Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters of Arts (Community Work) at the University of Zululand in the Department of Social Work in South Africa, 2009. / This study concerns the empowerment of women in National School Nutrition Program co-operatives, with special reference to Umhabuyalingana School. As a descriptive research semi was drawn. Related literature that focuses on National School Nutrition has been consulted and discussed. Various recommendations have subsequently been made based on the findings of the study. The findings reveal that there is a need of retraining and skill development of ail stakeholders to be done intensively. It is also important that the financial background for women that are in co-operatives be considered to see whether they would have the financial capital for starting business and sustenance of the project

<p>The aim of this study is to investigate the role of micro-credit in women empowerment. Microcredit is a small-scale credit which becomes effectual for the growth of micro enterprises and thus works in poverty alleviation in Pakistan. The major part of this research is to examine the impact of Khushhali Bank Limited (KBL), the largest microfinance bank with a huge network of branches all across the country, on the socio-economic characteristics of beneficiary women and to study the improvement in their economy and social status. The type of economic activities women have started and extent of poverty alleviation have also been studied. The empirical study is conducted in Pakistan. Based on qualitative research, the data is collected through in-depth interviews from borrowers and National Distribution Manager of Khushhali Bank Limited. The findings suggest that micro-credit has positive impact on women socio-economic status and empowerment. It increases to some extent self-confidence and feelings of identity for women in the society. Through interviews we came to know that microcredit has dual effect on the lives of borrowers. It not only helped women to increase their businesses, but also helped them to provide better education to their children. They feel much independence and decision making power in routine life. It has also increased their prestige and status in their family and society. Micro-credit is much helpful for the women who have their own businesses or have some ideas and expertise about the business before getting credit. The women who don’t have pre-requisite knowledge or expertise of business, they could not make any positive change in their status. Microcredit rather put an extra burden of repayment with an extensive amount of interest. They used the loan amount on personal expenses and it made difficult for them to return the loan amount. The study also entailed lack of centralized system between the microfinance institutions that increased the risk of dual loaning. This trend adversely affects the repayment capacity of borrowers and limits the positive impact of micro-credit.</p>

En quête d’une croissance inclusive, l’émancipation des femmes occupe une place croissante dans les programmes de développement. Cette thèse explore les déterminants et les conséquences d’une dimension de ce concept, leur capacité à prendre part aux décisions du ménage. Le chapitre 1 offre une revue critique de la littérature associée à ce concept. Les chapitres suivants présentent des analyses empiriques sur l’Egypte apportant de nouveaux éclairages dans un contexte rarement étudié. Le chapitre 1 pose une réflexion sur le concept d’étude et sa mesure. Il identifie les moyens d’actions aux mains des individus et décideurs publics, les limitations de la littérature existante et des voies de recherche futures. Le chapitre 2 revisite la relation entre le travail des femmes et leur pouvoir de décision en Egypte, en considérant á la fois l’endogénéité et l’hétérogénéité du travail. Cette étude montre que le travail extérieur a le plus grand impact. Néanmoins, le travail à la maison permet d’augmenter les prises de décisions jointes sur des investissements majeurs. Le chapitre 3 informe sur un canal encore inexploré: le rôle du pouvoir de décision de la mère dans la transmission de chocs à l’allocation du temps des enfants. Nous trouvons qu’un choc positif sur le marché du travail du père réduit le travail domestique des filles seulement lorsque le pouvoir de décision de la mère est élevé. Le chapitre 4 explore les conséquences de la migration des hommes sur le marché du mariage du pays d’origine. Les résultats sont consistants avec une détérioration de la position relative des femmes sur le marché du mariage durant les périodes de forte migration. / Women’s empowerment increasingly appears in the headlines of development programs, in the pursuit of inclusive growth. This dissertation explores the determinants and consequences of one dimension of women’s empowerment, women’s ability to make choices within the household. Chapter 1 offers a critical review of the related literature. The chapters which follow consist of empirical analyses on Egypt and shed new lights on a understudied setting. Chapter 1 is a discussion of the concept under study and its measurement. It identifies means of actions available to individuals and policy-makers, limitations of the existing literature and future research avenues. Chapter 2 revisits the relationship between women’s work and employment in Egypt, by addressing jointly the endogeneity and the heterogeneity of types of economic activities. The study shows that outside work has the greatest impact on women’s participation in household decisions. Nevertheless, home-based work is able to increase joint decision-making on major investment decisions. Chapter 3 provides evidence on an unexplored channel: the role of the mother’s empowerment in the transmission of shocks on youths’ time allocation. We find that a positive shock on the father’s labor market reduces daughters’ participation in domestic work only when the mother has a high level of bargaining power. Chapter 4 explores how gender unbalanced migration affects the marriage market of the sending country. Results are consistent with a deterioration of women’s relative position in the marriage market during high migration periods.

The aim of this study is to investigate the role of micro-credit in women empowerment. Microcredit is a small-scale credit which becomes effectual for the growth of micro enterprises and thus works in poverty alleviation in Pakistan. The major part of this research is to examine the impact of Khushhali Bank Limited (KBL), the largest microfinance bank with a huge network of branches all across the country, on the socio-economic characteristics of beneficiary women and to study the improvement in their economy and social status. The type of economic activities women have started and extent of poverty alleviation have also been studied. The empirical study is conducted in Pakistan. Based on qualitative research, the data is collected through in-depth interviews from borrowers and National Distribution Manager of Khushhali Bank Limited. The findings suggest that micro-credit has positive impact on women socio-economic status and empowerment. It increases to some extent self-confidence and feelings of identity for women in the society. Through interviews we came to know that microcredit has dual effect on the lives of borrowers. It not only helped women to increase their businesses, but also helped them to provide better education to their children. They feel much independence and decision making power in routine life. It has also increased their prestige and status in their family and society. Micro-credit is much helpful for the women who have their own businesses or have some ideas and expertise about the business before getting credit. The women who don’t have pre-requisite knowledge or expertise of business, they could not make any positive change in their status. Microcredit rather put an extra burden of repayment with an extensive amount of interest. They used the loan amount on personal expenses and it made difficult for them to return the loan amount. The study also entailed lack of centralized system between the microfinance institutions that increased the risk of dual loaning. This trend adversely affects the repayment capacity of borrowers and limits the positive impact of micro-credit.

No description available.

Theses Submitted to the Department of Sociology in fulfilment of the requirements for the Master’s Degree in Sociology in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Zululand, 2018. / Development agencies, non-government Organizations (NGOs) and government organizations around the world aim for the betterment of women in all spheres of their lives. Empowerment has been considered the main focal point towards the achievement of the wellbeing of women. The study was about cooperatives and women empowerment. It investigated the extent to which participation, empowerment, capacitation and benefits of membership contribute in enabling cooperatives to empower women. This study applied the Capability Approach (CA) in an attempt to understand the need and importance of capabilities to women in a cooperative. The quality of life of an individual is analysed in terms of the core concepts of functionings and capability, thus the CA focuses directly on the quality of life that individuals are actually able to achieve. The Capability Approach proposed that the most vital thing to deliberate when valuing well-being is what people are actually able to do. Capacitation to disadvantaged people is very important in that it ensures services and assistants directly meet their needs. Participatory planning can be regarded as an instrument for identifying the needs of all persons within a community, a way of constructing harmony, and means of empowering deprived or marginalised groups. Participatory development has created the need that there should be inclusion of everyone concerned in the decision making that enables the utilization of all ideas and experiences especially of the poor in rural communities and that they should have influence in the decision making process. The study hypothesized that the perceived level of participation; empowerment and capacitation will determine the benefit of membership in a cooperative. The survey was conducted using a Five-Level Likert scale to decipher respondents’ perceptions of level of participation, empowerment, capacitation, and perceived benefits. In the beginning of analysis, responses (N=110) were reduced using Principal Components Analysis (PCA) to determine how questionnaire items contributed to variables under consideration, variables extracted were correlated and regressed. A linear regression analysis was used to describe how a benefit of membership mediates the relationship between participation, empowerment and capacitation. iii The results showed that members’ perceived levels of empowerment mediate their Perceived Benefits of membership (PERBEME). This shows how benefits of membership in a cooperative are determined and empowerment experienced. Cooperatives have a potential of empowering women and that is achieved through democratic operation, where members equally participate in the daily business. The findings showed a correlation between independent and dependent variables. The findings further demonstrated that capacitation, empowerment and participation, influence change on the benefits of membership in a co-operative. / National Research Foundation (NRF)

ABSTRACT Most of the documented benefits of contraceptive service lack in-depth exploration of the lived experiences of service users. This study of contraceptive users in the Sidama Zone, Southern Region, Ethiopia; was conducted with the aim of improving the overall understanding of contraceptive use towards women’s health and empowerment. This knowledge enables alignment of contraceptive service provision with the International Conference on Population Development declaration of rights-based approach. The study employed a mixed method design. The quantitative aspects include use of a descriptive retrospective approach to generate a five year snapshot contraceptive use from health institutions. Percentages were used to compute the contraceptive prevalence in the last five years. The bulk of the study was a qualitative design using interpretive phenomenology- guided by a Heideggerian approach. Data were collected using key informant interviews, focus group discussions and individual in-depth interviews. Data were analyzed using an interpretive phenomenological analysis with hermeneutic circle approach. Results were presented in broad themes following the study questions. The findings of the study indicated that contraceptive use in the study area is steadily improving. In 2008 contraceptive prevalence was twenty- five percent and after five years, it reached forty- two percent. Injectable contraceptive is the leading method, with nearly three-fourth of current users on this method. Recently, every health post offers at least one long acting and two short acting methods. The qualitative finding revealed that women’s experiences regarding the benefits of contraceptive use is encouraging. Women explicated that contraceptive service is an emancipatory and transformative experiences for them as it enabled them to control their bodies, reproduction and fertility by averting unwanted pregnancy thereby engaging in various socio-economic, religious, and political affairs. Controlled fertility gave them more time to plan their livelihood issues. The study’s title, a participant quote, captures the sentiment well: “we got peace, rest and stability”. The study finding further revealed the unique contributions of the health extension program in improving access and convenience to contraceptive service by removing many cultural, gender, and linguistic barriers. The study concludes that contraceptive service pattern has improved greatly in access and coverage; however, the majority of current users are merely on a single method indicating gaps in expanding contraceptive method mix. Women’s experiences about internalizing contraceptive use benefits towards their empowerment and health are encouraging in that they wholeheartedly expressed that the service is emancipatory and transformative. However, there are grey areas from the perspectives of ensuring support from men and dominant community members such as elders. Moreover, there is observed disconnect in conceptualizing and practicing contraceptive service provision from a broader human rights premises among health care workers across the service delivery hierarchy. The research recommends the establishment of smooth and functional mechanisms to ensure all stakeholders involved in service provision develop a shared understanding about the human rights rationale and practice while providing contraceptive service. More efforts are needed to ensure sustainable contraceptive service use by removing the existing cultural and gender barriers. Efforts should be amplified to increase men’s involvement in the reproductive services. Further study is recommended to investigate the nature and factors that influence the incorporation of human rights rationale across the health care system.

No description available.

The study examines the subject of financial inclusion and women’s empowerment in South Africa. Apart from the technicalities and minutiae affecting financial inclusion for women, the study will analyse the existing government measures on financial inclusion to determine if these contribute to the socio-economic empowerment of female entrepreneurs in South Africa. The study uses a feminist political economy perspective to understand the historical exclusion of the female gender in South Africa and the gender gaps regarding financial inclusion as a result. The effects of colonialism in South Africa on gender inequality, structural, psychological and cultural degradation and how these have affected women’s participation in social and economic relations in the finance sector in the country are part of the effort to understand financial inclusion and women’s empowerment. Resentment, exclusion and coercion are the inevitable consequences of poverty and inequality in post-apartheid South Africa. Although concerted efforts have been made by the state to address this problem, including ensuring that women and girls have access to finance and gender equality within their constitutional rights (as contained in the national policy), the problem has remained unabated. Using the qualitative method approach, based on attitudinal research of an exploratory nature, the study hoped to gain insight, from the available literature as well as respondents’ responses, into financial inclusion/exclusion and how this impacts women’s empowerment in South Africa. Keywords: Financial Inclusion, Inclusive Development, Political Economy, Women’s Empowerment, South Africa. / Thesis (PhD (Political Science))--University of Pretoria, 2020. / UP Doctoral Research Bursary. / Political Sciences / PhD (Political Science) / Unrestricted

Nigerian women face numerous cultural difficulties in their quest to attain leadership positions in Nigeria, a developing country. They are often overlooked in favor of men due to politics, religious beliefs, education, and bias in gender roles. When Nigerian women emigrate to a new country, the challenges are even greater. Although several United States policies impact the ability of a female immigrant to attain a leadership position 'the Equal Pay Act, Affirmative Action, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Act' little research has examined the challenges that affect their quest to attain leadership positions in the United States. This study explored the experiences of immigrant Nigerian women currently in leadership positions in New York City. Data for this study included interviews with 12 Nigerian female immigrants who responded to flyers placed throughout New York City; participants were also recruited via snowball sampling. Interview data were inductively coded, and then subjected to a modified Van Kaam method of analysis that revealed emergent themes. Many of the respondents reported the needed to change career paths because organizations in New York City did not recognize the equivalent of their careers, work experience, and education from their home country. As a result of this research, new information will be available to policymakers, which may be used to revise existing policies that directly impact immigrant women's career goals. The results may also provide new and useful information to leaders of local organizations that help female immigrants gain meaningful employment.