Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Developmental initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa emphasise participatory citizenship as the means through which poor women can assert and claim their citizenship rights. Although citizenship and agency are crucial elements in this narrative, little is known about the citizenship process for African women. Furthermore, there is no analytic framework to guide an empirical analysis of agency. This dissertation aims to address these gaps by examining how marginalised Black African women understand themselves as citizens, navigate their structural barriers and develop strategies to negotiate their membership in and relationship with their states. This dissertation uses a deviant case analysis of women living in Zimbabwean and South African townships, who identify as members of the isiNdebele and isiZulu ethnic groups respectively, to Western theories of agency. Data was collected through the use of in-depth interviews and analysed using content and relational analysis. Results indicate that the women use a range of everyday resistance strategies to negotiate their relationship with their states. These strategies are mapped onto an innovative analytic framework that synthesizes feminist, androcentric and subaltern theories of citizenship agency, in order to highlight the non-conventional ways that marginalised African women exercise their agency as citizens. Interestingly, both sets of women emphasise the obligation to vote, work and support oneself without recourse to the state, rather than a reciprocal and participatory relationship. The internalisation of citizenship as an obligation without a corollary emphasis on rights and participation is problematic given that both governments suffer from legitimacy, corruption and governance issues. The main policy implication arising from the study is that there is a need for civic education in schools as well as a feature of women‟s empowerment and community development programs so that marginalised African women are encouraged to expand their participatory skills to collectively challenge, contest and improve the substance of existing citizenship rights. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Ontwikkelinginisiatiewe in Afrika beklemtoon deelnemende burgerskap as ʼn manier hoe arm vroue hul regte kan eis. Hoewel burgerskap en die agentskap (agency) belangrik in hierdie verhaal is, weet ons baie min oor hoe swart vroue burgerskap ervaar. Verder is daar geen analitiese raamwerk om 'n empiriese ontleding van hul agentskap te lei nie. Die proefskrif spreek hierdie gapings aan deur ʼn ondersoek oor hoe arm swart vroue in Afrika hulself as burgers verstaan, hoe hul strukturele hindernisse navigeer en strategieë ontwikkel om hul lidmaatskap van en verhouding tot die staat te onderhandel. Hierdie proefskrif gebruik ʼn vergelykende gevallestudie benadering wat vroue wat in Zimbabwe en Suid-Afrika in “townships” woon en wat hulself as isiNdebele en isiZulu identifiseer na te vors. Data is verkry deur die gebruik van in-diepte onderhoude, inhouds- en verwantskapsanalise. Die resultate dui aan dat vroue ʼn reeks strategieë gebruik vir “daaglikse weerstand” om hul verhouding met die staat te onderhandel. Hierdie strategieë word gekarteer op die innoverende analitiese raamwerk, wat ʼn sintese is van feministiese, androsentriese en subalterne teorieë van burgerskap, om sodoende die nie-konvensionele maniere waarop swart vroue hul agentskap uitoefen te beklemtoon. Beide groepe vroue beklemtoon die verpligting om te stem, werk en om jouself te onderhou sonder hulp van die staat, eerder as om ʼn wederkerige en deelnemende verhouding met die staat te beoefen. Die internalisering van burgerskap as ʼn verpligting sonder die wederkerige nadruk op regte en deelname is problematies. Dit kan gekoppel word aan die feit dat albei regerings gebuk gaan onder legitimiteitsprobleme, korrupsie en probleme rondom regeerkunde, wat vrae genereer oor hoe om hierdie regerings verantwoordbaar te hou. Die hoof beleidsimplikasie van hierdie studie is die daarstelling van burgerlike onderwys in skole, sowel as vroue se bemagtiging in ontwikkelingsprogramme. Dit sal bydra daartoe dat gemarginaliseerde swart vroue aangemoedig word om hul vaardighede rondom deelname te ontwikkel en die substansie van hul bestaande burgerskap kollektief uit te daag en te verbeter.

Thesis (MPhil (Political Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Although gender equality is evident in many spheres in African countries, the entry of women into political institutions has often been described as slow and unequal. In sub-Saharan African countries this trend is particularly associated with social, cultural and historical barriers within political spheres that hinder gender equality in political leadership and an equal representation of women in parliament. The issues of gender equality and the representation of women in parliament have long been hotly contested debates on the continent and in sub-Saharan African countries more specifically, largely as a result of different cultural heritages and countries‟ being poised at varying phases within the democratic consolidation process. It is necessary to evaluate attitudes towards gender equality in order to determine whether a populace embraces the principles of gender equality. Of equal significance is the evaluation of the percentage of women represented in parliament as an important indicator of whether gender equality is perceived by the populace to be an important principle in practice. In order to gauge the levels of gender equality and the representation of women in parliament in sub-Saharan Africa, this study evaluates attitudes towards gender equality and a number of its dimensions, namely women in leadership positions, equal education and the economic independence of women; it also investigates the representation of women in parliament by examining the actual numbers of women representatives in parliament in South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe. This in an attempt to determine whether there is a link – either directly or indirectly – between attitudes towards gender equality and the number of women represented in parliament. For comparative purposes the attitudinal patterns and trends towards gender equality, as measured in the World Values Survey 2001, are evaluated amongst respondents in South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe. This study also identifies four independent variables, namely gender, level of education, residential status (urban vs. rural) and age in an attempt to explain some of the differences in attitudes towards gender equality between the three samples. iii The main findings include, amongst others, that: the South African sample has by and large the most positive attitudes towards gender equality in comparison to its Ugandan and Zimbabwean counterparts; and that a higher percentage of women are represented in the South African parliament in contrast to Uganda and Zimbabwe. The independent variables prove to be fairly good predictors of the varying attitudes towards gender equality across the three samples. This study concludes that in sub-Saharan Africa positive attitudes towards gender equality can indeed be linked to a higher percentage of women represented in parliament; however, the inverse – that negative attitudes towards gender equality can be linked to low percentages of women represented in parliament – is not substantiated. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Alhoewel geslagsgelykheid sigbaar is in baie sfere in Afrika lande word die toegang van vroue tot politieke instellings dikwels beskryf as stadig en ongelyk. In sub–Sahara Afrika-lande word hierdie neiging in besonder geassosieer met sosiale, kulturele en historiese hindernisse binne politieke instellings wat geslagsgelykheid in politieke leierskap en gelyke verteenwoordiging van vroue in die parlement belemmer. Die kwessie rondom geslagsgelykheid en die verteenwoordiging van vroue in die parlement is ʼn sterk debat op die Afrika kontinent en meer spesifiek in sub-Sahara Afrika-lande, hoofsaaklik as gevolg van verskillende kulturele tradisies en verskille in die fases van demokratisering. Dit is nodig om die houdings ten opsigte van geslagsgelykheid te evalueer om te bepaal of ʼn bevolking die beginsels van geslagsgelykheid aanvaar. Hiermee saam is die evaluering van die persentasie van vroue verteenwoordiging in die parlement ʼn belangrik aanwyser van die feit dat geslagsgelykheid deur die bevolking as ʼn belangrike beginsel beskou word. Ten einde die vlakke van geslagsgelykheid en die verteenwoordiging van vroue in die parlemente in sub-Sahara Afrika te meet, bespreek hierdie studie die houdings teenoor geslagsgelykheid en ʼn aantal van sy dimensies, naamlik vroue in leierskap posisies, gelyke opvoeding en die ekonomiese onafhanklikheid van vroue. Dit bestudeer ook die vroue verteenwoordiging in die parlemente in Suid-Afrika, Uganda en Zimbabwe. Hierdie studie poog verder om te bepaal of daar ʼn verbintenis - direk of indirek - bestaan tussen die houdings teenoor geslagsgelykheid en die aantal vroue verteenwoordigers in die parlemente van die lande onder bespreking. Die studie se doel is om vas te stel of positiewe houdings teenoor geslagsgelykheid verbind kan word met ʼn hoër persentasie van vroulike verteenwoordigers in die parlement. Vir vergelykende doeleindes, is die houdingspatrone en neigings teenoor geslagsgelykheid, soos gemeet in die die Wêreld Waardes Opname, ondersoek tussen die respondente in Suid-Afrika, Uganda en Zimbabwe. Die studie identifiseer ook vier onafhanklike veranderlikes, naamlik geslag, opvoedingvlak, woongebied (stedelik vs plattelands) asook ouderdom, in ʼn poging om sommige van die verskille in houdings teenoor geslagsgelykheid tussen die drie lande te verduidelik. v Die vernaamste bevindings sluit onder meer in dat: Suid-Afrika by verre die sterkste positiewe houdings teenoor geslagsgelykheid het in vergelyking met Uganda en Zimbabwe; en, dat daar ʼn hoër persentasie van vroue verteenwoordiging in die Suid-Afrikaanse parlement is, in vergelyking met Uganda en Zimbabwe. Die onafhanlike veranderlikes blyk redelike goeie voorspellers te wees van die verskille in houdings teenoor geslagsykheid regoor die drie lande. Die studie kom tot gevolgtrekking dat binne hierdie drie lande, positiewe houdings teenoor geslagsgelykheid verbind kan word met ʼn hoër persentasie van verteenwoordiging van vroue in die parlement, maar dat die teenoorgestelde - dat negatiewe houdings teenoor geslagsgelykheid verbind kan word met ʼn laer persentasie van verteenwoordiging van vroue in parlement – nie ondersteuning in die data kry nie.