. Although party to international human rights instruments that advocate gender equality, African states still take a particularly selective view of women's human rights and make this contingent upon local custom. Then one might find that the constitution and civil law give women the same rights as men, but make these subject to traditional practices that limit women's rights. This dissertation will address the issue of how customary laws limit women's human rights and will examine the role of the courts therein. We will also briefly look at the application of international human rights documents in domestic courts. In order to constructively and comprehensively examine the topic within the space constraints dictated, I had to limit this paper to a survey of five Southern African states that were chosen because of their common language, cultural and legal dualism, colonial histories, and the availability of case law. This paper will cover specific issues that affect women in the personal law of marriage, divorce, property rights and inheritance and will be limited to those areas where most inequalities occur. The reason that this paper will concentrate on the above-mentioned issues is that family law is central to African social, political and economic life. The importance of family law in traditional African systems cannot be sufficiently emphasized as it has been noted that in any study of African traditional economic and political arrangcments, the notion of family impinges upon almost every area of community life. These traditional rules are not merely historical curiosities but are part and parcel of the living domestic law in most Southern African states. We will now examine these domestic legal systenls. / Thesis (LL.M.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2002.

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Thesis (LLD)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Jurisprudence / LLD / Unrestricted

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)

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

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 is a case study of East London from 1870 to 1914 with gender as the critical analytical category. The focus is on change in the structure of gender relations, evaluated in terms of the recognition of the rights of women and their status in society and women of all race groups are dealt with. A feature of the source material has been the use made of oral history where interviews were conducted with the descendants of women who lived during the study period. There were many indirect factors which had a retrogressive influence on progressive change in the rights and position of women. The initial small size of the population and unbalanced gender ratios, the few natural resources, a small and limited port and periodic unpredictable natural disasters gave rise to a 'boom and burst' economy with very little industry. The result was that initially the women were very conservative and unwilling to make social changes. The military occupation and the outbreak of hostilities in the late 1870s affected social and racial attitudes detrimentally. The entrenched patriarchal system, under which both black and white women lived, and the legal controls, particularly in the marital situation, reinforced the subordination of women, making the system difficult to break. Further conservative forces were at work with the European class system being well entrenched, with most women working for upward mobility, gentrification and respectability. Wealth was critical in determining status and those women from the working class, who had achieved some degree of wealth and status, were not prepared to challenge the system. Religion was important for nearly all white women and converted black women, but was a retarding influence in the growth of feminist consciousness. Little progress was made in improving the condition of women who transgressed the law, the non-respectable women, and ethnicity made no difference. Progress was made in gender relations for women in some fields. The reduction in family size and the improvement in health, gave women more time and energy for public affairs. Participation in sport helped women discard the image of being weak and frail and also improved health. Educational opportunities allowed some to get tertiary training and obtain proper qualifications to earn a living for themselves. Xhosa women who came into the town, made a major break with traditional society and many became independent. The major impetus for change came through women's associations, where women actively worked together and achieved some positive results. Middle class white women could earn an independent living without losing respectability, although it was accepted that women should give up paid employment on marriage. Black women broke traditional ties and many urban women became independent. Conditions for working class and non-respectable women changed very little. A deduction is that many women, both white and black, had sympathy for one another and they created a fund of goodwill on both sides of the colour line.

The African Charter on Human and Peoples‟ Rights (the Africa Charter), which is one of the constituents of the African human rights system, was adopted by the Assembly of Head of States and Governments of the OAU in 1981 and entered into force five years later in 1986. The African Charter covers a wider range of rights when compared to the other regional human rights instruments, such as the European and the Inter-American Human Rights Systems. As many writers indicated, the Africa Charter is designed to reflect the history, values, traditions, and development of Africa by joining collective rights and individual duties. The African Commission on Humans and Peoples‟ Rights (the Commission) is responsible for the enforcement of the African Charter. Currently, the African Charter has been ratified by 53 countries. South Africa has signed, ratified and deposited the Charter on 09 July 1996. / Prepared under the supervision of Dr. Letitia van der Poll, Faculty of Law of the University of the Western Cape, South Africa / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa))--University of Pretoria, 2011. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / nf2012 / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

The research was submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johanneburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Drama Arts / This research explores the tension between women’s personal wellbeing, expectations and desires and the expectations imposed by cultural practices, customs, beliefs and norms. We know that there are harmful traditional cultural practices which violate the rights of women and that policies and legislative instruments have been put in place to outlaw these practices. Examples of such practices in South Africa include marriage by abduction, child marriages and virginity testing (Wadesango, et al., 2009). So far, the nature of interventions that deal with women’s rights in rural South African communities tends to focus on advocacy and education, but fail to recognize the existence of intergenerational conflict among women. This conflict compromises the ability for interventions focusing on women’s rights to have sustainable impact on the community and gives opportunity for further violation of women’s rights through harmful traditional cultural practices. This study demonstrates and offers the use of Story, in Applied Theatre and Drama (Chinyowa, (2001), Fox (2006), Mutwa, (1965), as a tool to engage women on traditional cultural practices which violate their rights. It takes a Generational Approach (Howe and Strauss, 2007) to understanding the underlying causes of the continuation of such practices by engaging with the personal narratives of an intergenerational group of women from Ntoane Village, Limpopo, South Africa. Using Narrative Inquiry (Hinchman & Hinchman, 1997), Reflective Practice (Schon, 1987) and Narrative Practice (Gubrium and Holstein1998) in partnership with Story, women from Generation X and Y cohorts embarked on a four-day process which revealed how the characteristics and behavioural patterns of each generation impact and determine the positioning of women in the community and ultimately women’s experiences of traditional cultural practices. The research findings suggest that applying a Generational Approach to social development processes in rural South African communities, as it proves in this research, may contribute to the sustainability of sociological interventions in such environments. / NG (2020)

Thesis (LLD)--University of Stellenbosch, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The advent of a constitutional democracy in South Africa after the first non-racial democratic elections in 1994 and the subsequent adoption of a final constitution in 1996 introduced a legal order based on "democratic values, social justice and fundamental rights". The inception of a constitutional democracy in South African encourages an assessment of the possible constitutional ramifications of pornography, specifically within a discourse on women's interests in equality, human dignity and physical integrity. Under the strong influence of United States First Amendment doctrine, pornography is defined (and protected in the "marketplace of ideas") as a particular mode of expression, thus allowing pornography to be viewed as part of the fabric of an open, free and democratic society. Within this doctrinal context, the recognition and entrenchment of freedom of expression have firmly placed pornography on both the South African constitutional and political agendas. The objective of this study is to address specific aspects of the debate on adult heterosexual pornography (that is, pornography produced for and targeted at the male heterosexual market) in order to establish its constitutionality. This dissertation is not, however, intended as a discourse on pornography as a possible threat to the moral fibre of society, but rather about pornography as an invasion ofwomen's particular constitutional interests in equality, human dignity as well as security in and control over their bodies. To this end, Chapter 2 serves to establish a suitable theoretical framework that is capable of facilitating a woman-centred analysis of adult heterosexual pornography within the ambit of the Bill of Rights in the South African Constitution. Consequently, the merit ofliberal feminism and radical feminist thought is critically assessed against the particular (constitutional and doctrinal) demands presented by a study of this nature. Chapter three - the first in a trilogy which seeks to evaluate the different conceptualisations of pornography in the United States, Canada and South Africa - critically reflects on the obscenity jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of the United States of America as well as radical feminist campaigns in Minneapolis and Indianapolis to re-conceptualise pornography and its harm. Chapter 4 entails a critical reflection on the capacity of Canadian constitutional jurisprudence to address adult heterosexual pornography either as a patriarchal structure which impacts on women's interests in equality, dignity and physical integrity or as a mode of expression which incites gender hatred. Chapter 5 traces the history of South African censorship law as prelude to a critical discussion of the current Films and Publications Act as well as the first decision of the South African Constitutional Court on the possible human rights implications of sexually explicit material. The chapter concludes with proposals for a suitable conception of the (constitutional) harm as well as a legal definition of adult heterosexual pornography for South African law. The constitutional implications of the proposed conceptions of pornography and harm are evaluated in Chapter 6 with specific reference to sections 9, 10 and 12 as well as subsection 16(2)( c) of the South African Constitution. Chapter 7 concludes the present study with some thoughts on the suitability of censorship as legal and political strategy. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die koms van 'n konstitusionele demokrasie in Suid-Afrika ná die eerste nie-rassige demokratiese verkiesings in 1994 en die daaropvolgende aanname van 'n finale grondwet in 1996 het' n regsorde wat op "demokratiese waardes, maatskaplike geregtigheid en basiese menseregte" gegrond is, ingelei. Die aanvang van 'n konstitusionele demokrasie in Suid-Afrika moedig inderwaarheid 'n evaluering van die moontlike grondwetlike gevolge van pornografie, spesifiek binne 'n diskoers oor vroue se belange in gelykheid, menswaardigheid en fisiese integriteit, aan. Onder die sterk invloed van die leerstelling van die Amerikaanse Eerste Amendement word pornografie gedefinieer (en beskerm binne die "markplein van idees") as 'n spesifieke vorm van uitdrukking wat gevolglik meebring dat pornografie noodwendig as deel van 'n oop, vrye en demokratiese gemeenskap beskou word. Binne hierdie dogmatiese konteks het die erkenning en . verskansing van vryheid van uitdrukking pornografie stewig op sowel die Suid-Afrikaanse grondwetlike as politieke agendas geplaas. Die oogmerk van hierdie studie is om spesifieke aspekte rondom die debat oor volwasse heteroseksuele pornografie (naamlik, pornografie geproduseer vir en gerig op die manlike heteroseksuele mark) aan te spreek ten einde die grondwetlikheid daarvan te bepaal. Hierdie proefskrif is egter nie bedoel as 'n diskoers oor pornografie as moontlike bedreiging vir die morele stoffasie van die gemeenskap nie, maar eerder oor pornografie as 'n 'n inbreukmaking op vroue se spesifieke grondwetlike belange in gelykheid, menswaardigheid asook sekerheid in en beheer oor hulle liggame. Gevolglik dien Hoofstuk 2 om 'n gepaste teoretiese raamwerk daar te stel wat oor die vermoë beskik om 'n vroue-gesentreerde analise van volwasse heteroseksuele pornografie binne die raamwerk van die Handves van Menseregte in die Suid-Afrikaanse Grondwet aan te help. Daarom word die meriete van die liberale feminisme en die radikale feministiese denke krities oorweeg teenoor die spesifieke (grondwetlike en dogmatiese) uitdagings wat deur 'n studie van hierdie aard gestel word. Hoofstuk 3 - die eerste in 'n trilogie wat ten doel het om die verskillende opvattings oor pornografie in die Verenigde State, Kanada en Suid-Afrika te ondersoek - bevat 'n kritiese oorweging van die Amerikaanse Hooggeregshofse beskouing van obseniteit asook die radikaal feministies-geïnspireerde veldtogte in Minneapolis en Indianapolis wat ten doel gehad het om pornografie en sy nadeel te herkonseptualiseer. Hoofstuk 4 behels 'n kritiese oorweging van die vermoë van die Kanadese grondwetlike reg om volwasse heteroseksuele pornografie Of as 'n patriargale struktuur wat 'n impak op vroue se belange in gelykheid, menswaardigheid en fisiese integriteit het Of as 'n vorm van uitdrukking wat geslagshaat aanwakker, aan te spreek. Hoofstuk 5 speur die geskiedenis van sensuur in Suid-Afrika na as inleiding tot 'n kritiese bespreking van die huidige Wet op Films en Publikasies asook die eerste beslissing van die Suid- Afrikaanse Grondwetlike Hof oor die menseregte-implikasies van seksueel eksplisiete materiaal. Die hoofstuk sluit afmet voorstelle vir 'n gepaste begrip van sowel die (grondwetlike)nadeel as 'n regsdefinisie van volwasse heteroseksuele pornografie vir die Suid-Afrikaanse reg. Die grondwetlike implikasies van die voorgestelde begrippe van pornografie en gepaardgaande nadeel word in Hoofstuk 6 opgeweeg met besondere verwysing na artikels 9, 10 en 12 asook subartikeI16(2)(c) van die Suid-Afrikaanse Grondwet. Hoofstuk 7 sluit die onderhawige studie af met enkele gedagtes oor sensuur as gepasde regs- en politiese strategie.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Women’s rights to property have still not been recognised in many countries as a basic individual right. Furthermore, women have often been excluded in the policies that govern land reform, that is, the economic restructuring programmes and land distribution policies. It is important to understand how women's rights in and access to land are being addressed, and the ways in which institutional reforms have benefited or disadvantaged women, given the importance of women as agricultural producers in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as the commitment to gender equality adopted by many governments. The determination of the criteria used to target land beneficiaries for land reform in South Africa is largely unclear and undocumented. Furthermore, there is a limited focus in existing literature on the actual impact of land reform on its beneficiaries. Land reform in South Africa is only benefiting a small proportion of the population. The findings of this research also indicate that there is a conscious attempt by the state to address racial injustices of Apartheid, with the majority of recipients of land in South Africa being African/black, and Coloureds following closely. Furthermore, the beneficiaries of land appear to be largely uneducated and unmarried. The research indicates that women in South Africa have equal, if not more opportunity than men to gain access to land through land reform. However, it does appear that males are heading most of the households with access to land through land reform and women in male-headed households have more access to land through land reform than those in female-headed households. This suggests that unmarried women are still at a disadvantage for accessing land through land reform, which further validates the findings of existing literature that customary practices may still be prevalent in South Africa and women’s primary access to land is through marriage. The findings of the research also indicate that generally people with access to land through land reform are more likely to have better household welfare than those with no access to land through land reform. Therefore, with only 2.5 per cent of the population accessing land, there is a significant limitation on the number of households whose welfare can be improved by land reform. The results also indicate that males without access to land have better household welfare than females without access to land therefore implying that women are more vulnerable without land access and they are more likely to face poverty when they are not afforded the opportunity to access land through land reform. Furthermore, it appears that females with access to land have better household welfare than males with access to land, which implies that females are an essential contributor to household welfare, more so than their male counter parts. Similar to existing literature, these findings further validate the need for the state to address gender inequality in land reform and ensure that women are included in the process. Nevertheless, with the majority of the land beneficiaries in this research being female, household welfare in South Africa is expected to improve in the future due to land reform.