Thesis (MA (Political Science. International Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / The African Renaissance, which has its origins in the 1960s during the de-colonization period of Africa, is about transformation, an African continent reinvention that pleads for renewed autonomy and Africa’s own effort to take its intellectual destiny. Africa is beset with a massive amount of problems, and the African Renaissance in general is trying to address these issues and find a solution to all these problems. It has been seen as a call for the people of Africa to work towards the resurgence of Africa, economically, sociologically, politically and spiritually. President Mbeki of South Africa sets the tone for the African Renaissance project and its implementation, but the vision is for the rest of Africa that must equally own the concept and actively fuel its realization. The African Renaissance has limitations in that not all African countries have embraced it, or are passionate as other countries are. Still, most people in the continent do not understand the concept the African Renaissance as it has found them in conditions that are still disadvantageous to them and are grappling with other issues of life. Most importantly, it is not inclusive of women despite the fact that they constitute a clear numerical majority on the African continent. There is no significant cultural renaissance that can take place while sectors of the population under transformation are victims of silencing. Looking at the position of women in Africa and their development, it is important to understand what the implication of gender is in this discourse. Also, why has the African Renaissance not included women and lastly, that can it hold as a discourse of renewal without the voice of women? The African Renaissance has come to epitomize the democratization of the African continent, therefore, the voice of women and the role that gender must play, should be of great importance.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Political Studies))--University of the Witwatersrand, Graduate School for Humanities and Social Sciences, 2016 / This study comparatively interrogates the representative parliamentary politics of women political elites in the subSaharan African states of posttransition Rwanda and South Africa. It analyses the relationship between women political elites and gender equality outcomes through the theoretical framework of the presupposed positive relationship that is said to exist between high levels of women’s descriptive representation and women’s substantive representation. It specifically explores this relationship through the lens of legislative outcomes passed in each state. In South Africa, this legislation takes the form of the 1998 Recognition of Customary Marriages Act and in Rwanda, the 2008 Genderbased Violence Act. This study locates the outcomes of women’s parliamentary politics in these states to the different articulation of elite patriarchal bargains negotiated by women political elites within the opportunities and constraints of parliamentary institutional contexts and the political parties represented in these regimes. I show that the higher the degree to which a ruling political party needs to privilege and emphasise women’s interests in the reproduction of political power and legitimisation of its own authority, the more favourable the terms of the elite patriarchal bargains that women political elites tacitly negotiate within political parties will be for pursuing gender equality legislative outcomes in patriarchal institutional contexts. I illustrate how political institutions located in the state never present conclusive gains or losses for women and gender equality but are contextually ambiguous and contradictory in the ways that they foster representation and locate gendered political accountability. / WS2016