This study seeks to understand how policy and practice enables or disables women's aspirations for secondary school leadership. The study focuses on women deputy principals and woman principal who have applied for principalship and details their accounts of the resonances and dissonances of policy and practice. This qualitative study uses a narrative design. The data collected from three female deputy principals, one of whom was acting as a principal and one a newly appointed principal at the time of the interviews. The main form of data collection was a series of interviews with each participant. The findings confirm that the policy environment is favourable for women, but in its implementation, there are factors that constrain the aspirations of women for secondary school leadership. Gender stereotypical perceptions of women by the school governing bodies and a patriarchal social context are seen as significant constraints for women seeking leadership positions. It was also evident that prevailing school leadership frequently works with school governing bodies to undermine and thwart the ambitions of female deputy principals and those unions rarely play a supportive role to potential women leaders. Data is analysed using the Capabilities Approach. In this study, the Capabilities Approach suggests that environmental and social conversion factors seem to be obstacles affecting women's agency to achieve the desired outcome of becoming a principal. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Education Management and Policy Studies / MEd / Unrestricted

The thesis consists of a philosophical normative analysis of legislation on prostitution. The thesis aims to add on to the existing discussion regarding prostitution through an angle that has not been discussed earlier. During the thesis, three major models of legislation are analyzed through the theoretical framework of Martha Nussbaum’s capabilities approach. The three major models of legislation are criminalization, the Nordic model, and legalization. The result entails that criminalization is the least supported model of legislation regarding prostitution, and the Nordic model is the most supported by the theoretical framework. Although, it is stated that the answer could perhaps be found outside the three major models of legislation.

There are many documented reasons why both men and women fail to complete their doctoral studies such as insufficient funding, family responsibilities as well as demotivation due to lack of progress in their research (Herman, 2011c, Gardner, 2008, Magano, 2011). However, it is arguable that men are at an advantage of completing their doctoral studies at a higher rate compared to women, partly due to the masculine culture within higher education institutions, which includes aspects such as having more male senior lecturers/academics (Brown and Watson, 2010, Ismail, 2011, Haake, 2011). Several studies have shown how African women’s experience and performance in doctoral studies are impacted by several relations within the learning environment such as lack of role models, mentorship, insufficient funding, dual identities and masculine environment (Brown and Watson, 2010, Johnson-Bailey, Velentine, Cervero, and Bowles, 2008). Despite such obstacles, it is important to mention that there are some women, who successfully complete their doctoral studies. This study, therefore, aims to focus on African women who have successfully completed their doctoral studies in South Africa in order to bring forth positive narratives of African women’s success in doctoral education. Using the capabilities approach as the analytical framework, and in-depth interviews with fourteen selected African women doctoral graduates from a South African university, this study examines women’s experiences of accessing, participating and progressing through doctoral programmes in higher education. The research adopts an interpretative model, which results in principles that are necessary for interpreting the actions and behaviours of people, such as agency, opportunities, and beings and doings in seeking to answer the following questions: 1) What capabilities using the capabilities approach enabled African women, doctoral students’ success in higher education? 2) What functionings did African women, doctoral graduates hope for after completion of their doctoral studies? 3) How did African women use their agency to develop capabilities (opportunities and freedoms) for academic success? 4) What conversion factors enabled or constrained African women’s success in their doctoral journeys? / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2021. / Education Management and Policy Studies / PhD / Unrestricted

In Martha Nussbaum’s book Frontiers of Global Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership, she presents the capabilities approach, a new theoretical framework that in her view better responds to the urgent problems of social inequality than existing theories of social justice. This thesis evaluates her descriptive claim by applying the capabilities approach to the French burqa ban and assessing whether the ban is unjust, and if so, what forms of intervention are most appropriate. In doing this, I will argue that Nussbaum’s theory is unsatisfactory unless she extends it to include the obligation to criticize in cases where we are certain that an injustice is being committed.

<p>This thesis explores the possibility of formulating an intermediate approach towards global justice. The desired approach should be intermediate in the sense that it is located in the normative space between the two rather exterme philosophical positions of cosmopolitanism and liberal nationalism for reasons explained in the thesis. As it turns out in the argumentation within this thesis it is an appropriate identification of the facts that can be thought morally relevant in the context of global justice which is of crucial importance for achieving this task. This is the case since such morally relevant facts, as will be shown, are decisive not only for making definite sense of the ideals at stake with regard to the issues of global inequality and absolute poverty. They furthermore also are essential for determining normatively appropriate and empirically effective obligations for working towards a more just world.</p>

This thesis explores the possibility of formulating an intermediate approach towards global justice. The desired approach should be intermediate in the sense that it is located in the normative space between the two rather exterme philosophical positions of cosmopolitanism and liberal nationalism for reasons explained in the thesis. As it turns out in the argumentation within this thesis it is an appropriate identification of the facts that can be thought morally relevant in the context of global justice which is of crucial importance for achieving this task. This is the case since such morally relevant facts, as will be shown, are decisive not only for making definite sense of the ideals at stake with regard to the issues of global inequality and absolute poverty. They furthermore also are essential for determining normatively appropriate and empirically effective obligations for working towards a more just world.

Virginity Testing, a traditional Zulu pre-nuptial custom that determines the worth of a bride, has been resurrected in communities in KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa as a response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The practice takes place during large community festivals when young girls have their genitals physically examined to determine whether they are virgins and results are made public. Supporters of the tradition claim that in fostering a value of chastity among its youth, it encourages abstinence from sexual intercourse which leads to a lower HIV infection rate and prevents the disease from spreading. Human rights activists disagree; Rather than slowing the spread of a disease, they argue, the practice instead endangers girls. Those who fail are often shunned and turn to prostitution, while those who pass may be exposed as potential targets for rape (due to a myth that says intercourse with a virgin cures HIV/AIDS). Despite a ban on the practice in 2005, the testing festivals continue, and are described by supporters as an important part of the preservation of Zulu culture. This thesis examines the ways in which human rights may be re-negotiated for young girls in Zulu communities while maintaining a respect for local culture. It moves beyond the traditional debate between relativism and universalism in order to propose solutions to rights violations in culturally diverse contexts by exploring ideas of inclusive human rights and capabilities theories.

Virginity Testing, a traditional Zulu pre-nuptial custom that determines the worth of a bride, has been resurrected in communities in KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa as a response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The practice takes place during large community festivals when young girls have their genitals physically examined to determine whether they are virgins and results are made public. Supporters of the tradition claim that in fostering a value of chastity among its youth, it encourages abstinence from sexual intercourse which leads to a lower HIV infection rate and prevents the disease from spreading. Human rights activists disagree; Rather than slowing the spread of a disease, they argue, the practice instead endangers girls. Those who fail are often shunned and turn to prostitution, while those who pass may be exposed as potential targets for rape (due to a myth that says intercourse with a virgin cures HIV/AIDS). Despite a ban on the practice in 2005, the testing festivals continue, and are described by supporters as an important part of the preservation of Zulu culture. This thesis examines the ways in which human rights may be re-negotiated for young girls in Zulu communities while maintaining a respect for local culture. It moves beyond the traditional debate between relativism and universalism in order to propose solutions to rights violations in culturally diverse contexts by exploring ideas of inclusive human rights and capabilities theories.

The Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development is expected to result in the launching of a process to devise a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2015. Whilst indicators are perceived to be a good vehicle of monitoring progress, currently there is no universally agreed method of measuring sustainable development. This thesis addresses this issue through assessing whether the capabilities approach can be adopted for a global framework in measuring sustainable development. In order to determine this, both theoretical and practical implications will have to be understood. The former is addressed through reviewing the compatibility between the key concepts of sustainable development and the capabilities approach. The latter is addressed through obtaining empirical evidence on the key drivers in selecting indicators via focus group discussions and a quantitative survey with key individuals involved in the Sustainable Development Indicators (SDIs) project in Malaysia. It was found that a weak conceptual basis can be attributed as the major challenge for establishing global sustainable development indicators. Whilst recognising that a range of mechanisms are required for operationalization, it was concluded that the capabilities approach provides a sound conceptual basis, framed on the basis of justice and equity in expanding and sustaining the capabilities of current and future generations to pursue their needs.

More than half of all the girls in India today are married before the age of 18. This derives from gender inequality and discrimination, which has lead to several health issues. At the same time, the Indian state has passed legislation prohibiting the practice of child marriage and made it possible for girls to void their marriages. The law gives the girls more empowerment even if they are minor, which poses some further issues related to age, consent and substantial freedom. The contradiction in the law’s implementation depends on a disparity between the state and customary laws as well as modern versus traditional norms. With the help of Martha Nussbaum’s Capabilities approach, this study tries to understand the law prohibiting child marriage in India and its restrictions, focusing on girl child empowerment and individual choice. The findings show the limitations in the law in regards to parental consent and children’s rights against their parents. The reason why theories like ours, promoting universal norms should be justified, is contingent on the belief that child marriages are harmful to girls’ health. This is furthermore knowledge that should be taught through education for children and adults, which then might alter the gender inequalities developed within the realms of social customs.