This thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree, Masters of Arts in Sociology in the Faculty of Humanities (School of Social Sciences) at the University of Witwatersrand, 2016 / During the apartheid era, black women were forced into the rural areas to live off the land, without opportunities and choices to allow them to build decent lives for themselves. After many decades of apartheid, South Africa finally became a democratic country in 1994. Following the establishment of democracy in 1994, the South African society experienced quite a number of changes on the economic, social, and political level. Amongst those changes was the rectification of the constitution which recognized all citizens (men and women, black and white) as equal. Numerous acts were put in place to promote equality in all spheres of life. However, to this day, poverty and inequality remain evident on many black women in the country. Microfinance is embraced by many development organizations, states and agencies around the world as the main and efficient form of women’s empowerment. South Africa is also one of the states which have joined the bandwagon, with its Department of Trade and Industry (dti) having various microfinance programmes aimed at empowering women. However, with all the programmes, there seems to be no changes in the situations of black women, especially rural poor women in the country as illustrated by statistics. This paper, therefore, attempts to find out the reason behind the low status of women in post-apartheid South Africa by reviewing critical literature on empowerment and microfinance as an empowerment strategy to understand their impact on women’s lives. The study also analyse the dti’s policy documents on empowerment as one of the state’s institutions which promotes women’s empowerment through microfinance. Furthermore, this study argues that the current women’s empowerment strategy (microfinance) is not for the benefit of poor black women, but for that of the institutions offering these programmes. This argument is supported by an analysis conducted on dti’s women’s empowerment strategic documents and programmes, which was used as a case study for this paper. This study suggests that changes in the designing and implementation of the policies are required. / GR2017

THESIS ABSTRACT In this thesis, I attempt to identify major obstacles that are challenging the implementation of international human rights treaties in Afghanistan. With a focus on the treaties that promote women’s rights and prevent violence against women in a post-conflict situation. There are several obstacles including lack of rule of law and the existence of customary practices in Afghanistan. Despite these challenges, there are national legislations and policies that promote women’s rights and empowerment in Afghanistan. However, for women’s empowerment, it is not sufficient to have supportive laws and policies, but there is need for a systematic transformation of patriarchal structures by conducting a thorough gender analysis and ensuring gender mainstreaming. The Afghan government, as part of its commitment to the international community, has to take measures for removing obstacles and ensuring the implementation of human rights treaties in order to pave the way for women’s empowerment in Afghanistan.

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Thesis (M.A.) (Development management) --University of Limpopo, 2010. / Gender equality in local water governance is currently envisaged as a necessary aspect for achieving efficient, effective and sustainable water resources management. Based on the premise that men and women exhibit socially and culturally determined differences in behavior, roles and responsibilities, the Gender Mainstreaming Strategy holds that gender concerns in water resources management, including in all decisions regarding planning, design, location, operation and maintenance have to be based on the recognition of their differences. However, giving the pragmatic effect on the Gender Mainstreaming Strategy within the Water Resources Management Sector has met with many challenges relating to structural issues, sustainability, the commitment of actors involved, and the whole range of aspects of attitudinal change, both at individual and collective levels. The study investigates the challenges involved in the application of the Gender Mainstreaming Strategy within the Water Resources Management Sector in the rural community of Mogodi Village in Limpopo Village. The study argues that the challenges involved in the application of the Gender Mainstreaming Strategy leads to virtual mismanagement of the water resources within rural communities as attested to by the Mogodi Village. The survey results from Mogodi Village proved that gender mainstreaming was not fully applied within the water resources management. Women do not have access to all the positions in the water committee and furthermore, they are not always consulted and if they get the chance to raise their concerns, they are not always taken into consideration. Additionally, the patriarchal tradition within the village has a great impact on the application of the Gender Mainstreaming Initiatives. Some of the principles of this tradition are that women are household caregivers and men are leaders. The roles that women perform within their homesteads do not allow them time to participate in the water resources management. This leaves the water resources management roles in the hands of men in the village. The study therefore concludes that the genuine benefits of the Gender Mainstreaming Strategy in the water resources management would not be realised as long as the context within which it is applied remains traditional in terms of the gender status quo. / Extrata Mine

性別主流化的概念，從1995年在北京被提出，經過了15年，性別議題逐漸在國際組織中獲得重視，各國對於性別主流化的推動與實施不遺餘力。台灣從2003年推動性別主流化至今，約七年的時間，對照起聯合國在2010年三月在紐約所召開的北京+15會議，台灣僅僅用了一半時間，發展出屬於台灣本土性別主流化經驗。 由於行政院婦權會具有「參與式民主」「公私合作」的特質，尤其來自民間的婦權委員，試圖在我國推動性別主流化的發展過程中，建立各種不同的參與機制與平台，將不同的個人與團體串連起來。換言之是一種參與式政府的體現，性別主流化過程中強調授與員工權力（性別聯絡人設置）與能力（性別培訓制度），試將政府組織內的個人納入決策過程，亦即是以體制內的「公務人員」作為參與式民主的主體，運用性別聯絡人制度、性別平等工作小組，以及性別培訓制度等擴大參與的制度，試圖將個別公務人員納入性別主流化推動過程中。此種體制內擴大參與的模式，改變了以社會中公民為主體的參與民主模式，進行體制內參與式民主發展的可能。 同時，婦權基金會所建立的婦女團體溝通平台亦是參與式民主機制的建立，婦女溝通平台不僅有助於政府部門與民間團體的溝通與對話，能夠使民間團體瞭解政府部門的各項施政與發展，也助於行政部門傾聽婦女團體對於個別議題的想法，以及婦女團體間對於議題的溝通與交流。在國際參與機制，婦權基金會透過每年補助民間團體與專家學者的機制，讓許多團體與個人，透過參加聯合國與各國際組織會議，將國際社會中關注的性別議題帶回台灣社會。 / Gender mainstreaming had been formally raised in the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. It has become one of the main strategies for fulfilling gender equality in international community. Gender mainstream is not only regarding female separately. Furthermore, it isn't only making some policies or allocating budgets for female affairs, but also putting gender views in all of the legislations, policies, schemes and budgets so that governments can evaluate and make concrete schemes and priority. Currently, some problems have been generated when countries are putting efforts on gender mainstreaming. For instance, public servants have vague cognitive concepts and poor knowledge in this field. This situation also makes the gender concerns can’t deeply influence policies, schemes and legislations. It only appears occasionally in some processes of policies, but it can’t have comprehensive outlooks. However, it might have a window of opportunity for developing gender mainstreaming if we facilitate participatory democracy in domestic societ. In terms of domestic development, governments, experts and general public can get the opportunities of participation and dialogue via participatory democracy. It will also make the gender concerns get involved with the discussion and planning of policies.

<p>Sweden is seen as one of the world’s most feminist societies. In January 2009 all grounds of discrimination were merged into a common law; Diskrimineringslagen. This paper examines representations of gender discrimination, linked to feminist perspectives, in the Parliamentary debate on Sweden’s new discrimination legislation through a discourse analysis. The aim is to find out how the perception of gender discrimination may be linked to attitudes towards the proposal of the new discrimination legislation. The findings are that two competing constructions of gender discrimination can be found in the empirical material; it’s <em>either</em> seen as a ground of discrimination as more fundamental <em>or</em> equivalent to other grounds of discrimination. The conclusions are that the perception of gender discrimination affects whether the proposal of the new discrimination legislation is seen as a good solution or a problematic solution. The representations of gender discrimination are linked to feminist perspectives in a clearer way in the discourse where the proposal of the new discrimination legislation is seen as a problematic solution; in this discourse gender discrimination is rather associated with taking structural gender relations in consideration than a problem associated with the formal regulation.</p>

Gegenstand der Analyse ist die mediale Auseinandersetzung um feministische de/konstruktivistische Theorie und Praxis, die 2006/2007 unter der Überschrift 'Gender Mainstreaming' stattfand. Dominiert wurde die Mediendebatte von einer Reihe antifeministischer Veröffentlichungen in überregionalen (Print- und Online-) Zeitungen und Magazinen; auf ihnen liegt das Hauptaugenmerk meiner Untersuchung. Im Zentrum stehen dabei die Einzelanalysen der Artikel "'Gender Mainstreaming' Politische Geschlechtsumwandlung" (FAZ; Volker Zastrow) und "Der neue Mensch" (Der Spiegel; René Pfister), die unter Hinzuziehung des Debattenkontextes (ca. 50 Artikel) untersucht werden. Die Analyse verfolgt die zentralen diskursiven Strategien, mit denen feministische de/konstruktivistische Theorie und Praxis sowie die Protagonist_innen derselben delegitimiert werden und fragt nach den impliziten wie expliziten Aussagen, den zugrundeliegenden gesellschaftlichen Wissensvorräten, Deutungsrahmen und Ausschlüssen. Theoretisch und methodisch wird eine Perspektive entwickelt, die die Mediendebatte einerseits als Kondensat gesellschaftlicher Wissensvorräte und als Spiegel gesellschaftlicher Machtverhältnisse, andererseits als Produzentin von Wissen und Macht analysierbar macht. Die Forschungsfragen und Analyseergebnisse tangieren entsprechend das gesellschaftlich vorhandene Alltags- und wissenschaftliche Wissen über Geschlecht(erverhältnisse) ebenso wie das ‚neue‘ Wissen, das in der Debatte generiert wird, indem Wissen neu kombiniert, akzentuiert, in neue Kontexte gestellt und den Rezipient_innen zugänglich gemacht wird. Mit welchen Bedeutungen wird der Begriff 'Gender' aufgeladen? Nach welchen Kriterien werden feministische Interventionen beurteilt? Welche Subjekte werden abgewertet oder ausgeschlossen (Homosexuelle, Transgender u.a.)? Welches wissenschaftliche und welches Alltagswissen liegt den (antifeministischen/ transphoben/ homophoben) Aussagen zugrunde? Inwiefern haben de/konstruktivistische Geschlechterkonzepte Eingang gefunden in die öffentliche Geschlechterdebatte? Und schließlich auch: Welche Strategien verfolgten jene medialen Artikulationen, die positiv auf feministische Theorie und Praxis und/oder Gender Mainstreaming Bezug nahmen? 'Gender Mainstreaming' fungierte im untersuchten antifeministischen Strang der Debatte als Aufhänger für einen modernisierten Antifeminismus, der sich gegen sämtliche feministische Politiken und Theorien richtete, die (in der Debatte) mit dem Begriff 'Gender' assoziiert wurden. 'Gender' wurde dabei als politisches Stigmawort mit vagem de/konstruktivistischem Gehalt etabliert. Die untersuchten Delegitimierungsstrategien betreffen den Wahrheitsgehalt feministischer Theorie, die Ziele und die Wirkungen feministischer Politik und die Frage nach den Interessen, die mit feministischen Politiken verfolgt werden. Diesen Strategien liegen (unter anderem) Vorannahmen bezüglich Geschlecht und Geschlechtsidentität, Abwertungen und Ausschlüsse bestimmter geschlechtlich oder sexuell markierter Subjekte, spezifische Deutungen feministischer Politiken und Theorien und die Dethematisierung von Machtverhältnissen zugrunde. / The subject matter of his analysis is the media debate on feminist de/constructivist theory and practice conducted in 2006-07, using the peg ‚gender mainstreaming‘ to hang itself on. The debate was dominated by a number of anti-feminist publications, which my analysis mainly focuses on. The core of the research consists of the analysis of the articles „‚Gender Mainstreaming‘ Politische Geschlechtsumwandlung“ (FAZ; Volker Zastrow) and „Der neue Mensch“ (Der Spiegel; René Pfister), which are being investigated by also looking at the context of the debate. The analysis aims at the central discursive strategies which are used to delegitimise feminist de/constructivist theory and practice as well as their protagonists and enquires about the implicit and explicit statements of the articles, the basic common knowledge, criterion and exclusions. I devise a theoretical and methodical perspective, which makes the debate analyzable in a double way: On the one hand the media debate can be seen as a ‚condensate‘ of common knowledge and as a mirror of social power structures and on the other hand it functions as a producer of knowledge and power itself. Consequently the research questions allude to the existing common and/or science-based knowledge as well as to the ‚new‘ knowledge which the media debate generates by (re-)combining, (re-)accentuating and (re-)contextualising knowledge. Which denotations/connotations are assigned to the term ‚gender‘? Which criterion is being mobilized to judge feminist politics? Which subjects (homosexuals, transgendered persons et al.) are degraded or excluded? Which scientific knowledge and which common knowledge form the basis of the (anti-feminist/ transphobic/ homophobic) statements being made? Is there any evidence that de/constructivist perceptions regarding gender found access to the public gender debate? And eventually: Which are the strategies being pursued by those articles that referred to feminist theory and practices affirmatively? Within the anti-feminist thread of the debate, ‚gender mainstreaming‘ served as a peg to hang an updated antifeminism on, that was directed against all feminist politics and theories associated with the term ‚gender‘. ‚Gender‘ itself was established as a stigmatized political term including a vague de/constructivist meaning. The discursive anti-feminist strategies affect the trueness of feminist thought, the aims and impacts of feminist politics and the question about the interests pursued by feminist politics. These strategies rest upon the specific interpretations of feminist politics and theories, upon the exclusion of existing power structures from the debate, upon underlying presumptions concerning gender and gender identity and upon the degradation and exclusion of persons due to their sex, their gender or their desire.

Kalmar Municipality has in 2008-2010 made an effort to educate managers on gender, with the goal of mainstreaming gender into public activities so that all citizens should feel safe in that treatment and services are designed and resources are distributed equally to both sexes living conditions and needs. The overall aim of this study was to examine whether the training effort has paid off, and how gender mainstreaming has been implemented in the different activities. We have used a qualitative approach, which we examined through interviews managers' approach to gender equality. Gender was generally described as an important issue of all respondents, and all were working to mainstream gender into their activities and workplaces. The results show that the operational and management needed clearer directives and strategies in their efforts to promote gender equality. Education was necessary because personal definition of gender may differ from the control contents of the documents. We found that many respondents saw the barrier of time, but also difficulties in changing attitudes and preferences of employees. As a result, we realized that the problem was bigger than that, when society is ruled by norms and values. After analysis of empirical data, we concluded that gender mainstreaming is a difficult subject, and it demands hard work, efforts and resources.

Gender equality is a political issue that has gained a lot of support in the last decades. Researchers have however pointed out that gender equality has a wide variety of understandings. SKL (Sveriges kommuner och landsting) is an organization that looks after the interests of local authorities and county councils in Sweden. SKL has by the government been granted 145 million Swedish crowns to support gender mainstreaming at a local level. During a period of three years, 2008-2010, funding has been given to 89 projects for this purpose. The aim of this study is to examine what meanings are given to the term “gender equality” in these projects. Is there a dominant understanding of the term? What can be said about the meanings that are identified? The method used is Carol Bacchis What´s the problem approach. The main question asked to the material is “what is the problem with gender (in)equality represented to be?” The analysis shows that the understandings of gender equality are identified in five general themes. Four of them are connected to a liberal philosophy, thus forming a dominant liberal discourse on gender equality. The remaining one has quite the opposite ideas underpinning it: one that understands gender inequality as a consequence of societal structures, norms and an asymmetrical distribution of wealth and power. To conclude I elaborate on what the liberal discursive dominance means for the question of gender equality. The risk with strategies built upon liberal ideas is that it eliminates conflicts in politics – thus depoliticizing gender equality.

This thesis examines the potential of housing co-operatives to provide adequate housing for women, focusing on the context of Nairobi, Kenya. The limitations of the current approaches to housing provision in Kenya are discussed, along with their gendered implications. A review of the potential benefits which housing co-operatives provide for women is conducted. As part of this examination, a multi-scalar analysis of the housing co-operative sector in Kenya illuminates the role of gender mainstreaming policies and their role in addressing discrimination and inequality in the housing sector in Kenya. A case study of Rooftops Canada’s gender mainstreaming work in Kenya is used to provide examples of gender mainstreaming work being undertaken in the housing co-operative sector. This case study also provides insight into the role of international donors in gender equality work in Kenya’s housing co-operative sector.