Recent statistics have shown that Violence Against Women (VAW) affects one in three women worldwide. Not only is the issue prevalent at a global scale, it is embedded in the societal fabric of South Africa. Women and girls disproportionately experience public and private environments as unsafe due to the fear or threat of violence against them. Thus, limiting their movement, use and occupation of space. In essence, such instances of violence infringe upon a women’s human rights. In 1996, two years after South Africa became a democracy, it was necessary to manifest physically through architecture the symbolic significance of South Africa’s Constitution. An opportunity for architectural intervention is identified at the Constitution Hill Precinct. The aim is to make more visible and practical advocacy of women’s rights through establishing an association of the Precinct as a safe space for women. The study, through mixed qualitative methods, explores the feminist notion of safe space to understand safety, as both a practical and social construct, is integral to reflect the lived experiences of women. Design principles to guide the architectural intervention are subsequently synthetized from primarily theoretical informants, followed by conceptual, contextual and programmatic informants. The result is the translation of safe space into an architecture of lived experience; where the threat of fear or violence does not intimidate nor limit the occupation and use of space by women; but fosters spaces of empowerment, healing and upliftment. By programming underutilized in-between spaces along the East-West thoroughfare of the Precinct, through a transformative approach towards heritage, the advocacy for women’s rights is made visible and attains an association as a place where women are received and celebrated. Focus is placed on the Western edge of the Precinct to explore social and public programmes in support of women and the community at large. The existing parking lot structures, identified as lost space, are adapted to reflect an architectural intent of safe space and become spaces of meaning and contribution towards the Precinct. Finally, technical resolution of the project stems from the conceptual intentions of the design intervention; expressing a transformative approach between old and new. / Mini Dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Architecture / MArch (Prof) / Unrestricted

Gender mainstreaming is a transnational policy process that has been underway for close to three decades. This paper aims to uncover “which gender is being mainstreamed in global politics” through conducting a textual analysis on twenty global policy documents. The text of the documents was coded into two categories of gender: abolitionist and affirmative. The predictions were that (1) there is a movement toward an affirmative concept of gender and away from an abolitionist one; (2) “women” are being replaced with “gender” in global policies; (3) there is a shift away from sex-based and toward gender-based provisions in global policies; (4) the affirmative concept of gender is being mainstreamed; and (5) that the abolitionist concept of gender is not being mainstreamed. It was found that, out of the five predictions, only the third one is supported by the evidence, i.e., the gender that is being mainstreamed in global politics is abolitionist. Although the results were almost entirely contrary to the predictions, it is important not to underestimate the potential implications of erasing sex-based provisions. In recasting provisions for women as “gender-based” one runs the risk of making them provisions for “femininity”, which consequently could mean limits to female political participation.

Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis / The goal of this thesis is to understand the relationship between the evolving representations of African American women in post-Civil Rights era films about the Transatlantic slave trade; the portraits these images present of black women and their history; and how these films approach the issues of difficult heritage and re-presenting atrocity in entertainment. Film shapes the ways in which we understand the past, leaving a lifelong impression about historical events and the groups involved. By analyzing the stories, directorial processes, and the public responses to four films of 20th and 21st centuries focused on the controversial historical topic of American chattel slavery and its representation of the most underrepresented and misunderstood victims of the Peculiar Institution, this work will argue that, when supplemented with historiography and criticism rooted in historical thinking, cinematic depictions of the past make history more accessible to the public and serve as a form of public memory, shaping the way the public thinks about our collective past.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This paper examines the history that influences the rate at which female justices are elected and appointed to state supreme courts. There are different variables like judicial campaign activity, limited pool, role expectations of women and advocacy that influence the selection process. I pick the states with the earliest history of selecting female justices (Ohio and New Mexico) and the states that selected female justices last (South Dakota and West Virginia) to address some of the variables mentioned above that have influenced the use of feminist jurisprudence on the bench. After selection, I examine if it is possible for said judges to use feminist theories (like liberal feminist theory) in decision-making processes on the bench. Specifically, can we, in fact use feminist theory to understand the decision making of female state Supreme Court justices? For the most part, I find that we can imply that they do and are additionally interested in creating policy and programs based on the decisions made. Does this change with political party affiliation, race and sexual orientation of the female judges? I determine that more research needs to be conducted in this area on the courts of last resort at both the federal and state level.

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[pt] Esta dissertação tem por objetivo analisar a vida das mulheres moradoras da Favela da Rocinha, na cidade do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, questionando quais são as formas e possibilidades de atuação e resistência face aos processos cotidianos de opressão e como o território influencia e muitas vezes delimita sua vivência diária. O estudo foi realizado a partir do ano de 2007, que marca o início do Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento-Urbanização de Assentamentos Precários (PAC-UAP) do governo federal, até os dias atuais. O objeto de estudo é a territorialidade feminina, ou seja, a influência da mulher que, apesar da violência e da qui, molda o território estigmatizado da favela, que é considerado como não pertencente à cidade, e também sua resistência aos processos de opressão diários. Desta forma, esta dissertação visa analisar as ações femininas que reconfiguram o território da favela, através das práticas de resistência e da participação em coletivos políticos e ONGs. Como universo de análise, foi escolhida a favela da Rocinha, no Rio de Janeiro, pelo importante papel da mulher como ativista social e política desde o início do assentamento deste bairro, que conta com um longo histórico de mobilização comunitária e luta por direitos. A pesquisa utilizou procedimentos metodológicos dialéticos e indutivos, através da articulação de conceitos da teoria crítica feminista com a observação participante em reuniões de um grupo comunitário local da Rocinha. Como resultado, espera-se que a pesquisa ofereça contribuições, a partir da perspectiva de gênero, para a elaboração de políticas públicas, projetos e estratégias de urbanização de favelas que levem em consideração as questões das mulheres nestes territórios. / [en] This thesis aims to analyze the lives of women living in Favela da Rocinha, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, questioning the ways and possibilities of acting and resisting the daily processes of oppression and how the territory influences and often delimits their daily experience. The study was carried out from the year of 2007, which marks the beginning of the federal government s Program for Accelerating Urban Growth-Urbanization of Precarious Settlements (PAC-UAP), to the present day. The object of this research is, then, women s territoriality, i. e., how women s deliberate actions and daily practices to resist oppression shape the stigmatized territory of the squatter settlement, despite violence and the absence of the State, which considers this territory as not belonging to the city. This thesis intends to analyze women s actions that reconfigure the favela s territory through resistance practices and participation in political collectives and NGOs. The favela Rocinha in Rio de Janeiro, was chosen as the universe of analysis for the important role of women as social and political activists since the beginning of the settlement of this neighborhood, which has a long history of community mobilization and fighting for rights. The research utilizes dialectical and inductive methodological procedures, through the articulation of concepts from feminist critical theory with participant observation in local group meetings in Rocinha. As a result, it is expected that the research will contribute from a gender perspective to the elaboration of public policies, projects and strategies for the upgrading projects of slums that take into account the issues of women in these territories.

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For such a vexing topic as gender identity, this dissertation asks a rather straightforward question: If gender identity is—as Judith Butler has asserted—socially constructed and discursively mediated, then why does transgender hormone therapy (THT) work? This is the question concerning endocrinology that I ask Butler, and their answer is, if requiring of delicate assessment and interpretation, clear: it doesn't. Butler's work reveals an admonishing view that the efficacity of THT is due to placebo effect, in turn brought on by the bewitchment of the trans* who seeks medical transition. In a logic similar to sin and salvation, if only the trans* had not believed in gender dysphoria, then there would be no (putative) efficacity to THT whatsoever. With our answer, we begin a perilous adventure of discovering just why such a preeminent gender theorist (and trans* themselves) with no experience of gender dysphoria, and no desire to medically transition, would say this. We examine Butler's gender theory, their concept of desire, their views on the self, on transsexuality, their rarely discussed philosophies of science and nature, and their dearth of citations of transsexual voices. Due to this lack, I lend my own, relying upon my experience with gender dysphoria, THT, and medical transitioning. Unfortunately, in the times we live with attacks against *trans people and their healthcare, these questions could not be less theoretical, and more practical. In my view, Butler simply does not believe in the physical validity and medical exigency of gender dysphoria—the primary reason that we transsexuals pursue THT. Thus, in a dissertation that addresses questions of existential urgency and indisputable suffering, I show that Butler's gender theory lacks explanatory power and conceptual coherency, at a time when medically transitioning trans* could not need it more.