M.Comm. / The main purpose of this study is an evaluation and empirical analysis of the economical, social and political role of women in a South African context. The subject is a widely discussed topic both internationally and in South Africa. The increasing importance of women in the social, political and economic arena is being realized and taken as a given part of development in any country. Within the social structure of an economy, the importance of the education system cannot be over emphasized. Opportunities for women in this aspect has increased rapidly over the past two decades, but a significant gap still exists between men and women. The connection between poverty and education is discussed, and it is found that there is a definite correlation. The higher the level of education, the lower the level of poverty. The supply of adequate health services are also a problem in most countries, including South Africa. Important aspects such as abortions and violence against women are also under discussion. The political arena is most probably the area where women is the least represented. Opportunities are scarce and the political scene is still one of male dominance. However, South Africa is definitely seen as one of the leaders in developing counties in opening doors for women in obtaining seats in regional 'councils and parliament. Concerning women's economic role, women earn far less than men for similar type of work done, and men are usually placed in more challenging positions. The distribution of income worldwide as well as in South Africa is still not evenly spread

by Jean K.M. Hung. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-119). / ACKNOWLEDGMENTS --- p.i / ABSTRACT --- p.ii / Chapter I --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter II --- METHODOLOGY --- p.7 / Chapter III --- BACKGROUNDS OF THE CASES --- p.10 / Chapter IV --- MOTHERS AND YOUNG DAUGHTERS --- p.23 / Nurturing baby girls --- p.23 / Caring for young daughters --- p.27 / Grandma -- mother's substitute --- p.31 / Attachment of the young daughter to the mother --- p.34 / Are boys superior to girls? --- p.36 / Summary --- p.37 / Chapter V --- MOTHERS AND THEIR ADOLESCENT DAUGHTERS --- p.39 / Socialization of daughters and the expectations between mothers and daughters --- p.39 / Mother's image in the eyes of the daugther --- p.45 / Mother's influence and mother's love --- p.47 / Daughter as mother's assistant --- p.52 / Communication between mother and daughter --- p.54 / Summary --- p.56 / Chapter VI --- MOTHERS AND THEIR MARRIED DAUGHTERS / Mother and her daughter's choice of mate --- p.58 / Financial support of natal family by adult daughter --- p.64 / Mother's role when her daughter becomes a mother --- p.67 / Mother's position in her married daughter's family --- p.69 / Daughter's position in her natal family and the kinship network --- p.72 / Mutual attachment and commitment --- p.74 / Care of sick and aged mother --- p.78 / Marriage gifts and the inheritance of family property --- p.81 / Summary / Chapter VII --- MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONS IN A FAMILY CRISIS --- p.85 / The cases of political crisis --- p.85 / The cases of relationship crisis --- p.90 / Summary --- p.96 / Chapter VIII --- CONCLUSION --- p.98 / Relationships and culture --- p.98 / "Cultural transmission, cultural transformation and the mother-daughter link" --- p.101 / Mother-daughter solidarity and family associateship --- p.104 / ANNEX: Study ones own culture --- p.108 / REFERENCES --- p.111 / (In English) --- p.111 / (In Chinese) --- p.117

Introduction: There is a large literature across disciplines aimed at understanding the causes of the depression gap, defined as an excess of depression among women compared with men. Based on the totality of evidence to date, social stress appears to be an important explanation for the depression gap. Social stress theory highlights women’s disadvantaged social position relative to men, positioning gender differences in socio-economic opportunities as social stressors, while also acknowledging how gender socialization teaches women to respond to stressors in depressogenic ways from an early age. This dissertation applied social stress theory to better understand the social causes of the depression gap with three related aims. Aim 1 summarized the evidence for variation or stability in the depression gap in recent decades, through a systematic review and meta-regression of depression gap studies over time and by age. Aim 2 examined the evidence for a changing depression gap across birth cohorts, and tested the extent to which any changes over time were mediated by changing gender differences in education, employment, and housework rates, three indicators of broader trends in gendered social position through the 21st Century. Aim 3 examined whether women in the workforce with competing domestic labor roles were at increased risk of depression, and whether pro-family workplace benefits buffered the effects of competing roles. Methods: In aim 1, depression gap estimates were extracted through a systematic review of published literature (from 1982-present). Analytic datasets were comprised of 76 diagnostic-based estimates and 68 symptom-based estimates. For each dataset, meta-regression models estimated time and age variation in the depression gap, as well as the interaction between time and age group, to estimate the variation in the gap over time by age. Data from the National Longitudinal Surveys were utilized for aims 2 and 3. Depression was measured with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD), and the depression gap was defined as differences in mean CESD scores for women vs. men. The aim 2 sample included 13,666 respondents interviewed from 1992-2014. Hierarchical mixed models estimated the magnitude of the gender depression gap over time, and its relationship with 10-year birth cohort (range: 1957-1994) and whether any variation was mediated by gender differences in: those with a college degree or more, those who were employed full-time, and the average number of hours spent doing housework per week. The sample in aim 3 was limited to employed women ages 17-57 (n=3993). Generalized estimating equations estimated the relationship between competing roles and depression, and the interaction between competing roles and pro-family employee benefits on depression. Interaction results were compared to models estimating the effect of non-family-related benefits on the relationship between competing roles and depression. Results: In aim 1, there was no evidence of change in the depression gap over time. Compared with the reference group (i.e., respondents ages 60+), the age effect was appreciable among the youngest age group (age 10-19) (RR=1.44; 95% CI=1.19, 1.74), but did not differ for any other age groups. The age by time interaction was elevated for youngest age group (RR=1.27; 95% CI=1.0, 1.61), suggesting that, compared to the oldest age group, the diagnostic depression gap had increased among the youngest ages from 1982 to 2017. There was no evidence of time changes among any other age group. Results were similar for symptom-based studies. In aim 2, there was a linear decrease in the depression gap by 0.18 points across birth cohort (95% CI= -0.26, -0.10). The results of the mediation analysis estimated that an increasing ratio of college degree attainment mediated 39% of the gender depression gap across cohorts (95% CI= 0.18, 0.78). There was no evidence of mediation due to changing employment or housework ratios. In aim 3, there was evidence that women in competing roles reported a 0.56-point higher CESD score (95% CI= 0.15, 0.97), compared with women not in competing roles. The interaction between pro-family benefits and competing roles was associated with CESD scores (B=-0.44, p=0.023). More specifically, among women without access to pro-family benefits, those in competing roles reported a 6.1 point higher CESD score (95% CI=1.14, 11.1), compared with those not in competing roles, however, among women with access to these benefits, there was no association between competing roles and CESD scores (difference=0.44; 95% CI=-0.2, 1.0). Results were similar for non-family-related benefits. Women in competing roles without non-family-related benefits reported a 3.59 point higher CESD score than those not in competing roles (95% CI=1.24, 5.95) while among women with access to these benefits, there was no association between competing roles and CESD symptoms. Conclusion: This dissertation provided evidence to partially support the hypothesis that the depression gap is changing over time and is meaningfully related to the social environment, through which gender roles, responsibilities, and opportunities available to women and men are defined and reinforced. The results of these studies suggest that the depression gap may be expanding and contracting over time for different age groups. Understanding the social causes of the depression gap is important to reduce the present and future burden of the depression gap, and to understand the fundamental processes through which depression disparities may be perpetuate or attenuated in adolescence and beyond.

In India, various underlying gender related structural factors (i.e., interpersonal violence, lack of social supports, limited opportunities, poverty, and gender biases in mental health practice) serve to keep women living with serious mental illness isolated in psychiatric institutions. Despite this, narratives of women living with serious mental illness and their experiences within institutions have received limited visibility in research. The present study addresses this crucial gap by documenting the lives of women who are former inpatients of a mental hospital and are currently residing at a halfway home in India. I adopted a social constructivist narrative approach to incorporate women’s experiences and examine the context and ways in which their experiences were shaped and situated. Specifically, the study explored the following questions. 1. How do women describe their experiences and perceptions related to the illness and living at a psychiatric institution (i.e., mental hospital and the halfway home)? 2. What are the physical and social characteristics of the halfway home serving women living with serious mental illness in India? I answered the first question using narrative data, collected through 34 in-depth interviews with 11 women residents at the halfway home, I examined the second question using field notes that included everyday observations and interactions with women residents, staff members, and interviews with the Director, the Psychologist, the Social Worker, and the Head Housemother at the halfway home. Thereafter, using the theories of self-in-relation (Miller, 1976; Surrey, 1985), institutionalization (Goffman, 1961), and intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1990), I dissect the two research questions further to analyse how women’s experiences and perceptions related to illness and institutionalization are shaped by their gender and social positioning. Using a gender lens, I also critically examine the psychosocial rehabilitation program at the halfway home and ways in which it supports women living with serious mental illness. I used Fraser (2004) guidelines to analyse the narrative data and Emerson, Fretz & Shaw (1995) guidelines to analyse field notes. Women’s narratives highlight that gender and social positioning significantly shape their experiences of living with mental illness in India. Women perceived their discriminatory social context, particularly restrictive gender norms, a lifetime of denied opportunities, loss of relationships, and violence both in the natal and marital family as factors that contributed and/or exacerbated their illness experiences. Women’s narratives of institutionalization were also embedded in discriminatory social contexts. Poverty and gender disadvantage were the primary reasons for women’s admission to mental hospitals. Furthermore, the shift in care from institutions like mental hospitals to less restrictive institutions like the halfway home did not necessarily improve the lives of women living with serious mental illness. Women share several gender-specific barriers to leaving the halfway home. Furthermore, psychiatric institutions often mirrored patriarchal social relations by perpetuating illness and gender related biases in the delivery of care.

This ethnographic study explored the social and cultural context of Maldivian women???s emotional, social and psychological well-being and the subjective meanings they assign to their distress. The central question for the study was: How is suffering and distress in Maldivian women explained, experienced, expressed and dealt with? In this study participant observation was enhanced by lengthy encounters with women and with both biomedical and traditional healers. The findings showed that the suffering and distress of women is embedded in the social and economic circumstances in which they live, the nature of gender relations and how culture shapes these relations, the cultural notions related to being a good woman; and how culture defines and structures women???s place within the family and society. Explanations for distress included mystical, magical and animistic causes as well as social, psychological and biological causes. Women???s experiences of distress were mainly expressed through body metaphors and somatization. The pathway to dealing with their distress was explained by women???s tendency to normalize their distress and what they perceived to be the causes of their distress. This study provides an empirical understanding of Maldivian women???s mental well-being. Based on the findings of this study, a multi dimensional model entitled the Mandala for Suffering and Distress is proposed. The data contributes a proposed foundation upon which mental health policy and mental health interventions, and curricula for training of health care providers in the Maldives may be built. The data also adds to the existing global body of evidence on social determinants of mental health and enhances current knowledge and developments in the area of cultural competency for health care. The model and the lessons learnt from this study have major implications for informing clinicians on culturally congruent ways of diagnosing and managing mental health problems and developing patient-centred mental health services.

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During my years in Christian education, I became fascinated by the fact that few women participated in levels of visible leadership especially in light of the women's movement in the broader society. Women had always been active in church life, perhaps, more so than men. If societal barriers were falling for women, why were women not in visible leadership positions in the church? This study uses a series of in-depth interviews based on a phenomenological approach to determine what specific factors in the lives of women who serve as Christian leaders either helped or hindered them in their pilgrimage. Eight women were interviewed to discover their life experiences and three men to discern their perspectives. As the eleven interviews were reviewed and analyzed, I read secular and Christian literature to find supportive or corroborative information related to the emerging themes. The thesis is presented in two parts: first, an academic preface articulating the process of research and analysis; and second, a study guide developed for women and men in my field of practice, Christian education. Because I am committed to Christian education, I have chosen to develop a study guide to be used for individual or group study. The method, the discoveries, and the presentation share a common theme: the importance of dialogue. Key observations in the study indicate that the factors that helped some women are the same factors that hindered others and that each individual woman's ability to lead is influenced by a complexity of factors. As the study guide develops, each of the factors is discussed as one which helped or hindered the participants. Following the presentations of themes are suggestions for changes, or transformation, with recommendations for further study and possible action by individuals or local churches. Among the participants, the Bible is considered the authoritative word of God and each looked to the Bible for principles and guidelines regarding women in leadership. Based on their respective interpretations of the Bible, some were led by hermeneutic processes to believe that women are to lead alongside men as equal partners; others, however, hold the view that women are not to assume the highest leadership positions. The cultural settings of the participants influenced their leadership. Two factors, patriarchy and feminism, are examined to identify aspects of each which help women in leadership in some cases and hinder in others. Pivotal in the discussion is that each woman's sense of personhood affects her own ability to assume leadership. A woman's identity is seen in view of her relationships to her family, herself, and her God. For many women, pain emerged as a theme growing out of frustrated efforts to pursue leadership faced with institutional opposition. Women are encouraged to lead in many venues of the church, including education and missions. For some women, leadership has been helped by existing policies; for other women, leadership opportunities have been restricted and hindered.

Housing typologies based on the traditional family no longer satisfy the needs of the majority of households. Woman-led families are impeded in their search for appropriate housing by their low wages and family responsibilities, compounded by the blindness of housing-policy makers to their existence. Historical models of collective dwellings are steeped in the ideology of the period and yield few direct practical solutions to the current dilemma. The richness of this housing, however, which evolved during a time of dramatic social change underscores the blandness of current housing solutions. Feminists insist that housing and urban design solutions should challenge the gender defined roles of "homemaker" and "childcare giver" and the restricted mobility of women in cities and suburbs. The endorsement of new housing typologies must be translated into their realisation and subsequent analysis.

This study was an attempt to identify the relationship between women and non-governmental organizations in Ghana. It was conducted over a period of one year in the capital city of Accra. Ethnographic and feminist methodology were the framework for the fieldwork and text. Interviews, observations and discussions with aid workers and development recipients determined the perimeters and rendered meaning. Women dominated both sides of development and aid work in Ghana; however, there was limited interaction between them. Female recipients of development were not consulted regarding development projects and were not familiar with the scope and implications of international aid. Female development personnel from both Ghana and the United States were separated from the communities and people they worked for personally and professionally. The development workers did not consider consultation with female clients a necessity or an obligation. Both groups of women struggled to incorporate the concepts and implications of development into their situated reality. / Department of Anthropology