<p>This study explored the perceptions of black South African women residing in Khayelitsha, Site B, about thinness, HIV./AIDS and body image. Obesity is a major public health problem in developed as well as developing countries. The HIV/AIDS epidemic has been escalating in Sub-Saharan Africa and has been said to be the leading cause of death in South Africa.</p>

No abstract available. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.

Dissertation submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Master's Degree in Technology: Education (Management), Technikon Natal, 2000. / This research focused on an investigation into the problems female heads of department experienced with reference to the primary schools in the Isipingo area. For a successful and a balanced education on a global basis, women must be seen to be equally capable of becoming leaders of educational institutions. The purpose of this research was to ascertain how educators react to the leadership of female heads of department in primary schools. More specifically, the objective of this research was to investigate the problems that heads of department experience, mainly because they were women. A literature survey of the functions of the head of department enabled the researcher to focus on the areas that the head of department had to give her attention to in order to develop an effective team. Focus was on organizational, administrative and professional matters determining the level of similarities between the English, American and South African education systems. Research was conducted by means of a questionnaire applied to a representative sample of educators from all levels of the hierarchy of educators. The qualitative method provided a systematic investigation of the topic. The research sought to understand behaviour from the 'action' point of view where the objective was to discover the specific experiences of the respondents. / M

The study sought to explore and describe the breastfeeding practices of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) positive postnatal clients’ non-commitment to exclusive breastfeeding in George Mukhari Hospital, South Africa. A non-experimental quantitative design was used. Inferences drawn from the study were that HIV positive clients that opted for exclusive breastfeeding did not commit for fear of transmission of HIV to the baby and exclusive breastfeeding was stopped before the recommended 6 months. Most of the respondents’ partners did not come for counselling. There was lack of emotional support by staff after testing. Health education and emotional support of HIV positive clients has to be intensified. / Health Studies / M. A. (Health Studies)

Women are more at risk of experiencing violence involving people at home or close acquaintances, than from virtual strangers and outsiders. Domestic violence affects as many as one in two women in South Africa. Most women may keep secret abusive relationships and this might reside in a deep-seated fear of further abuse or as be frowned upon by a community that endorses social taboos which prohibit speaking about or even implying the reality of incidents of domestic violence. This phenomenological study investigates the actual experiences of women staying in physically abusive relationships. In this study a qualitative approach, involving thorough research, are presentation has been adopted in order to discuss, in a meaningful manner, the suffering of women who have experienced physically abusive relationships. The participants in the study include eight women who have been involved and suffered physically abusive relationship and these, living in Pretoria and suburbs, comprise an age category ranging from between twenty five to fifty. Data gathered and utilised has been accumulated by means of semi-structured open ended interviews. Hermeneutic phenomenological analysis was used to analyse and come to a conclusion regarding the data obtainable. The findings of the study have highlighted the role played by power and control, gender inequality and patriarchy experienced by women involved in these intimate relationships. The study further revealed the complexities surrounding the reasons and motives contributing to women staying in and suffering physically abusive relationships / Psychology / M. A. (Psychology: Research consultation)

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of the Arts (Media Studies) in the Faculty of Humanities University of the Witwatersrand, March, 2017 / Many young black aspirational South African women are involved in the construction of their identities, and their ideal selves, through their self-display on Instagram. Within the framework of certain hegemonic structures, these women are seen exercising their ‘freedom’ within a post-feminist setting, as neoliberal citizens, and thus striving for a sense of empowerment from this engagement. This project explores the self-display of 10 of these young women that have each accumulated more than 10,000 followers on Instagram. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with each of them, and their Instagram images were analysed, in order to find out how their online performances relate to consumption and global celebrity culture, and how these ideologies are depicted in their images. They draw inspiration from certain black female celebrities such as Beyoncé and Rihanna, and their emulation of these celebrities is used in their identity construction. They do this by displaying a lifestyle of glamorous consumption by incorporating certain exclusive brands and fashionable items into their online presentation. Additionally, they modify and model themselves to fit a specific beauty ideal, which is characterized by long straight hair, fair skin and a curvaceous body. By doing all of this, these young women are, by their own definition attaining a level of ‘success’, and achieve the status of ‘Insta-Celeb’ by the Instagram community. The ideological frameworks on which this construction is built, involves a collective imperative to be liked and accepted by their online followers, the desire for status, and the contradictory creation of a faux idea of female empowerment that is, in reality, not actually as free as it seems. / XL2018

Thesis (Ph.D. (Social Work)) --University of Limpopo, 2012 / Refer to document / Financial Aid of the University of Limpopo

South African women of different ethnicity and background, having lived under apartheid, are now challenged by the freedoms expressed in the Bill of Rights and the new Constitution. This study, identifying the connections between gender, race, class and social relations, incorporates an ethnographic methodology and a cultural studies perspective in the reception analysis of thirteen multicultural focus groups. In the analysis of their response to two locally produced situation comedies, Suburban Bliss and Going Up III, the effort to determine existing cultural barriers is made, examining laughter as a benchmark for the comprehension by women from different backgrounds. The theoretical framework for the research evaluates the extent to which the writers, producers and directors created a text which connects with the multicultural women viewers' reality. Changes affecting the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) in terms of broadcasting policy, are traced, and a brief history of the organization since the inception of broadcasting in South Africa is incorporated. Language policy had ret1ected the overt political ideology of Afrikaner nationalism, consequently the political changes resulting from the 1994 democratic election led to major transformations in language and style of programming to incorporate local content for multicultural audiences. This caused economic hardship for the SABC, as advertising revenue was drastically curtailed. Textual analysis of both Suburban Bliss and Going Up III employed a mix of structural, semiotics, and ideological analysis. Through interviews with the production team it became apparent that SB was based on American sitcom genre, while GU III is a hybrid combination, conceived to meet the perceived needs of the local multilingual multicultural audience. The extent to which the programmes mediate the producer/audience relationship, contributing to the hegemonic process is investigated, as the interpretation of the text can be different in the decoding from that originally intended by the producer or encoder when creating the programme. The situation comedies by depicting in a humorous vein the realities of affirmative action, adult access to pornography, the aspirations of the new black elite, feminine participation in the democratic process, and the rejection of authoritarian censorship from the state or the home indicates the ideological position of the production teams. The responses of the focus groups were examined in terms of their own identity as well as where an historic individuality expands into the collective communities of nations, gender, classes, generations, race and ethnic groups. Identity was perceived as connected but distinct and separate, as any event can affect both individuals and society. The thesis explores the proposition that humour as 'cultural reconcilation' can be effective if people are prepared to alter negative patterns of thinking and social practices. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1998.

No abstract available. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2000.

The Second World War marked the point at which South Africa stood at a crossroads between the segregation which came before it and apartheid that came after. Over the past twenty years social historians have placed greater focus on this particular period of the Second World War in South Africa's history. This thesis takes this research as its starting point but moves beyond their more specific objectives (evident in the research on the war and medical services) to explore the South African experience of race and gender and, to some extent, class during the war and the immediate post-war era. This thesis has accorded this some importance due to the state's attempts, during and after the war, to control and mediate the war experience of its participants as well as the general public. Propaganda and war experience are thus key themes in this dissertation. This thesis argues that the war and the upheaval it wrought allowed for a re-imagining of a new post-war South Africa, however tentatively, that departed from the racial and gendered inequality of the past. This thesis traces the way in which the exodus of white men to the frontlines allowed white women to take up new positions in industry and in the auxiliary services. Similarly for the duration of the war black men — and women - were able to take advantage of the relaxation of influx control laws and the new job opportunities opening up to move in greater numbers to the urban areas. As this thesis has shown, black men were able to take advantage of the opportunity to prove their loyalty by enlisting in the various branches of the Non-European Army Services. This allowed them to work alongside white men and was integral in their demands for equal participation which signified equal citizenship. The way in which the war has been remembered and commemorated as well as the expectations and silences around the potential for liberation which the war symbolised for many South Africans, has been largely unexplored. This was pardy due to the memorialisation of the war taking on a private, personal and hence, hidden aspect. This thesis examines this memorialisation in its broadest sense, particularly as it applies to black men, their families and their communities. The thesis concludes by arguing that, by 1948, the possibilities for a new South Africa had been closed down and would remain so for almost fifty years. The Second World War was relegated to personal memory and public commemoration as the "last good war", a poignant reminder of a vision of equality which was not to be. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Kwazulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.