No description available.

This study sought to uncover gender bias in selected Shona novels and examine the manner in which authors present the subject. The major objectives were to identify the effects of hostile gender relations and assess Shona novel authors’ commitments to promote healthy gender relations which are pre-requisites for national development. The study adopted the dual approach by fusing feminism with Afrocentricity as the literary tool of analysis. These theories served as lenses for exploring gender biases in selected Shona novels. The liberal feminism was the most relevant feminist theory to this study because it advocates more about inclusion and unrestricted participation of women in all spheres of social life. The research was anchored on the qualitative design. The methodology used to gather data for analysis involved interviewing three out of four authors of this research’s selected Shona novels, eight Shona literature lecturers from teachers’ colleges and universities in Zimbabwe as well as five accomplished scholars who have also written their own Shona novels. Questionnaires were administered to thirty two students, twenty from teachers’ colleges and twelve from universities in Zimbabwe. The total number of all participants in this study was forty-eight and purposive sampling was used to come up with the sample. Data was analysed in descriptive form. This study has established that most Shona novelists are not gender neutral. While some authors are championing the emancipation of women others are perpetuating their marginalisation. Basing on the findings of this study, the researcher recommends that Shona authors should be sensitised through workshops, seminars or conferences on the need to pen gender balanced novels if national development is to be realised. This would help the societies who are the consumers of such novels to be gender neutral through emulating the positive portrayal attributed to characters. The Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council (ZIMSEC), teachers’ colleges and universities should approve gender neutral Shona novels so that students can have appropriate role models to emulate. It is envisaged that this research will be of great benefit to all those who will have the privilege to access it. Gained knowledge will help to extricate women from marginalisation and also promote healthy gender relations. / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

yes / [Introduction]International commitments and measures to prevent, reduce and combat uncontrolled or illicit small arms and light weapons (SALW) holdings and flows are widely understood to encompass not only the weapons but also their ammunition. This is obviously necessary. Thus the UN Programme of Action to Prevent Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects (PoA) includes many commitments that apply to ammunition as well as to small and light weapons. Progress in implementing the PoA includes many measures concerning ammunition, including: controls on transfers; preventing diversion to illicit trade; marking, record-keeping and tracing; weapons collection; secure storage; and destruction.1 Unfortunately, progress in implementing the PoA in relation to ammunition remains particularly patchy and inadequate. This is partly because it has too often been considered as a residual category. Negotiations and programmes to control SALW have tended in the first instance to focus on the weapons systems, and have then been deemed to apply, `as appropriate¿, also to ammunition. But control and reduction of ammunition raise their own distinct and challenging issues. Without focused attention, and clarification of what is meant by `appropriate¿, controls and measures on ammunition have often been neglected or mishandled.[Executive summary] The 2001 United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects (PoA) and other associated Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) international commitments and measures are widely understood to encompass not only the weapons but also their ammunition. Unfortunately, progress in implementing the PoA in relation to ammunition remains particularly patchy and inadequate. This is partly because it has too often been considered as a residual category. But control and reduction of ammunition raise their own distinct and challenging issues. This relative neglect is resulting in large numbers of avoidable deaths and injuries.