M.A. / Spousal abuse has been a practiced for decades across many cultures. According to the Domestic Violence Act, 1998 of S.A. spousal abuse consists of physical, sexual, emotional verbal psychological and economic abuse as well as various forms of intimidation by a spouse. Abuse against women and children seems to be entrenched in gender power equalities and hierarchical gender relations prevalent in society. The advent of feminism, that deals with issues of inequality between the genders, in the nineteenth century highlighted the problem of spousal abuse and challenged cultural and patriarchal notions of women. In South Africa spousal abuse is alarmingly prevalent and deeply ingrained within our society and is often viewed as a normative rather than a deviant practice. The legacy of political repression, a declining economy and diminishing job opportunities, insufficient educational opportunities and racial and ethnic divisions, has for decades generated deep rooted divisions in our society. Women in particular are the historically the victims of political and economic exclusion and have suffered the ravages of patriarchy, sexism and discriminatory practices that have kept them outside of social, political and economic power structures. In this process, abuse against women has been subtly sanctioned by society. This reflects the extent to which exploitation and abuse, in varying forms, have come to pervade the very foundations of our society and have become a socially sanctioned instrument for resolving conflict and promoting change. Because of the continued cultural sanctioning of spousal abuse it is often underreported, making statistics on the subject extremely difficult to obtain. The present study explored the women’s endogenous factors that contributed to the maintenance of their abusive spousal relationship. In essence these factors refer to the thoughts, feelings and beliefs which are significant in the experience of being in an abusive relationship. The study further looked at how these endogenous factors entrap women in abusive relationships. In order to contextualise the experience of being in an abusive spousal relationship the literature review (which makes up the first four chapters 2 of this study) concentrated on several different areas. The first chapter addresses the aims and motivations of the present study. The second chapter deals with established theories and thoughts about the existence of spousal abuse in relationships. Theoretical explanations highlighting some of the endogenous maintaining factors in an abusive spousal relationship are presented. These include psychodynamic theories, systems theory, feminism, eco-systemic approach, social constructionism and postmodernism. The third chapter deals with women’s responses to spousal abuse. The fourth chapter deals with the interaction between women’s socialisation and their response to spousal abuse. It would seem that abused woman find themselves in varying contradictory interactional contexts. Their spouse represents the person who loves them the most, yet he hurts them the most too. Their calls for support by informing others are seen as dishonouring their families yet when they decide to keep the abuse quiet they are condemned. These paradoxes confront abused women when they are in need of help, support and understanding. These cultural and societal norms are confusing and inconsistent, together with various emotions, serve to paralyse the abused women and limit their choices.

A la fin du XIXe siècle, trois sociétés françaises de la Croix-Rouge apparaissent. Ces associations humanitaires sont auxiliaires du Service de Santé des armées. Les hommes et les femmes bénévoles soignent les soldats français blessés. Les femmes bénévoles sont infirmières, conductrices automobiles, etc. Peu à peu, elles s'imposent et deviennent essentielle dans le fonctionnement général des Croix-Rouges. Aux yeux des hauts gradés militaires, des médecins et des hommes des Croix-Rouges, elles se rendent indispensables par leurs zèles, leurs dévouements, leurs sacrifices notamment lors de la guerre entre la France de Napoléon III et la Prusse (1870-1871), pour la première fois véritablement pendant la Grande Guerre (1914-1918) et la Seconde Guerre mondiale (1939-1945). En temps de paix, les femmes sont polyvalentes. Elles collectent des fonds, tissent des réseaux avec les populations locales, les milieux économiques et politiques. Elles recrutent de nouvelles bénévoles pour les former ensuite au métier d'infirmière. Ces femmes appartiennent aux milieux aisés de la noblesse et de la bourgeoisie. Elles remplacent leurs homologues masculins quand ils sont en sous-effectifs à certaines fonctions et selon les périodes. Elles permettent aux Croix-Rouges de continuer à assurer leurs missions en faveur des combattants blessés, des victimes d'épidémies et catastrophes naturelles. Les femmes engagées dans les Croix-Rouges ont un destin extraordinaire. / At the end of the nineteenth century, three French companies of the Red Cross appear. These humanitarian organizations are auxiliaries of the Health Service of the Armed. Men and women volunteers care for the wounded French soldiers. Volunteers are women nurses, auto conductive, etc. Gradually they become necessary and essential in the overall functioning of the Red Cross. In the eyes of senior military officers, doctors and men of the Red Cross, they make themselves indispensable by their zeals, their devotion, their sacrifices particularly during the war between France and Napoleon III of Prussia (1870-1871), for the first time really in the Great War (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945). In peacetime, women are versatile. They raise funds, weave networks with local populations, economic and political circles. They recruit new volunteers for the next train as a nurse. These women belong to the upper classes of the nobility and bourgeoisie. They replace their male counterparts when they are understaffed in certain functions and over time. They allow the Red Cross to continue to assurer their missions for the wounded fighters, victims of natural disasters and epidemics. Women involved in the Red Cross have an extraordinary destiny.

M.A. / Violence in South Africa has reached epidemic proportions. Violence against women is one area in which this social undercurrent continuously plays itself out. People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA) and Rape Crisis, Cape Town (RCCT) are two organizations that use lay counsellors to focus specifically on counselling women who have endured rape and domestic violence. Burnout is widely recognized as a consequence of this helping profession. This quantitative study comprised of 26 female counsellors from POWA and RCCT, who completed questionnaires that included demographic data, the Maslach Burnout Inventory to measure levels of burnout and personal accomplishment, and the COPE that measures different coping styles. The statistical analysis used was Pearson's correlation t-tests and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Results showed that this small sample group do not feel burned out, but rather have a sense of personal accomplishment. The counsellors listed eleven of the fourteen coping styles suggested as useful, and five of these appeared significantly so. Certain differences in coping techniques became apparent when analysed according to demographic data. Limitations of the study and recommendations for future research are also discussed.

No description available.

This thesis focuses on Aboriginal women as survivors of intimate violence, and as participants in debates about justice and rights in the academic, political and legal spheres. While several federal and provincial reports have documented the adverse impact of the dominant criminal justice system on Aboriginal peoples, most of the reports fail to consider the impact of the dominant system, and of reform initiatives on Aboriginal women, who engage with such systems primarily as survivors of violence. Although feminist legal scholars and activists have focused on survivors of violence in critiquing the dominant justice system, such discourses have also tended to ignore the needs and concerns of Aboriginal women in recommending reforms to the dominant system, as well as in theorizing the causes and sites of intimate violence. Using feminist methods, I explore how the writings of Aboriginal women have begun to fill these gaps. In focusing on gender and racial oppression, Aboriginal women have complicated theories on and reforms around intimate violence, and have demanded that they be included in the shaping of public institutions in both the Canadian legal system, and in the context of Aboriginal self-government. While Aboriginal women largely support the creation of Aboriginal justice systems, some have expressed concerns about the willingness of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal leaders to include women in the process of creating, implementing and operating such systems. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as well as Aboriginal rights under the Constitution Act, 1982 have been advocated as means of achieving Aboriginal women's participation in this context. This gives rise to a number of fundamental questions which I examine in my thesis. What is the historical basis for the participation of Aboriginal women in the political process, and for survivors of violence in both the dominant and Aboriginal justice systems? What is the significance of the absence of Aboriginal women from dominant discourses on justice and intimate violence? Might a broader level of participation for survivors of violence, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, ameliorate the problematic aspects of the dominant justice system? Does the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms provide a vehicle for survivors of violence who seek a greater level of protection and participation in the dominant justice system? Can the Charter, or Aboriginal rights under the Canadian constitution, assist Aboriginal women in establishing a right of participation in the processes leading to the creation of Aboriginal justice systems, and their participation in such systems once they have been created? What are the limitations of rights discourse in this context? My analysis suggests that the Supreme Court of Canada's conservative approach to rights, as well as more fundamental limitations in rights discourse, make constitutional litigation within the dominant system a sometimes necessary, but not ideal strategy for Aboriginal women in defining their involvement in the political and justice arenas. On the other hand, there is potential for rights discourse to bear more fruit once Aboriginal decision making fora are in place, in keeping with holistic approaches to interpretation, and the traditional roles of Aboriginal women and survivors of violence in justice and in the community. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate

The purpose of this preliminary and exploratory research project was to identify possible links between insecure male attachment patterns and wife assault. Attachment theory suggests that the quality of early interpersonal relationships has a profound effect on the psychological, emotional and social development of the individual. Insecure attachment has been found to be associated with a number of relationship problems and these interpersonal problems have also been identified with men who assault their wives. Based on this similarity, the insecure attachment paradigm may offer a useful theoretical orientation for understanding the conflict behaviours of men who assault their wives. The sample of fifty adult men who had assaulted their female partners was drawn from two therapy groups. In this preliminary and exploratory study, a number of measures were used to assess each man's mental representation of childhood attachment and his adult intimate attachment patterns, intimate conflict tactics and interpersonal jealousy and anger problems. The associations between insecure preoccupied, dismissing, and fearful attachment pattern ratings and male conflict tactic and relationship problems were then analyzed. The findings indicated that men who assault their wives had a high proportion of insecure adult intimate attachment patterns. These assaultive men were also found to be predominantly insecure in both their mental representations of childhood attachment and adult intimate attachment pattern ratings, with the greatest continuity occurring with the insecure preoccupied and fearful pattern ratings. Three patterns of relationship problems corresponding to the three insecure adult intimate attachment pattern rating were found. Preoccupied attachment pattern ratings were positively correlated with interpersonal jealousy scores and the reported use of the reasoning, verbal/symbolic abuse, physical abuse and severe physical abuse conflict tactics. Dismissing attachment pattern ratings were positively correlated with interpersonal anger scores and negatively correlated with the reasoning, verbal, physical and severe physical abuse conflict tactics. Fearful attachment pattern ratings were similar to the dismissing pattern in the positive correlation with interpersonal anger scores. The importance of considering insecure adult intimate attachment pattern ratings when providing group therapy to men who assault their wives was considered. Men with high insecure dismissing adult intimate attachment pattern ratings seem to require a distinctly different therapeutic approach than those with high insecure preoccupied adult intimate attachment pattern ratings and ideas in this regard are discussed. / Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies / Graduate

M.A. / Primary malignant brain tumours (PMBTs) are devastating diagnoses that result in the swift deterioration of neurological functioning. The life expectancy of the patient from the time of diagnosis is between three and 12 months. This illness trajectory is characterised by loss of functional abilities such as walking, talking and writing; increasing cognitive impairments such as loss of executive functioning, speech difficulties and problems with comprehension; and the presence of neuropsychiatric symptoms such as depression, anxiety, apathy and aggression. Since treatment is primarily palliative rather than curative, family members and specifically spouses are required to care for PMBT patients in the home setting. The daily challenges of caring for a spouse with a PMBT have a significant impact on the emotional functioning of the caregiver. Although other studies have examined the experiences of various family members of PMBT patients, this research is the first phenomenological study, which investigates the emotional experiences in particular, with a focus on female spouses of PMBT patients. Other studies have also failed to describe the experience of caregivers throughout the entire course of the illness trajectory, that is, from pre-diagnostic symptoms, until the time of death. Therefore, this study attempts to enter the life-world of female spouses of PMBT patients in order to describe their emotional experiences from the time that prediagnostic symptoms manifested, throughout the disease trajectory, and until the death of the patient. A descriptive phenomenological method of enquiry was chosen to achieve this end. Three female spouses of PMBT patients were sourced and interviewed for the purposes of this study. Their husbands had passed away from a PMBT approximately three years prior. Open-ended interviews were conducted in order to elicit their emotional experiences during their husbands’ illness trajectory. The interviews were transcribed verbatim with the inclusion of non-verbal cues where relevant. This data was then analysed using a sequential phenomenological approach. Common themes were integrated to form the essential structure of a female spouse’s emotional experience of her husband’s PMBT illness. These themes were also discussed in conjunction with the literature review to support their validity. The themes that emerged fell within four distinct time periods. The period before diagnosis, at diagnosis, during the course of the illness and at the time of death. Themes that emerged during the research interview were found to be pertinent and were also discussed.

Violence against women, especially wife abuse, is a social problem that exists in almost every country in the world. China is no exception. Statistics show that wife abuse in present-day China is prevalent and serious. However, this social problem was largely invisible until the early 1990s. At present, it is still not recognized at the official level and there has been no systematic in-depth research on it to date. North American feminists have long realized the seriousness of this issue and have since done a great deal of research with respect to the causes, prevalence and control of wife abuse. Their perspectives reflect the social reality in North American countries, but are they useful for other countries? This thesis tries to explore a feminist approach to the analysis of violence against women in the home in China's context, especially the lack of political will, which inevitably results in the failure of the criminal justice system to enforce the laws against wife abuse. The thesis tries to prove that violence against women in the home is a serious social problem in China that must be recognized and dealt with effectively. In order to control it, a sincere political commitment to deal with the problem is of paramount importance. The joint efforts of all social sectors, the criminal justice system in particular, are vital to guarantee gender equality in the private sphere. The thesis considers western feminist theories with respect to violence against women in the home as a gendered issue and the impact of feminist perspectives on controlling wife battery in western countries; investigates the dimensions and causes of wife abuse in China, demonstrating that this abuse is an unrecognized but serious social problem in China; explores the existing legislative protection of crime victims in China; analyzes the existing problems with the criminal justice system with respect to providing assistance to battered wives; discusses various reasons why the criminal justice system fails battered women in China, including the factors of state policy, women's federations, patriarchal ideology, mass media and social indifference, and gives suggestions on how to prevent and control spousal assault. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The main goal of this study was to develop assessment and intervention guidelines that will provide practitioners with a framework to develop and implement batterer intervention programmes. The development of batterer intervention programmes must be informed by risk-based assessment and the study has identified this as a priority. This priority was informed by the popular notions that batterer intervention by itself, is futile and that intervention efforts were misdirected and useless. The author was of the opinion that if specific risk markers were identified, the batterer intervention efforts could be a tool to influence the values, beliefs and dangerous behaviours of abusive men. This study attempted to formally identify those risk factors that should be considered with batterers so that appropriate guidelines for assessment and intervention could result. / South Africa

In March 2012, the Durban High Court found three accused guilty of murder on two of the accused’s parents. The Lotter case was covered extensively by the media, because of its unusual story: The two Lotter siblings claimed that they were brainwashed by the sister’s boyfriend as he had made them believe that he was the third son of God. As the siblings’ defences they decided to use the controversial defence of non-pathological criminal incapacity. This dissertation gives an extensive outline of case law that has covered this defence. While attempting to define this defence, the courts have limited its uses to such an extent, that it appears to be abolished. Viewpoints of academic authors have been considered to assist the reader in defining new borders for this defence. Redefinition is necessary in light of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. Concepts such as ‘coercive persuasion’ are explained in terms of psychological, psychiatric and legal backgrounds. Other countries have taken measures to restrict the use of coercive persuasion, specifically religious coercive persuasion. We therefore compare South Africa’s lack of legislation to those countries that have adopted anti-coercive persuasion legislation as the Constitution permits that foreign law may be taken into account when interpreting and developing the law. There is also a discussion on the role of expert evidence in a South African court, specifically the psychologist, as well as discussion on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the Battered Partner/Spouse/ Wife syndrome in context of coercive persuasion. Coercive persuasion is viewed in terms of the defence of non-pathological criminal incapacity – as a prevailing factor that discredits the second (conative) leg of the capacity test: The ability to act in accordance with right and wrong. Defences such as automatism and private defence are also considered in context of coercive persuasion. By analysing the case of Cézanne Visser along with the other cases that considered the defence of non-pathological criminal incapacity, one is able to view that the Lotter case is not the first case that mentions a person coercively persuaded by her partner to commit crimes. After the discussion of the Lotter case (the facts and judgment are covered in detail), similarities are drawn between the two women that were coercively persuaded by their partners. An alternative judgment and sentence reveals that the Lotter case had an opportunity to develop the defence, in context of coercive persuasion, and in light of the Constitution, but failed to do so. The recommendations that follow are based on the defective dialogue that occurs between psychologists and psychiatrists, the unnecessary absence of expert evidence in court, the transformation of the defence of non-pathological criminal incapacity, a development of the term ‘coercive persuasion’ for purposes of the court when considering cases that deals with religious practices and the lack of legislative protection for women who murder their abusive husbands. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Public Law / unrestricted