During the past 10 years Sweden has updated its penal code for sexual crimes twice. Despite this few are convicted for the crime of rape in Sweden. As the majority of perpetrators being male, this is a problem concerning women’s rights to respect for their bodies and personal integrity. A possible explanation, and this study’s point of departure is a potential discrepancy between the intention of the law and the interpretation of the same as the Swedish legal system rests on a foundation of legal positivism. Hence focus of this study has been the motives behind the definition of rape in the law and the interpretation of the same. The purpose has been to establish the development of the rape law and its political motives, how the judicial system has interpreted the legal text in actual cases and if this is in alignment. As to explain why so few are convicted for the crime of rape and to critically examine how this affects women’s rights as well as how the interpretation of the definition of rape can be carried out in a more legally secure way for the victims. This has been done firstly by examining the states public investigations and state bills before the update of the penal codes definition of rape in 2005 and 2013. Secondly by an analysis of arguments used by the Swedish courts, mainly the district courts, in two rape convictions and three verdicts of acquittal. Arguments used by the courts have then been compared to the motives behind the legal definition of rape to see if the perceived discrepancy between the intended meaning of the law and the interpretation of the same existed. Thirdly, the judicial systems legal basis for interpretation was criticised from the two theoretical perspectives of the study; a criticism to legal positivism and a gender hierarchical perspective.   The analysis shows that the updates of the rape law are clearly morally motivated and women’s rights based. In contrast to the legal positivistic judicial system interpretations, avoiding morally based argumentation relying on the systems foundation solely. The critical investigation shows that both a the perceived gender neutral system as well as legal positivistic tradition of sidestepping moral argumentation in courts result in lack of questioning the system and how it comes to its decisions.  Hence the discrepancy between the two systems can be a part of the explanation why women’s rights are not secured in Sweden.

Using selected stories by two North African women writers, Alifa Rifaat of Egypt and Assia Djebar of Algeria, this study, entitled ‘Islamic culture and the question of women’s human rights in North Africa: a study of short stories by Assia Djebar and Alifa Rifaat’, analyzes the creative representation of contemporary Muslim society and its treatment of women. The continued marginalization of women in Muslim societies has led to the rise of feminist movements in North Africa and the Middle East. Muslim women, like their Christian counterparts, have made a most remarkable appearance on the African literary scene by producing literature that interrogates a system in which women are denied the rights to life, equality and freedom, which are the inalienable rights of all Islamic adherents. Thus, North African women’s writing reveals a disparity between Islamic culture, which is based on the Qur’an and upholds equal rights for all believers, and Muslim culture, which denies women access to full rights. The writings of Alifa Rifaat and Assia Djebar espouse the need for a transformation of Muslim culture such that the practices of Muslims effectively harmonize with the teachings of the Qur’an. The stories selected for analysis illustrate that while Rifaat uses the conservatist approach or womanist thrust in her criticism of Muslim culture, Djebar adopts a more radical approach that is ultimately feminist. Nevertheless, both writers address similar issues affecting women in Muslim societies, such as forced or arranged marriages and the suppression of female sexuality. The first chapter situates the argument within gender discourse and the human rights framework, providing a critical appraisal of women in Islam from pre-Islamic times to modern days. To contextualize the literary scene, the second chapter positions Muslim women’s writing within the broad corpus of African feminisms, using the works of Nawal el-Saadawi, Mariama Bâ and Zaynab Alkali to chart the many challenges facing Muslim women today. Chapters Three and Four focus on the selected literature of the chosen writers, Alifa Rifaat and Assia Djebar, respectively, showing how each writer uses her art as an instrument to combat social injustices against women. The concluding chapter establishes the points of convergence and divergence between Rifaat and Djebar and, ultimately, draws attention to the dire need for all Muslims to respect the human rights of women. This study, therefore, blends literary interpretation with sociological findings to assess the extent of the failure of Muslims to endorse the principle of equality for all humans irrespective of race, class, or gender. Essentially, it seeks to raise consciousness on women’s rights in Islam. / Dissertation (MA (Pan African Literatures))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / English / MA / unrestricted

The purpose of this study was to examine Machofabriken 2.0 through discourse analysis.Examine how concepts are filled with meaning and what alternative meanings that are excluded. Ialso scrutinized what pedagogic tools and strategies put forward to achieve change and discuss ifit is possible to approach ordinary men as violent. Furthermore, I have analyzed underpinningassumptions of gender and violence and how masculinities, femininities, violence, andresponsibility are discursively produced. I have paid extra attention to three short movies; RealLife (Sexual harassment and bystander), Ice Cream (Consent and Free will) and Step-up(Pornography) with inspiration from feministfrequency.se to explore visual media and to payattention to the Male Gaze, objectification and sexualization of women, constructed differencesbetween men and women. Feminist Frequency provided me with the concept of Tropes in theexamination of representations of boys and girls in the short movies.The examination has uncovered gender biases in Machofabriken, which privilege the male overthe female and runs the categories fixed and reveals how the masculine discourse has constructedwomen as the Other. This thesis argues, it has dismantled the destructive masculine discourse andhow subjects of both genders are positioned and constituted within that discourse. This alsomeans the construction of gender is already there, before the text, before the short movies.