Magister Theologiae - MTh / A number of biblical scholars have observed that the Bible has been used by dominant groups in certain societies to justify and condone discrimination and oppression. Slavery, colonialism and apartheid are often cited as examples of racial oppression based on particular understandings of the Bible. Some biblical scholars have pointed to the fact that theologians who work in contexts of racially liberated societies, such as South Africa, are slow in recognizing the injustices caused by gender discrimination. Instead, male privilege continues to be upheld particularly through the Biblical justification of male headship. The popularity of the 'Mighty Men' Conference is a case in point as it encourages men to take their supposedly rightful, "God-given" place as prophet, priest and king in marriage and family relationships. The emerging popularity of male-headship theology thwarts whatever gains have been made in the areas of gender justice and equality in various spheres of society, including the church. Headship theology often goes unquestioned because it is supported by particular interpretation/understanding of biblical texts which are quoted out of context to support and justify male dominance. For example, Luke 7: 36-50 is often interpreted in showing the "sinful" woman as one who needs forgiveness.

The thesis interrogates how the political dynamics that emerged in the formulation of the 2016 land legislation in Malawi influenced the gendered outcomes. It highlights the complexity of the policymaking process that was shaped by divergent interests and power dynamics of the stakeholders. It argues that although the interests and agenda complicated the process, their discourses were framed and justified their positions within the development and gender equality framework. It highlights the progressive nature of the socio-legal provisions in the legislation by significantly recognising and promoting women’s land rights. It contends that advances in legal institutions are essential; however, for inclusive transformation to be sustainable, changes in social and cultural practices and norms are imperative. This is because Malawian women continue to face exclusion in owning, controlling and accessing land albeit being the major agricultural producers. This is owed to the persistence of patriarchal attitudes in institutions that perpetuate contestation in the public and private spheres of women’s rights to access, own and control over land. Such is persistent particularly within customary laws which remain sites of struggle between traditional leaders’ claims and women’s societal positions. Hence, creating enabling environments for women will allow them to articulate their political voices and agenda and as such influence policy and legal formulation. Through a multi-faceted approach encompassing of legal pluralism, feminist perspectives on gender and development, and the theory of change, the paper discusses the complexity of policymaking that has been shaped by interests and power. For instance, most chiefs contested against their limited powers and the inclusion of women in land administration issues as stipulated in the new Land Laws, while CSOs advocated for the laws to be people-centred, gender-sensitive and responsive to women’s needs. Also, International organisations were interested in ensuring that there is improved land governance framework and its implementation is in line with VGGT. Thus, apparent realities emerge from the analysis of these political dynamics within the adoption of the 2016 Land Laws: the differing stakeholders’ agenda and how they all pressed on advancing their agenda. Nonetheless, gender equality and development discourse was an aspect that was apparent in the debates.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-10T11:21:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 HENRIQUE PINTO COELHO.pdf: 4226159 bytes, checksum: 965cf5f92f4ba0760907e6cb07754aa3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-06-27 / This dissertation reflects and comments on a set of black and white and hand colored photographs of women, produced by Luiz Pucci in Goiânia-GO, in the period of 1945 to 1955. These photographs are kept in the Goiás Museum of Image and Sound. The dissertation especially analyzes gender representations in these photographs to see if the women in these images reveal new habits and ways of being, reproducing and reinforcing dominant gender relations, their inequalities and their representations. The photographs of women are important sources for the study of these gender representations. / A presente dissertação tece considerações sobre um conjunto de fotografias de mulheres, em branco e preto e coloridas à mão, produzidas por Luiz Pucci em Goiânia-GO, no período de 1945 a 1955. Estas fotografias estão depositadas no Museu da Imagem e do Som de Goiás. Analisa, em especial, as representações de gênero nessas fotografias para constatar se nestas imagens as mulheres revelam novos hábitos e modos de ser, reproduzindo e fortalecendo as relações de gênero dominantes, suas desigualdades e suas representações. As fotografias de mulheres são fontes importantes para o estudo dessas representações de gênero.

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is viewed by policy makers and practitioners as facilitating the achievement of a balance between water resources use and protection, and the resolution of water-related conflicts. The IWRM approach has found particular use in the new water policies of Southern African countries such as Zimbabwe, where water scarcity, after the land question, is perceived to be a major threat to political, economic, social, military and environmental security. Ultimately, IWRM is seen as providing a framework towards ensuring broader security at the local, national, regional and global levels. However, the pilot phase implementation of the new water policy in the various regional countries has revealed that although the legal and institutional frameworks have been put in place, the implementation of the IWRM approach has tended to be problematic (Latham, 2001; GTZ, 2000; Leestemaker, 2000; Savenige & van der Zaag, 2000; Sithole, 2000). This study adopts a case study approach and empirically examines the institutional challenges of implementing the IWRM approach in the post-pilot phase of Zimbabwe's new water policy. The focus is mainly on the institutional arrangements surrounding the Pungwe-Mutare Water Supply Project located within the Save Catchment Area in Eastern Zimbabwe. The major finding of the study is that, while there are some problems associated with the traditional management approach, there have also emerged new challenges to IWRM. These mainly relate to the transaction costs of the water sector reforms, institutional resilience, stakeholder participation, and the achievement of the desired outcomes. There have also been problems emanating from unexpected political developments at the local and national levels, particularly with regard to the government's "fast track" land resettlement programme. The study also raises some questions concerning the ideological bases of IWRM and the conceptualization of the institutional problem.

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is viewed by policy makers and practitioners as facilitating the achievement of a balance between water resources use and protection, and the resolution of water-related conflicts. The IWRM approach has found particular use in the new water policies of Southern African countries such as Zimbabwe, where water scarcity, after the land question, is perceived to be a major threat to political, economic, social, military and environmental security. Ultimately, IWRM is seen as providing a framework towards ensuring broader security at the local, national, regional and global levels. However, the pilot phase implementation of the new water policy in the various regional countries has revealed that although the legal and institutional frameworks have been put in place, the implementation of the IWRM approach has tended to be problematic (Latham, 2001; GTZ, 2000; Leestemaker, 2000; Savenige & van der Zaag, 2000; Sithole, 2000). This study adopts a case study approach and empirically examines the institutional challenges of implementing the IWRM approach in the post-pilot phase of Zimbabwe's new water policy. The focus is mainly on the institutional arrangements surrounding the Pungwe-Mutare Water Supply Project located within the Save Catchment Area in Eastern Zimbabwe. The major finding of the study is that, while there are some problems associated with the traditional management approach, there have also emerged new challenges to IWRM. These mainly relate to the transaction costs of the water sector reforms, institutional resilience, stakeholder participation, and the achievement of the desired outcomes. There have also been problems emanating from unexpected political developments at the local and national levels, particularly with regard to the government's "fast track" land resettlement programme. The study also raises some questions concerning the ideological bases of IWRM and the conceptualization of the institutional problem.

Abortion is a publicly contentious topic as it speaks to and draws on localized understandings of body politics, abortion beliefs, women’s role in society, the sanctity of life, and the role of the state. South Africa’s liberal abortion law has led to the removal of abortion restrictions at the macro-structural level. However, cultural and religious constraints at individual and community levels continue to exist as barriers to women’s access to safe abortion which may put women’s lives at risk. These constraints to safe abortion were explored through giving attention to the context of the participants so as to comprehend the nature of the resistance as well as to understand constructions and perceptions of abortion. This study used a combination of frameworks: the African epistemologies, Judith Butler’s performativity theory and Foucault’s notion of power. Data was collected through individual interviews and focus group conversations with women aged 25-40 in a rural Bushbuckridge area of South Africa and analyzed using Parker’s discourse analysis approach. The results of the study revealed competing and contradicting discourses which provide multiple voices and realities. It highlighted discourses that emanate from African traditional epistemologies that view abortion as a taboo that is punishable by draught and shortage of agricultural products, illness, infertility and contamination of the body, which require ritual performances to alleviate. Furthermore, the findings showed the complexities of sexual reproductive decisions by alluding to conditions of poverty; gender based violence, gendered power relations as well as economic inequality. The findings of this study challenge us to be open-minded and mindful of other realities as scholars, policy makers and advocates of change in order to bring about meaningful and acceptable context appropriate change. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology: Research Consultation)

I Sverige ökar antalet kvinnor som är intresserade av ett jobb inom IT-branschen medan andelen kvinnor som arbetar i branschen minskar. Denna studie utforskar detta fenomen ur ett företagsekonomiskt och ett medie- och kommunikationsvetenskapligt perspektiv. Genom intervjuer med tio kvinnor med erfarenheter från den svenska IT-branschen syftar denna studie till att förstå de huvudsakliga barriärerna som kvinnor upplever i branschen. Vi finner tre huvudsakliga barriärer: (i) Maskulin organisationskultur där vi upptäcker att kvinnor anpassar sig till de maskulina kulturerna, (ii) Sociala förväntningar på feminina och maskulina stereotyper där vi kan se att kvinnor förväntas ta ett mer socialt ansvar på arbetsplatsen och (iii) Ifrågasättande av kompetens där vi finner att kvinnors kompetenser ifrågasätts både av andra parter och av sig själva. Till skillnad från studier om samma fenomen i andra länder identifieras inte konflikter mellan privat- och arbetsliv som en framträdande barriär. / In Sweden the number of women who are interested in a job in the IT industry is increasing, however the existing portion of women working in the industry is decreasing. This study explores this phenomenon from the business studies perspective, and the media and communication studies perspective. Through interviews with ten women, with experiences from the Swedish IT industry, this study aims to reach an understanding of the main barriers that women experience in the industry. We find three main barriers: (i) Masculine organizational culture where we detect that women are adjusting to the masculine cultures, (ii) Social expectations of feminine and masculine stereotypes where we discover that women are expected to take on more social responsibility at the workplace and (iii) Questioning of competence where we find that women’s competences are being questioned both by other parties and by themselves. Unlike studies of the same phenomenon in other countries, conflicts between personal life and work life is not identified as a distinctive barrier.

This thesis explores how dental students experience their education. We aim to generate ways to understand which elements relate to the students’ experience based on current theories and models regarding the quality of working life and gender (and) power relations.   Methods Twelve interviews with Umeå dental students in their clinical semesters were analysed with a Grounded Theory (GT) as well as a content analysis approach. A web-survey was sent to all clinical dental students in Sweden (P ≈ 805) with a response rate of 40% (p = 322). The quantitative methods included structural equation modelling and cluster analysis. Results The GT analysis resulted in the core category “Experiencing ambiguity,” that captured the student’s role-ambiguity. Central categories focused on perceived stress and performance assessment in relation to ambiguous inner and outer demands. The content analysis resulted in three categories: “Notions of inequalities,” “Gendering,” and “The student position.” These categories present the ways groups of students are constructed in relation to the student/dentist norm and social gender relations, and how women and men of foreign descent risk subordination and stereotyping. The SEM-model contained psychosocial work environment, tolerance for ambiguity, perceived stress, and student satisfaction. Work environment influenced both perceived stress and satisfaction, and stood for almost all of the explained variance in perceived stress for women, indicating that women are constructed as co-responsible for the work environment. About half of the variance for the men was explained by tolerance for ambiguity, indicating that the feeling of uncertainty may lead to stress in men who include “being in control” in their gender identity. The cluster analysis resulted in a six-cluster solution ranging from “The fresh and positive” to “The worn critiques.” Psychosocial work environment again appeared to be the main factor. Gender also appears to be a factor as the gender distribution in the best as well as the two worst clusters differs from the population. Conclusion Work environment stands out among the factors that relate to the students wellbeing and satisfaction, but the student group is heterogeneous and the ways students perceive their work environment relate to different processes and experiences. We suggest that the ways gender and ethnicity appear to be constructed in relation to the sociocultural gender power relations and the (traditional) medical hierarchy could be of importance for how the students’ experience their psychosocial work environment.