Thesis (B.A.)--Haverford College, Dept. of Political Science, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (B.A.)--Haverford College, Dept. of Philosophy, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

The study was conducted in Soweto, South Africa. The objective of the study was to determine the development and challenges of women entrepreneurs in Soweto, South Africa and to identify possible opportunities and improvement of women's businesses. In this study, the variables that were looked at were the motivational factors that influence women entrepreneurs to establish their own ventures, the contribution of women in the economic force of the country, the challenges that women entrepreneurs are facing in businesses, the support and developmental needs; and the possible opportunities for improvement. The key findings indicate that women were motivated by pull and push factors to start up a business. The need for flexible schedules appeared to be the factors to start up a business, followed by need for independence. The other factor is that these women had a desire for wealth. Annual turnover was also a factor, whilst difficult to ascertain with accuracy, provided a useful alternative indicator of business size and sophistication, and possibly of potential for growth. The challenges facing women in South Africa have been identified in this research as limited access to obtain funding; high corruption in procurement offices; high interest rates from banks, insufficient education and training, and difficulty to access market as well as cash flow problem. The above-mentioned challenges have priority over the women's businesses. The developmental needs and support for women entrepreneurs were found to be clear policies, organizations established in assisting women in businesses and the training needs that are supporting women entrepreneurship. Early payments by customers including Government should be facilitated and proper plans for enhancing entrepreneurial women together with education and training should be continuous. / Thesis (MBA) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2010

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Notre Dame, 2007. / Thesis directed by Teresa Ghilarducci for the Department of Economics. "November 2007." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 123-145).

Thesis (Doctor of Education--University of San Francisco, 2009). / Title from PDF title screen (University of San Francisco Libraries web site, viewed Sept. 16, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 120-127).

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Canterbury, 2006. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (p. 280-312). Also available via the World Wide Web.

The study to investigates the livelihood activities of female-headed households in Letlhakane village. In its attempt to examine how these activities are organised, maintained and diversified, it analyses the challenges in carrying out the activities and the possible solutions to these challenges at the household level. The study concerns itself with the views of female heads on the livelihood activities done in their households. The main focus is on what these women and their household members were doing for the survival of the entire household in the remote rural village of Letlhakane between December 2004 and January 2005. For this study a qualitative methodology was vital to gather information on the livelihood activities and composition of households and the contribution of the members to the survival of the household. In-depth, follow-up interviews were used as the research method. The informants of the study were female heads from female-headed households. This was supplemented with observation by the researcher on the activities and the physical surroundings of the village. Photos were also taken in the village. This study reaches a number of conclusions. First, female-headed households in Letlhakane village are a diverse group in terms of the activities they embark on and the composition of their households. But they share a common aspect: their livelihood activities are not sufficient for the survival of their households. There were few or no activities for household survival, even for those households that have been female-headed for a long period of time. As compared to single household heads, female heads with partners were better off when judged by overall returns from the activities. The activities in the households studied were keeping goats, fowls and domestic animals such as dogs and subsistence agriculture in the form of growing maize, melons, cabbages, spinach, beans and fruit gardens. They also grew trees and plants for medicinal purposes such as aloes and lemons. Boyfriends were another source of income for some of the female-headed households. Most of the activities were geared towards immediate consumption, and could not stretch as far as investment. Lower returns from the activities affected children from these households in two ways. Firstly, they had to engage in activities to help provide for the household and secondly some had to drop out of school because of insufficient means to afford schooling. Women heads had the responsibilities of caring for and nurturing the family, raising children and providing food for their household in the households studied. The absence of opportunities for survival and insecure livelihood activities pose a threat to the continued survival of these households. The main obstacles to the livelihood activities were lack of resources such as sufficient land and water, cooperation between residents, skills and financial capital. A major difficulty for women especially, is that voices are only listened to in the village if they come from an adult male figure in the household. Positive aspects for livelihoods that came out from the study were the prevalence of social capital amongst neighbours and relatives. / Carina van Rooyen

Thesis (M.Ed.) --University of Limpopo, 2009 / This study is a “description” of a research carried out on the Moletjie Rural Women Club (MRWC) project at the Moletjie (Moshate) village in the Limpopo Province. Moletjie (Moshate) is a rural village found in the Capricorn District under the Polokwane Municipality and it is about twenty (20) kilometers west of the city of Polokwane. In the Polokwane Municipality there are projects for eradicating poverty, eradicating unemployment and for generating income. Some of the incomes generating projects in Polokwane Municipality are Moletjie Matlala Poultry, Thogwaneng People’s Bakery, Moletjie Rural Women Club, and Baitapishi Bricks Making. The researcher decided to do a research to find how the Moletjie Rural Women Club project sustains itself among the income generating projects in Limpopo Province. The findings of this study will contribute towards the realization of factors affecting the sustainability of projects. The following research questions were formulated for this study. Main question  How is the Moletjie Rural Women Club (MRWC) project able to sustain itself? Sub-questions  To what extent is the MRWC project sustainable?  Who are the main role players for the project to sustain itself?  Which are the factors that influence the project to sustain itself? To help the researcher in arriving at some answers to the above-mentioned research questions, he decided to undertake an exploratory and evaluative study. The intention of this study was to evaluate factors affecting the sustainability of income generating projects, particularly at the Moletjie area. The researcher checked the stages of project initiation, planning, execution, control and closing, and finally the researcher realized these stages contribute to the sustainability of projects. During investigation, the researcher realized that if all phases and stages of project implementation could be carried out successfully, then the project would be sustainable. Chapter 1, describes the introduction and background of the study. It outlines the geographical background of the MRWC project and the historical background of South Africa including the ownership of land, provision of health care, education and welfare services. The main aims and objectives of the study were given, as well as the main and sub-guest ions. Chapter 2, describes factors that could be affecting the sustainability of income generating projects in the Limpopo Province. After the preliminary visit and interview with the Moletjie Rural Women (MRWC) project, the following stages and phases that could affect the sustainability of projects were mentioned:  Initiation  Planning  Execution  Control  Closing Chapter 3, describes the instruments used in collecting data from various role players in different phases of data collection. In this chapter there is an explanation of how data was collected from different phases. I outline the importance of having a proposal when doing research work because that helped in research activities. Chapter 4, describes the setting of this study. The chapter outlines the place where the study was undertaken, as well as the description of the project, which is more about the results of my study. The findings started by observing the surrounding and the physical layout of the area where in the project is found. The findings were also based on document review and interviews with the project stakeholders. Factors that could affect the sustainability of projects in the Limpopo Province, specifically to projects in Moletjie area were indicated. The reports on the findings from observation and interview were given. Chapter 5, describes the conclusion and recommendations of this study. The factors that made the MRWC project to sustain itself among the income generating projects in Polokwane and around Moletjie area are mentioned. The recommendations for problems and factors that need to be considered for the sustainability of project were discussed. The recommendations for further research on issues that need to be considered for the sustainability of projects were given.

The rapid economic development in China has successfully drawn a worldwide attention and benefit its population, with a average 8 percentage GDP growth rate every year and 500 million people out of poverty. While a large number of people are seeking for the reason why economic achievement in China has been so dramatic and unprecedented, less people show solicitude for Chinese women`s condition and empowerment.    Women as a worldwide vulnerable group, their well-being need to be taken into consideration during the process of developing economy. In China, female population accounts for 48.47 percentage (633.2 million) of entire population. Under the big picture of economic prosperity, the author found that Chinese people`s living condition has advanced largely, the popularization of basic education and medical service has benefit the vast majority people, meanwhile, people can be more involved in political process to express their opinions. However, women are benefited disproportionately but still less empowered than men are. Moreover, since China is a geographically large country, the economic development has shown some regional characteristic, that means, in southeastern China, due to the convenient traffic condition, such as harbors, economic development process is faster than in northwestern China, where traffic and natural conditions are both weak. Would that cause a unequal empowered situation between women from different economic developed regions?   Women has been paid less attention through the history of China, let alone different conditions of women in different regions. In this thesis, the author will describe women`s different empowered situation in rural and urban regions of China, via a capability approach viewpoint, and discussion of whether there is a regional pattern will be based on (Dis) Empowerment model.