The experiences of African women with primary infertility were explored. These women were from Durban and surrounding rural areas, in KwaZulu / Natal. The aims of the study were to describe their perception of infertility using King's (1981) Interacting Systems Model and to describe the actions they undertook in response to their problem of primary infertility. A purposive sample of the first ten consenting women with primary infertility, five from the academic hospital and five from a private gynaecological practice were selected on the day when they attended either health centre. Case studies were conducted using in-depth interviews. Women's personal, interpersonal and social systems were adversely affected by their problem of being unable to conceive. For example in the taped discussions, all ten participants had a low self-image in regard to their personal system which was reflected in all but four, when measured with Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1979). All women were found to be at various stages in the grief process, only one having attained acceptance (Kubler-Ross, 1969). Eight women were married and the remaining two were single. Four of the married participants had experienced problems with "in-laws", which has led to poor interpersonal relationships, unlike the other four married participants. Despite not being major decision-makers in the household, all the participants were allowed to make their own decisions about whom they saw in regard to infertility. All the women concerned made use of formal medical facilities but four participants made use of traditional and/or faith healers as well. Some of the problems identified were the lack of emotional support from nursing personnel as well as their own lack of understanding of causes, investigations and treatment of female infertility. Recommendations regarding effective nursing care of women with infertility and the possible formation of support groups, were made. As all the participants were literate, informative pamphlets could be developed. Areas of further research were identified. / Thesis (M.Cur.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1994.

This research study aimed at investigating the acceptability, knowledge and perceptions ofpregnant women towards IDV testing in pregnancy in Ilembe District. An exploratory research design guided the study. A systematic random sampling was used to select fourty pregnant women who were attending clinic for the first time in their current pregnancy. Self-administered questionnaires with close-ended questions were used in the collection ofdata. The questions included the women's demographic details, their views towards IDV testing, knowledge and acceptability ofIDV testing. Forty questionnaires were distributed and they were all returned. Quantitative method was used to analyse data. The fmdings ofthe study revealed that women in the sample were relatively young (18-25) with the percentage of45% and most ofthem were unmarried (90%). The majority ofwomen (92.5%) said testing was a good idea and 85% said it is necessary. However only 52.5% said they will opt for HIV testing. Uptake ofHIV testing was found to be low. Eighty-seven and a half percent (87.5%) women were ofthe opinion that IDV testing in pregnancy was ofbenefit to the mother and her baby. Women in the study were found to have good understanding and good perceptions towards IDV testing in pregnancy, but thus was not consistent with their behaviour. Meaning that in spite of their good understanding and good perceptions towards IDV testing in pregnancy, only a small percentage (52%) of respondents said they will opt for the IDV test. The researcher's expectations were one hundred percent response. / Thesis (M.N.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2005.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1992.

Obtaining access to housing is the greatest hurdle for women throughout the developed and the developing world. However, this phenomenon varies from country to country, and it is determined by the level of each country's economical and technological development. Social and political power relations of a country also play a crucial role in determining who is to be provided with housing, where and when. Patriarchal family structures and government policies often marginalise women regarding their access to housing. In South Africa during the period when the Nationalist Party was in power (between 1948 and 1993), Black women were prevented from obtaining access to housing in formal urban townships. This was also the time when an influx of Black people to urban areas was occurring. The government responded by establishing mass housing for Black urban workers, but under strict conditions, which excluded women. The marginalisation of women in housing delivery resulted in many of them taking jobs where accommodation was provided such as nursing and domestic service. Clermont township was established in the 1930s, during the years of rapid industrial development in South Africa. Due to availability of African-owned housing, which could be rented privately in Clermont, many industrial workers particularly women were able to find accommodation there. This trend continued, until the Nationalist Party government extended the right to rent housing in all townships to women. This occurred in the late 1970s. A case study of Clermont, (a township characterised by a freehold tenure), was undertaken to investigate the position of women in housing development, and how changes in the political situation have affected their access to housing. This thesis reveals that the number of households headed by women in Clermont township exceeds those headed by their male counterparts (53 per cent of women compared to 47 per cent of men in the sample). These women were mainly renters rather than house owners. Some of them implemented alternative strategies to access housing despite their low incomes, insecure jobs and the prevailing government restrictions. These strategies include illegal occupation of land (land invasion) owned by the state (nearby Clermont) and land owned by individual people in Clermont township. The Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) , which is the socio-economic policy framework of the Government of National Unity (elected in 1994), 'identified the provision of housing as a priority area. There are many programmes that have been implemented by this government in order to increase the housing access for women. It is unfortunate that these new programmes many not be accessible to some women, as most are still caught in a web of unemployment. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1998.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1991.

This thesis is an analysis of a creative design HIV/AIDS communication programme named Siyazama (we are trying) that works in association with rural traditional beaded cloth doll makers from KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa. As a reflective thesis it represents a hermeneutic opportunity to ascertain the extent to which an interdisciplinary programme of HIV/AIDS education and training impacted on the lives of the women involved and how their expert skills of craftswomen were employed to understand and address the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic. What began in 1996 on invitation from the African Art Centre in Durban as a simple intervention to upgrade craft techniques and craft construction developed of its own accord into a unique HIV/AIDS intervention in 1999. The communication mode in which the rural women were skilled - beadwork - was long used by women in KwaZulu-Natal as a mode of communication to circumvent the Zulu cultural taboo on discussion of matters of emotional and sexual intimacy called hlonipha. In the modern era of HIV/AIDS, this same mode has been revived and reworked as a means for affecting communication about the many sensitive and taboo issues that surround this disease. There is much scientific evidence which points to the fact that women in this part of the world are far more susceptible than men to HIV infection, largely due to their lower social status, their economic dependence on men and their need to manage the large-scale poverty that affects them and their families. All of this contributes to increasing their vulnerability to AIDS. Ethnographic analysis of the experience of HIV/AIDS amongst Zulu-speaking craftswomen in KwaZulu-Natal has also revealed the nature of the complex cultural belief system that is alive and articulated in the local art and AIDS interface. This thesis describes the myriad ways in which a particular group of rural women of KwaZulu-Natal, owing to certain customary prescriptions, appear as largely silenced on sexual and sensitive relationship issues. Yet, their expert abilities in beadwork have afforded these women the opportunity to express innermost concerns about the epidemic in three dimensional forms. The historical record of KwaZulu-Natal shows us how beadwork was often used traditionally by women to take the place of speaking. The Siyazama Project beadwork exhibit, comprising over 300 pieces of individual beaded artifacts and collected between 1999 and 2005, provides verification of the continued existence of this form of expression. It is an archive of the fields of inquiry which were covered in the Siyazama educational programme starting with 'breaking the silence on AIDS' in 1999 and ending with anti-retroviral therapies (ART) in 2005. The relationship between the beaded crafts and the AIDS educational information which was received during the course of the Siyazama AIDS educational programme is explained through an analysis of this beaded collection. As an in depth qualitative study of the experiences and impact of the HIV/AIDS intervention with women beadworkers from rural communities in KwaZulu-Natal, this thesis represents an attempt to account for how a creative design HIV/AIDS communication programme has impacted on the lives of the women reached by the programme, and how their skills as craftswomen have been utilized to make sense of the local HIV/AIDS epidemic whilst raising awareness about AIDS in their communities. The overall aim of the study is to interpret the effect and effectiveness of beadwork craft as a visual metaphoric mode of expression, and to define the way the project sought to circumvent particular cultural taboos on the discussion of sexuality and other matters of personal intimacy. The study describes some of the common beliefs and attitudes that persisted at the time at which the project commenced and demonstrates how these have been 're-written and re-corded' in beadwork throughout the six-year duration of the intervention. My focus throughout is on assessing the value of this project through proposing the medium of beadwork as a contemporary and unique cultural archive that speaks to the complexities of HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1972.

"One of the central tenets of critical approaches to social science is that we should not only understand society theory), but use such understanding as a basis for a programme of action (practice) to change society, change...is only possible through an endless cycle of theory and practice. The feminist approach changes and deepens our analysis" (IBG Women's Group 1984:38). A fundamental issue for planners and planning is the question of 'development.' how does it occur, for whom, and with what result? One of the South Africa State's policies which is couched in development terms is that of Industrial Decentralization. This policy is having an impact on both the organization and the location of industry. In this thesis we explore the significance of gender-relations and the geography of gender relations in the reorganization of industry and employment. Our specific orientation is towards drawing the links between gender and industrial decentralization and in order to do this we look at life experiences in Isithebe, an industrial decentralization point in KwaZulu near Stanger. Below we outline the contents of each chapter. The choice of structure and the reasons behind it are discussed in the section on Methodology in Part 1. In brief the process moves from women's personal experience of life (part 2) in Isithebe to the broader social context of this experience (Part 3). / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of Natal,Durban, 1986.

This research, by focusing on the Isithebe industrial estate in KwaZulu Natal, analyses the process of industrial change within one location and the resulting impact on the gender relations within the surrounding communities. Rather than adopting the rather simplistic approach utilised by Women in Development advocates, is suggested that the identification, location and particular experience of power between men and women provides for a more informed position from which gender relations can be understood. Using Social Relations Analysis as a departure point, it is argued that a range of variables and impact on the construction and experience of gender, and thus the relation between men and women. In South Africa, the particular economic and social discourse initiated by apartheid resulted in the formulation of a particular understanding of gender. Various economic and industrial and social shifts over the past decade have served to challenge this conceptualisation and experience, and have resulted in a range of new dynamics between men and women. It is argued that many of the businesses located in Isithebe have been slow to follow the trends and processes of restructuring identified nationally. However, there has been some change in the gendered division of labour on the estate, as men gradually move into sectors previously reliant on female labour. Women are concurrently trapped in low skilled, low paid employment. While the increasing engagement by women in multiple livelihood strategies, within an environment of high male unemployment, is increasing the dependence of households on (he ability of women to earn an income, there is little change in the location of power at a household level. The increased autonomy and decision-making power anticipated by many theorists is not evidenced in the Isithebe community. However, as men seek for alternative sources of security as their traditional role as breadwinner is eroded, women are increasingly aware of the discrepancies and dichotomies within the household, and are beginning to reassess the relations between men and women, and the location of power. Concomitantly both men and women are in a position to reconceptualise the gender component of identity. These processes provide the basis from which unequal relations between men and women can be challenged in the future. / Thesis (M.Sc.U.R.P.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1999.

The study was motivated by a concern for the high vulnerability of poor African women to HIV/AIDS in South Africa and an understanding of their role in the growing informal trade sector in Durban. As the institution responsible for managing informal trade development, this study examines the role of local government in addressing AIDS vulnerability and impact within this economic sector. Local government in South Africa is at the centre of potentially conflicting policy agendas: promoting citizen participation in social and economic development while creating an efficient and competitive local economy. The research outlines how the challenge of meeting these divergent goals has influenced policy approaches to informal trade and the extent to which these constrain or support women traders and their enterprises. The study examines how this in turn influences their economic vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. The study also explores the institutional attitudes and current approaches to addressing HIV/AIDS in the informal trade sector and explores the potential for a targeted and integrated response. In-depth interviews with local government staff and external stakeholders were used to investigate institutional perspectives on the significance of HIV/AIDS and the importance of creating appropriate local level interventions within informal trade settings. Interviews also assessed current management and support strategies for informal trade and examined whether these create an enabling environment for women to protect themselves and their enterprises against the threat and impact of HIV/AIDS. Interviews were supported by an extensive review of gender and HIV/AIDS literature and analysis of relevant policy regarding informal economy and SMME development in South Africa. The study found that the multiple pressures on local government, as well as institutional restructuring and staff changes have inhibited progress towards implementing an effective management strategy for informal trade. A lack of regulation threatens the security and livelihoods of survivalist women traders, and high barriers to obtaining permits to trade impact negatively on women due to their multiple constraints and responsibilities. The study revealed that priority in providing holistic business support, including skills development and financial services, is skewed towards more profitable enterprises which has excluded most women traders. This has restricted women's productive capacity and enterprise development and heightened their economic vulnerability to HIV infection and impact. This is compounded by a lack of functional, representative organisations to convey the concerns of marginalised female traders to local government. It is likely that the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in informal markets in Durban is high. However, stigma and discrimination has prevented widespread disclosure. The vulnerability of women and the impact of HIV/AIDS on their enterprises and local economic development is recognised by staff working at street level, but not by key decision makers. This, in conjunction with the marginalisation of the sector as a whole, has influenced the lack of progress in developing a co-ordinated multidisciplinary response to HIV/AIDS among informal workers. Few interventions which directly address HIV/AIDS have been put in place in the informal workplace, largely because of a lack of understanding of the crisis; its conceptualisation as a health issue only; and the fixed location of local government's response within the health department. Acknowledging the resource and capacity constraints within local government, the study concludes by outlining a series of realistic potential interventions which can be mainstreamed within the standard functions of local government. A shift in thinking is required to conceptualise AIDS as a workplace issue, and recognise the significance of its economic impact. Women traders need to be considered as valuable and vulnerable workers, as well as mothers and carers and therefore as an important group for targeted HIV/AIDS interventions. The study calls for gender-sensitive measures to be implemented, which recognise the specific needs and constraints of women in the informal trade sector. / Thesis (M.Dev.Studies.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.