This case study investigates gender-sensitive institutional reforms in post-war Liberia. It applies key concepts developed by the Research Network on Gender Politics and the State to explore the extent to which the emergent theory of state feminism might be applicable to countries outside of the West. Preliminary findings suggest that Liberia is a feminist state insofar as both the women’s machinery and the Sirleaf Administration are allied with feminist and women’s movement actors outside the state, and that they grant these actors access to policymaking fora. Policy content also appears to reflect many of the goals identified by women’s movement actors. However, given the lack of state capacity and the degree of state penetration by international organizations, it is difficult to determine the drivers of ostensibly state-led gender equity initiatives in the country. Because multi-level governance is the norm in areas where the capacity of the state is severely circumscribed, this research introduces the concept of “supra-state feminism” to demonstrate the major limitation of state feminist theory in Liberia. This notion of feminist policy transfer in areas of limited statehood adds to the comparative literature on engendering political transitions in sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2000, cabinet adopted the South African Policy framework for women’s empowerment and gender equality, 2000 (Policy framework) which provided for the establishment of the National Gender Machinery (NGM). The NGM is a network of coordinated structures within and outside government which operate cooperatively in facilitating political, social, economic and other forms of transformation to dismantle systemic gender inequality and promote equality between women and men. The implementation of gender equality policy as a function area has constitutionally been given to the national and provincial legislatures in South Africa. The constitution allocated this function to the local sphere of government. Camdeboo and Inxuba Yethemba local municipal authorities are the facilitators of sustainable gender equality policies to citizens on behalf of the national and provincial spheres of government. The study was thus conducted within the Camdeboo local municipality and Inxuba Yethemba local municipality. Camdeboo locoal municipality is one of nine local municipalities in Sarah Baartman district municipality. Inxuba Yethemba local municipality is in Chris Hani district municipality. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the implementation of gender equality in the Provision and Utilisation of Women administration Personnel a comparative study of the Camdeboo local municipality and the Inxuba Yethemba local municipality and to determine the impact of the existing policy on the gender equality policy on the needs of women of both municipalities. For this purpose the fundamental and overall study problem was found to be that the gender equality at the Camdeboo and Inxuba Yethemba is hampered by the implementation of an inadequate municipality gender equality policy and by incompetent municipal personnel in particular and in general by the municipality itself. These action do not satisfy the main purpose of the Employment Equity Act no 55 of 1998 to achieve in the workplace by promoting equal opportunity and fair treatment in all forms of employment through elimination of unfair discrimination as well as the implementation of affirmative action measures. The hypothesis was furthermore based on the fact that the existing gender policy of Camdeboo local municipality and Inxuba Yethemba local municipality gender equality policy are inadequate to satisfy women and impacts negatively if not harmfully on human being of women. The study revealed that besides the implementation of gender equality policy by these incompetent municipal personnel, there are economic, social, political and physical effects on women. In case of applications for senior management position, preference is always given to their male counterparts at the expense of equally qualified female applications. Secondly, Gender equality in human resource determination forms part of the processing phase in the system theory. These two municipalities should be made to commit themselves by appending their signatures to all control measures put in place to evaluate the level and the extent of gender equality across all the departments/ sections in the municipality. Any section/ department that implements gender equality more effectively should be identified applauded and given recognition. This would motivate and eliminate gender inequality. Personnel provision and utilization is of paramount importance to every organization. It then becomes extremely necessary to examine the gender equality on human resource determination.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The South African government has committed itself to the promotion of gender equality in the national constitution and also with the signing and ratifying of regional and international documents. Examples of a regional document is the Southern African Development Community Declaration on Gender and Development and international document the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Beijing Platform for Action. The Gender Machinery in South Africa was created at a national level to promote gender equality on all levels of government through structures on provincial and local government levels. This study focused on the provincial level and more specifically on the gender focal persons and the Office on the Status of Women for Gender Equality in the Provincial Administration of the Western Cape (PAWC). The study was done with the aim to assess progress on the promotion of gender equality in the PAWC. Information was gathered through interviews with members of Gender focal units and the Head of the Office on the Status of Women for Gender Equality. Interviews were conducted with seven of the nine departments in the Provincial Administration of the Western Cape. Findings on the promotion of gender equality indicate that a long road lies ahead. Limited Progress is seen, however, and can be attributed to the work of dedicated gender focal persons and the Office on the Status of Women for Gender Equality. Specific to the work of dedicated gender focal persons this study finds that within the context of financial and other constraints relating to an absence of specified expectations and a double workload, progress is still made under these circumstances. Based on the findings the following recommendations are made. Firstly, broad scale gender awareness training is required for the personnel of the provincial administration. Secondly, there is a need to develop a job description for gender work and if reasonable to integrate this into the line function of gender focal persons. Thirdly, the gender focal units need to have a specific budget for gender-related work, as this will facilitate planning for gender-related projects. Finally further training is required for the gender focal persons regarding gender mainstreaming and how to translate the goals of gender mainstreaming into action in the respective departments. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die regering van Suid Afrika het met die nasionale grondwet, streeks dokumente en internasionale dokumente 'n verbintenis gemaak om geslagsgelykheid te bevorder. Voorbeelde van streeks dokumente is die "Southern African Development Community Declaration on Gender and Development" en internasionale dokumente is die "Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women" en die "Beijing Platform for Action". Nasionale strukture in Suid Afrika is saamgestel om geslagsgelykheid te bevorder op nasionale, provinsiale en plaaslike regerings vlakke. In hierdie studie was die fokus op die provisiale vlak en meer spesifiek die geslags fokus eenhede en die Kantoor vir die Status van Vroue vir Geslagsgelykheid in die Provisiale Administrasie van die Weskaap. Hierdie studie is gedoen met die doel om die vordering met betrekking tot geslagsgelykheid te evalueer. Inligting vir ontleding is ingesamel deur middel van onderhoude met geslags fokus persone en die hoof van die Kantoor vir die Status van Vroue vir Geslagsgelykheid. Onderhoude was gevoer met verteenwoordigers van sewe uit nege departmente van die provinsiale administrasie. Bevindinge rondom die bevordering van geslagsgelykheid toon dat daar nog 'n lang pad vorentoe is, maar dat daar wel beperkte vordering binne die provisiale administrasie gemaak word. Hierdie vordering kan toegeskryf word aan die werk van vasbeslote geslags fokus persone en die hoof van die Kantoor vir die Status van Vroue vir Geslagsgelykheid. Spesifiek tot die werk van vasbeslote geslags fokus persone wys die studie dat binne finansiële en ander beperkinge daar wel steeds vordering rondom geslagsgelykheid is binne sekere departmente. Gebaseer op die bevindinge word voorgestel dat daar eerstens ten volle bewussmakingssessies oor geslagsgelykheid gehou word vir alle personeel van die administrasie. Tweedens, dat daar 'n posbeskrywing geformuleer word vir mense wat binne die geslags fokus eenhede werk en indien moontlik moet daar gekyk word of dit deel van die lyn funksie van die geslags fokus persone gemaak kan word. Derdens moet dat daar aan die verskeie geslags fokus eenhede 'n begroting gegee word sodat projekte vir die bevordering van geslagsgelykheid beter beplan kan word. Laastens is dit belangrik dat die lede van die geslags fokus eenhede verdere opleiding kry met betrekking tot "gender mainstreaming" en die omskrywing hiervan in spesifike aksies.

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

Although male perpetration of violence against female partners is a global concern, there continues to be insufficient research attention on this phenomenon. The current study aimed at exploring experiences of male perpetrators of violence against their female partners in intimate relationships. The specific objectives were to get an understanding of the reasons and beliefs contributing towards perpetration of domestic violence, explore the barriers that perpetrators encounter with regard to receiving reformative support, and to suggest possible strategies that can be adopted to reduce or prevent domestic violence. Adopting a qualitative approach, data were obtained through in-depth interviews and participant observations involving 22 convicted male perpetrators in the Nsawam Prisons in the Eastern Region of Ghana, followed by interviews with stakeholders at the offices of the Domestic Violence & Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service. The Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyse the data. Each transcript went through a thorough analysis to extract themes which were subsequently Synchronised. Overall, the findings from the present study elucidated some theoretical and practical implications. It reveals the following major themes: perception of inequality between sexes, bride price, childhood experience/witness of abuse, and victim blaming as contributory factors to the phenomenon of male violence against women. / Psychology / D. Phil. (Psychology)

Various governments in post-independent Ghana have attempted to alleviate poverty among the citizenry. In furtherance of this, several poverty reduction strategies have been employed with different results. Even though the rate of poverty has fallen over the years, it is still high at 21,4% (Molini and Paci, 2015) with women unfortunately bearing most of the brunt of this (National Development Planning Commission, 2012). This dissertation looks at filling the gap in information by exploring the role women can play in poverty reduction, using Ghana as a case study. In doing that, the study analyses poverty and the underlying reasons for endemic poverty among Ghanaians. The objective of this study was to contextualize and make a dimension of poverty broadly in Africa and Ghana in particular. It also sought to critique the current policy alleviation policies and programmes, in relation to various factors contributing to endemic poverty among Ghanaian women, with the aim of identifying the roles that women can play in poverty reduction and making recommendations. In this regard, a descriptive research design coupled with qualitative research methodological technique was employed, where relevant publications in the form of government reports, journals, textbooks and internet were used to collect data. Inferences were extracted based on the requirements of the research topic. The study found that women play an important role in food production, trade, and business. It also emerged from the study that there are numerous factors inimical to the reduction of poverty among women in Ghana. They included their inability to negotiate labour matters; a lack of, or limited education; patriarchal culture or customs; and economic sabotage. In addressing the aforementioned factors, the study recommended that in its pre-assessment of NGOs, government tailor their intervention to synchronize with the development strategies to alleviate poverty among women. It also advised educational awareness and public-public partnerships in the establishment of schools targeted most especially at women for empowerment purposes. Finally, there was an emphasis on advocacy for the reservation of land exclusively for women through land reforms. / Public Administration and Management / M. Admin. (Public Administration)

Although Swazi women's contribution to national development has been phenomenal, they like any other women in patriarchal societies confront an overbearing situation in which they have been regarded and treated as minors, both in the family and most spheres of public life. This has largely been due to the social construction of gender. Traditional gender-based attitudes, deeply ingrained in the people's mind set, not infrequently, have limited women's access to and control of various aspects of public life, and impinge on their rights, most especially the rights to selfdetermination and equal participation in the decision making process. Coupled with religion which influences "the deepest level of what it means to be human" (King, 1994:4) and zealous cultural conservatism, the Swazi women, with a few notable exceptions, experience an asymmetry of power due to the pervasive nature of gender. Nonetheless, the history of Swaziland bears testimony, however muted, to a legacy ofwomen's struggles to overcome gendered conditions imposed upon them either by taking full advantage of their spiritual endowment and charisma to overcome attitudinal barriers or by organising themselves into groups to work for the social transformation of their conditions and status. This study examines the Swazi women's search for gender equality. It discusses the social and cultural context of gender in Swaziland, the various moments in the Swazi women's quest for equality and its manifestations, and the push and pull effect of religion and culture. Particular attention is given to four organisations, namely Lutsango lwakaNgwane (loosely referred to as women's regiments), the Council of Swaziland Churches, the Women's Resource Centre (Umtapo waBomake) and Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA). The study shows that Swazi women have, across a passage of time, adopted different strategies, including ritual, economic empowerment and creation of new knowledge through promotion of gender awareness and social advocacy either in a womanist approach that accepts women's embeddedness in Swazi culture or in the liberal feminist tradition that espouses women's individual rights. However, the study shows that the women's movement has yet to reach the critical mass level so as to influence public policy and come to terms with the deconstruction of the dominant gender ideology. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies)

Although Swazi women's contribution to national development has been phenomenal, they like any other women in patriarchal societies confront an overbearing situation in which they have been regarded and treated as minors, both in the family and most spheres of public life. This has largely been due to the social construction of gender. Traditional gender-based attitudes, deeply ingrained in the people's mind set, not infrequently, have limited women's access to and control of various aspects of public life, and impinge on their rights, most especially the rights to selfdetermination and equal participation in the decision making process. Coupled with religion which influences "the deepest level of what it means to be human" (King, 1994:4) and zealous cultural conservatism, the Swazi women, with a few notable exceptions, experience an asymmetry of power due to the pervasive nature of gender. Nonetheless, the history of Swaziland bears testimony, however muted, to a legacy ofwomen's struggles to overcome gendered conditions imposed upon them either by taking full advantage of their spiritual endowment and charisma to overcome attitudinal barriers or by organising themselves into groups to work for the social transformation of their conditions and status. This study examines the Swazi women's search for gender equality. It discusses the social and cultural context of gender in Swaziland, the various moments in the Swazi women's quest for equality and its manifestations, and the push and pull effect of religion and culture. Particular attention is given to four organisations, namely Lutsango lwakaNgwane (loosely referred to as women's regiments), the Council of Swaziland Churches, the Women's Resource Centre (Umtapo waBomake) and Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA). The study shows that Swazi women have, across a passage of time, adopted different strategies, including ritual, economic empowerment and creation of new knowledge through promotion of gender awareness and social advocacy either in a womanist approach that accepts women's embeddedness in Swazi culture or in the liberal feminist tradition that espouses women's individual rights. However, the study shows that the women's movement has yet to reach the critical mass level so as to influence public policy and come to terms with the deconstruction of the dominant gender ideology. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies)