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Poverty has been a challenge for many years and continues to exist in many parts of the world, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. In many countries, poverty reduction programmes remain the main preoccupation in economic policies. Poverty is not gender neutral, as women tend to be more likely exposed to poverty because of their restricted access to labour and other markets and their general lower level of education than men. This study aimed at investigating the relationship between gender and poverty in a South African township of Kwakwatsi. The study used the Lived Poverty Index (LPI) as a measurement of poverty to analyse the extent and level of access to basic necessities among inhabitants of Kwakwatsi. The major focus of this study was on comparing the poverty status between female-headed and male-headed households. It was also important to investigate the relationship between poverty status and demographic and socio-economic variables. A literature review of poverty indicates a multidimensional concept, with a need to be untangled from different perspectives. Poverty includes lack of factors such as food, income, sanitation facilities, shelter, health care, safe drinking water, education and information. The empirical portion of the study was based on data from a survey questionnaire with a sample of 225 households selected randomly from Kwakwatsi Township in April 2013. Various quantitative methods, including Principal Component Analysis (PCA), descriptive analysis (such as means core, cross tabulation and frequency tables) and regression analysis, were used to identify the level of access to basic necessities and how this access is influenced by identified demographic and socioeconomic variables among both female-headed and male-headed households. The LPI was used to assess people’s ability to secure income, food, fuel for cooking, electricity, clean water for home use and access to medicines and medical treatment. PCA indicated that all six items of basic necessities could be loaded into one component of LPI, indicating that the measure was adequate for the study. Households headed by females seemed to be poorer (53.62%) than those headed by males (45.51%), implying that female-headed households appeared more likely to experience the lack of basic necessities than male-headed households. Access to basic necessities such as medicines or medical treatment, water, electricity and fuel. The relationship between gender and poverty in a South African township for cooking have an effect on the quality of life. Access to medicines and medical treatment remains a lingering challenge for the inhabitants of Kwakwatsi, especially in female-headed households. Regarding the employment status of the participants, the unemployment rate of the head was found to be slightly higher for male heads than female heads, but the total number of employed people within a household was found to be less in households headed by females compare to those headed by males. The average total income in female-headed households was found to be lower than that of male-headed households. To add to this, a high number of female heads work in the informal sector, with low wages and poor working conditions. This was found to be associated with a higher level of illiteracy among female household heads, thus making it difficult for them to compete in the formal labour market. Deprivation levels were seen to decrease with the number of employed persons in female-headed households, while this was the opposite in male-headed households. The number of household members was found to increase with the poverty level in female-headed households, while there was no effect among male-headed households. Married male household heads were found to have less access to basic necessities than unmarried ones, while the relationship was the opposite where female married household heads appeared to have less access to basic necessities than those who are not married. Overall, descriptive analysis revealed that female-headed households tend to be deprived from stable and sustainable access to basic necessities. The results of the regression analysis showed that the number of household members who are employed, household head’s income and other income of the household are significant predictors of poverty in Kwakwatsi. The study recommends that the gender gap in income can be alleviated by empowering women labourers through collective action and increase of vocational education and training for better skills. There is a need for using public works programmes efficiently in order to address the problem of low income in the area. Furthermore, the importance of the informal sectors of the economy, especially in low income areas, should be acknowledged because it seems to be an important source of income for the residents of Kwakwatsi. Finally, there is a need to improve primary health care provision for the township of Kwakwatsi. The relationship between gender and poverty in a South African township / MCom (Economics), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

À la fin du XIXe siècle, les premières femmes arrivent à l’Université comme étudiantes dans les domaines traditionnellement attribués aux hommes. Elles sont devenues le début du processus de féminisation d’une institution avec une forte personnalité masculine, crée au Moyen Age et renforcée grâce à l’Humanisme et l’Illustration. Malgré les conceptions misogynes contre la capacité intellectuelle des femmes, pendant le XXe et le XXIe siècle elles sont devenues professeurs et même fonctionnaires administratives, directrices et doyens au sein de l’institution universitaire. Mais la participation des femmes à l’Université n’est pas accidentelle ou par hasard, c’est le produit de la relation entre l’évolution historique de l’éducation des femmes, l’évolution philosophique de la pensée féministe et l’évolution institutionnelle de la même université. La présente thèse cherche la vérification des relations de ces trois éléments dans la participation académique et administrative des femmes à l’Université de Montpellier. / At the end of the XIX century, the firs women arrive to the University like students in the domains that traditionally were attributed to men. These women become the beginning of the feminisation process of one institution with a strong masculine personality, created at the Middle Ages and reinforced during the Humanism and the Enlightenment. Despite all the misogynous conceptions about the intellectual capacity of women they become professors and even administrative officers, directors and deans within this institution. But this participation of women at the University it’s not accidental, it is the product of the relation between the historic evolution of women’s education, the philosophical evolution of feminism and the institutional evolution of the University itself. This thesis seeks for the verification of the relation of these three elements at the academic and administrative participation of women at the University of Montpellier.

"Flowery boys"(花样少年) - when this phrase is applied to attractive young men it is now often considered as a compliment. This research sets out to study the feminisation phenomena in the representation of warriors in Chinese language films from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China made in the first decade of the new millennium (2000-2009), as these three regions are now often packaged together as a pan-unity of the Chinese cultural realm. The foci of this study are on the investigations of the warriors as the feminised Other from two aspects: their bodies as spectacles and the manifestation of feminine characteristics in the male warriors. This study aims to detect what lies underneath the beautiful masquerade of the warriors as the Other through comprehensive analyses of the representations of feminised warriors and comparison with their female counterparts. It aims to test the hypothesis that gender identities are inventory categories transformed by and with changing historical context. Simultaneously, it is a project to study how Chinese traditional values and postmodern metrosexual culture interacted to formulate Chinese contemporary masculinity. It is also a project to search for a cultural nationalism presented in these films with the examination of gender politics hidden in these feminisation phenomena. With Laura Mulvey's theory of the gaze as a starting point, this research reconsiders the power relationship between the viewing subject and the spectacle to study the possibility of multiple gaze as well as the power of spectacle. With such reconsideration of the relationship between the film texts and the audiences, this project aims to strip off the negative connotations imposed on the concept of 'feminisation' and to seek to prove the emerging of a feminine discourse popularised by a graphic revolution.

Poverty has been a challenge for many years and continues to exist in many parts of the world, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. In many countries, poverty reduction programmes remain the main preoccupation in economic policies. Poverty is not gender neutral, as women tend to be more likely exposed to poverty because of their restricted access to labour and other markets and their general lower level of education than men. This study aimed at investigating the relationship between gender and poverty in a South African township of Kwakwatsi. The study used the Lived Poverty Index (LPI) as a measurement of poverty to analyse the extent and level of access to basic necessities among inhabitants of Kwakwatsi. The major focus of this study was on comparing the poverty status between female-headed and male-headed households. It was also important to investigate the relationship between poverty status and demographic and socio-economic variables. A literature review of poverty indicates a multidimensional concept, with a need to be untangled from different perspectives. Poverty includes lack of factors such as food, income, sanitation facilities, shelter, health care, safe drinking water, education and information. The empirical portion of the study was based on data from a survey questionnaire with a sample of 225 households selected randomly from Kwakwatsi Township in April 2013. Various quantitative methods, including Principal Component Analysis (PCA), descriptive analysis (such as means core, cross tabulation and frequency tables) and regression analysis, were used to identify the level of access to basic necessities and how this access is influenced by identified demographic and socioeconomic variables among both female-headed and male-headed households. The LPI was used to assess people’s ability to secure income, food, fuel for cooking, electricity, clean water for home use and access to medicines and medical treatment. PCA indicated that all six items of basic necessities could be loaded into one component of LPI, indicating that the measure was adequate for the study. Households headed by females seemed to be poorer (53.62%) than those headed by males (45.51%), implying that female-headed households appeared more likely to experience the lack of basic necessities than male-headed households. Access to basic necessities such as medicines or medical treatment, water, electricity and fuel. The relationship between gender and poverty in a South African township for cooking have an effect on the quality of life. Access to medicines and medical treatment remains a lingering challenge for the inhabitants of Kwakwatsi, especially in female-headed households. Regarding the employment status of the participants, the unemployment rate of the head was found to be slightly higher for male heads than female heads, but the total number of employed people within a household was found to be less in households headed by females compare to those headed by males. The average total income in female-headed households was found to be lower than that of male-headed households. To add to this, a high number of female heads work in the informal sector, with low wages and poor working conditions. This was found to be associated with a higher level of illiteracy among female household heads, thus making it difficult for them to compete in the formal labour market. Deprivation levels were seen to decrease with the number of employed persons in female-headed households, while this was the opposite in male-headed households. The number of household members was found to increase with the poverty level in female-headed households, while there was no effect among male-headed households. Married male household heads were found to have less access to basic necessities than unmarried ones, while the relationship was the opposite where female married household heads appeared to have less access to basic necessities than those who are not married. Overall, descriptive analysis revealed that female-headed households tend to be deprived from stable and sustainable access to basic necessities. The results of the regression analysis showed that the number of household members who are employed, household head’s income and other income of the household are significant predictors of poverty in Kwakwatsi. The study recommends that the gender gap in income can be alleviated by empowering women labourers through collective action and increase of vocational education and training for better skills. There is a need for using public works programmes efficiently in order to address the problem of low income in the area. Furthermore, the importance of the informal sectors of the economy, especially in low income areas, should be acknowledged because it seems to be an important source of income for the residents of Kwakwatsi. Finally, there is a need to improve primary health care provision for the township of Kwakwatsi. The relationship between gender and poverty in a South African township / MCom (Economics), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

This thesis explores ‘feminisation’ discourse(s) within the UK veterinary profession, including the ways in which gender stereotypes and biases also influence such discourses and experiences of working within the field. Drawing upon and combining a range of sociological, organisational and feminist theories such as Witz’s (1992) theory of gendered professional projects and Butler’s (1990) highly influential notion of performativity, I am able to contextualise and expand upon the ‘doing’ of the veterinary profession as well as being able to frame ‘feminisation’ discourses as paradoxes, potentially producing the effects they articulate. My analysis is divided into two parts; the first deals with results of a 463 participant survey of veterinary workers regarding definitions, perceptions and observations of ‘feminisation’ and gender difference, highlighting the significance of this subject matter within their professional lives. The second part incorporates a deeper thematic analysis of particular everyday realities, emerging from four semi-structured interviews which also aimed to explore in greater detail individual perceptions and observations regarding ‘feminisation’ and gender biases and stereotypes, encouraging participants themselves to reflect upon their experiences. A number of conclusions emerged during the analysis, including an intriguing insight that those who tended to draw most strongly on gender stereotypes and biases to outline their perceptions and observations were paradoxically those who most vehemently believed gender was irrelevant. Fundamentally however this study concludes that the concept of ‘feminisation’ is a fluid conceptualisation, a cultural process and not just empirical category of ‘empty rhetoric’ as commonly utilised and applied to the veterinary profession; as such it has the potential to be utilised extensively to progress the profession in terms of wider inclusiveness, equality, transformation, in offering reconceptualised ways of considering what it means to be part of a ‘profession’ not predicated on patriarchal structures, and to ultimately reperceive how gender can be (re/un)enacted in transformative ways alongside progressively rearticulated ‘feminisation’ discourses.

L'objectif de ce travail est d'analyser les différentes formes de pratiques de l'économie sociale et solidaire qui permettent aux femmes africaines d'aller au delà de leur vulnérabilité. Ces activités génératrices de revenus entraînent à la fois une augmentation de l'empowerment individuel et collectif des femmes ainsi que le développement de leurs communautés. Les femmes africaines sont des agents incontournables du changement par le biais des actions individuelles, mais surtout, collectives. En Afrique comme dans les différents pays du sud, les associations féminines constituent non seulement un lieu pour les femmes pour acquérir une certaine autonomie économique mais un véritable espace de liberté et d'échange qui permettent aux femmes de sortir de l'isolement, d'avoir de nouvelles compétences, d'avoir plus d'estime et confiance en soi en tant qu'un individu à part entière au même titre qu'un homme dans des sociétés à dominance patriarcale. C'est à travers ces activités que les femmes confirment leur rôle, affirment leur statut social et renforcent toute leur féminité en terme d'avoir, d'être et surtout de paraître. Les groupements féminins avec des degrés différents, ont acquis un certain succès. L'impact positif de la participation des femmes dans ces groupements permet de penser que l'empowerment individuel ou collectif des femmes pauvres est possible en optant pour des solutions alternatives basées sur des pratiques et actions collectives qui permettent d'acquérir plus de capacités et de liberté. Dans ce sens, l'approche des capacités de Sen est pertinente dans la mesure où elle renforce le poids des activités féminines issue de l'économie sociale et solidaire, permettant ainsi de renforcer les gains en terme d'empowerment.La principale fonction des groupements économiques féminins est de permettre aux femmes membres de pouvoir subvenir à leurs besoins par une mobilisation et une redistribution des ressources et par conséquent sortir de la précarité. Ces femmes qui s'activent dans les groupements et qui sont souvent responsables de famille, cherchent les moyens surtout financiers de pouvoir s'acquitter de leurs obligations familiales et sociales. A travers notre travail, nous avons relevé d'autres gains pour les femmes sur le plan individuel et collectif qui sont aussi importants et moins quantifiables. Le contexte de crise et de précarité confère aux activités féminines un rôle social très important surtout dans les pays du sud, où la féminisation de la pauvreté est importante. / The objectives of this work are to analyse different practices of social and solidarity economy that enable African women to move beyond vulnerability. Income generating activities involve both an increase in individual and collective empowerment of women, and in addition - further development of their communities. African women are key agents of change through individual actions, but most of all - though collective once. In Africa, as well as in various countries of the South, female organisations are not only a place for women to gain some economic independence, but a genuine areas of freedom and exchange, that allow them to come out of isolation, to learn new skills, and to have more esteem and self-confidence as individuals in their own rights alongside the men in a patriarchal societies. It is through these activities that women strengthen their role, their social status, and reinforce their femininity and presence Women's organisations, in different degree, manage to gain some success. The positive impact of women's participation in these groups suggests that the individual or collective empowerment of poor women is possible by opting for alternative solutions based on practical and collective actions that develop more capacity and greater freedom. In this sense, Sen's capability approach is relevant to the extent, that it reinforces the importance of women's activities within the social economy, thereby strengthening the gains in terms of empowerment. The main function of female economic organisations is to enable women members to be able to support themselves through mobilisation and redistribution of resources and therefore help them out of poverty. These women who are active in organisations and are often responsible for the family, often seek most financial means to meet their family and social obligations. Through our work, we have identified further significant gains for women as individuals, as well as in a collective, but these gains are less quantifiable. The context of crisis and insecurity gives women's activities a very important social role especially in the South, where the feminisation of poverty is important.

In this qualitative study I explored how postgraduate psychology students treat gender in their accounts of their future profession, using a social constructionist framework. I considered how this group of future psychologists drew upon gendered accounts in three different settings in which they found themselves within the profession. These included exploring how participants constructed their own gendered identities in their narratives of how they came to be pursuing professional training in psychology; how gender featured in their accounts of therapeutic processes and interactions with clients; and finally, their reflections on gendered participation in the broader field of psychology. Interview data from two semi-structured focus group discussions with 12 postgraduate psychology students was analysed using social constructionist thematic analysis. Three main themes were identified that related to participants’ gendered accounts according to their personal, professional and more general constructions of gender, namely: 1) psychology as a profession of choice; 2) setting the scene within psychology in terms of gender, which was divided into: a) a construction of gender from the psychologists’ perspective, and b) psychologists’ construction of gender from their clients’ perspectives. The third and last main theme was 3) Increased competition for females as a consequence of women’s empowerment. This study intended to contribute to the expansion of existing literature by addressing the issue of gender and its related aspects in the field of psychology in a South African context, given the dearth of extended research conducted in developing countries so far. The findings supported those of previous studies to an extent, but mainly redressed the perspective of gender through the identification of new themes. By looking into postgraduate psychology students’ constructions of their own gendered accounts it appeared that upcoming psychologists viewed gender in complex ways, instead of typically reported notions of difference, inequality and inferiority or superiority. In this way, the benefit of understanding professional development within the field of psychology served as a valuable point of departure in understanding debates around how gender was implicated in the clientele psychologists serve. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Psychology / unrestricted

Des transgressions du genre apparaissent dans les brochures libertaires. Le masculin et le féminin y sont chambardés et ces modifications apportées à la langue font éclore un nouveau générique, dépassant le masculin générique. Les rapports entre l’opposition particulier/général et le genre vont montrer que ce dernier est à la fois grammatical, sémantique et social. Mais cette multidimensionnalité du genre doit être complétée par la construction du genre en discours, en tant que lieu d’articulation du pouvoir. Et dès lors que l’on agit par la langue sur des rapports de pouvoir, on se situe dans le champ de la rhétorique. C’est elle qui nous permettra de mettre en lumière les arguments qui sous-tendent ces modifications subversives et de pouvoir saisir en quoi les irrégularités les façonnent idéologiquement, dans un rapport complexe à la norme faisant émerger une micro-politique linguistique autogérée non-prescriptive. Ces perturbations émergent à la frontière entre féminisme et anarchisme, dans un féminisme qui prend le discours comme lieu de lutte et un anarchisme non-programmatique, dont les brochures sont depuis longtemps un support privilégié. Mais cela n’est pas encore suffisant pour épuiser ce que recèle cette subversion linguistique du genre et il est nécessaire de partir à la rencontre de ce qu’en disent les locuteurs qui la pratiquent pour tenter de comprendre dans quels paysages politiques peut advenir cette pratique langagière. Au travers des croisements sémantiques entre politique, genre et langage, on voit se dégager une réticularité qui combine hétérogénéité et partage de prémisses, où le rejet de l’institution et le caractère fondamentalement politique du genre, donc non-essentiel, sont associés pour placer cette perturbation linguistique dans une démarche émancipatrice. / Transgressions of gender appear, in French language, in anarchist pamphlets, turning masculine and feminine upside down and leading the way to the emergence of a new generic class, beyond the generic masculine. The relationship between the general/particular opposition and gender shows that gender has grammatical, semantic and social features. However, it is also necessary to focus on the way gender is constructed in discourse, as a space where power is articulated. Acting on power relations by using language thus places this action in a rhetorical realm. It is precisely this rhetorical approach which allows us to highlight the arguments for such a subversive changes and to understand how irregularities could turn into ideological strategies, happening in a complex relationship with the norm. These processes form a type of self-managed, non-prescriptive micro-level language planning. Such an upheaval emerges at the crossroads between feminism and anarchism – a feminism which sees discourse as a site of struggle, and a non-programmatic anarchism, for which the brochures have long been a privileged medium. Nevertheless, this is not yet enough to have a complete view of this subversive language practice. The discourse of those who employ such a linguistic disturbance is also needed in order to understand in which political landscapes it occurs. At the semantic junction between politics, gender and language, networks emerge, combining heterogeneity and shared premises. The bases of these premises are a rejection of institutions, and a political reading of gender, which assumes a refusal of essentialism. Together, these premises postulate that linguistic perturbation is an emancipating process.

Une même hormone peut exercer des effets différents sur le développement des caractéristiques de type femelle selon la période à laquelle elle est produite : lstradiol nous a ainsi dévoilé son double jeu, révélant à la fois des effets déféminisants prénataux pouvant sexercer jusqu5ème jour postnatal et des effets féminisants sexerçant dès le 15ème jour postnatal. / A steroid hormone can have different effects on female characteristics development according to the period it is produced : estradiol has defeminizing effects on brain development until postnatal day 5, and feminizing effects from postnatal day 15.