Doctorat en sciences sociales, politiques et économiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The legal rights of the women of ancient Egypt are discussed in this dissertation. All the different aspects of the legal system were examined in order to conclude whether the ancient Egyptian women indeed had legal rights. An inquiry was therefore conducted into the Egyptian Family Law, the Law of Succession, Property Law, Law of Contract and Criminal Law. The modern classification of the law was used, seeing that no evidence exists to provide us with the ancient Egyptians' classification method. / Ancient Languages and cultures / M.A.

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Rural women‘s land rights in South Africa remain secondary in spite of laws founded on a constitution that promotes gender equality. Patriarchal customary laws prevail and women‘s land rights and use security are inextricably linked to their relationships with their male relatives. Rural women are key producers of agricultural products due to historical and continued male outward migration, which has led to a feminisation of agriculture. Although women farm the land, their land use security is poor and can be further threatened by divorce or widowhood. Given that most vulnerable women are based in rural communal South Africa, how can their land rights be secured under the customary law framework? While the statutory law framework seems to provide a solution, it is less applicable in rural areas where customary law and traditional practices prevail. If statutory law cannot be superimposed on the existing customary law framework, how can women‘s land use be further secured to support their household food security efforts? What kind of framework can be introduced to strengthen women‘s land use security? A study was conducted in rural Limpopo Province to explore this complex and yet important question. A mixed methods approach comprising interview style questionnaires with a mixture of closed and open-ended questions, coupled with focus group discussions and observation was employed. Qualitative data from the focus group discussions and open-ended questions was analysed for common themes using content analysis. Quantitative data was analysed using SPSS to establish descriptive data, frequencies and establish the relationships between variables. Results of the analyses were used for building blocks to develop a land rights framework that is more gender sensitive and secures the rights of the actual land users. Women‘s land rights were largely confirmed to be secondary and land use security was linked to the continued relationship to male relatives through marriage and natural blood lines. From these findings, a gender sensitive framework that enables and improves land-based food security efforts has been proposed. / Thesis (M.Sc.Agric.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.

[Truncated abstract] This thesis examines the social and legal dynamics of support as it operated around women charged before the criminal courts in the eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century metropolis. It considers the nature and implications of the support made available to, or withheld from, female defendants by individuals to whom they were in some way connected. To this end, it explores the nuances of testimony offered by witnesses and defendants in an attempt to better understand the extent and effect of the support that could be negotiated by and from a range of groups, including family members, fellow household residents, neighbours and wider community members. How narratives were framed in either sympathetic or condemnatory terms was indicative of broader social attitudes and expectations regarding women and crime as well as of women's own relationships to households and neighbourhood. To the extent that this thesis aims to interrogate negotiations of support, it adopts legal narratives as a window through which to gain an insight into the social interactions and mediation of interpersonal relationships by eighteenth-century London women. The printed accounts of trials conducted at the Old Bailey and legal documents from the London and Middlesex Sessions records form the basis of the source material that contributed towards this study. These records provide contemporary narratives in which participants described their involvement in the legal system and articulated their relationships to events and to each other. As a result, they are invaluable for the wealth of qualitative detail they contain. These legal documents have also been complemented by other contemporary sources including newspaper reports and printed pamphlet literature. ... This thesis concludes first that neighbours and fellow household residents were usually in the strongest position to affect the outcome of criminal cases, either by offering assistance or disclosing incriminating information. The importance of household and neighbours rather than kin was closely tied to the domestic context in which many female crimes took place, and the 'insider knowledge' that was gained by living in close proximity to one another. However, if and when women retained links to family and kin who lived within travelling distance, they remained an important source of support. Secondly, the thesis identifies the detection and prosecution of crime as a gendered experience; contemporary social expectations about gender influenced both legal processes and the shaping of witness accounts. Thirdly, in its examination of local responses to female crime, the thesis supports the theory that a notable shift in sentiment towards female nature and legal culpability occurred during this period, which in turn affected the support offered to female defendants. Overall, the thesis demonstrates the paramount importance of witness testimony in articulating the circumstances surrounding female crimes, and the complex negotiations of interpersonal relationships which influenced how this evidence would be contextualised as supportive or not when it was delivered.

The legal rights of the women of ancient Egypt are discussed in this dissertation. All the different aspects of the legal system were examined in order to conclude whether the ancient Egyptian women indeed had legal rights. An inquiry was therefore conducted into the Egyptian Family Law, the Law of Succession, Property Law, Law of Contract and Criminal Law. The modern classification of the law was used, seeing that no evidence exists to provide us with the ancient Egyptians' classification method. / Ancient Languages and cultures / M.A.

Because women are predominantly responsible for childcare, men are the primary income earners. Having acquired the marital assets, on divorce the husband would retain them in a marriage out of community of property. The wife would be left deskilled, financially dependent, with little likelihood of receiving spousal maintenance and with no marital assets. In 1984 the Matrimonial Property Act and in 1988 the Matrimonial Property Law Amendment Act introduced a judicial discretion to equitably redistribute marital assets in certain marriages out of community. This dissertation argues that the bases for the limitation of the judicial discretion to women married before a certain date are unsound and that the limitation arguably violates the equality clause of the Constitution. / Law / LL.M.

Text in Afrikaans / In hierdie ondersoek is navorsing gedoen oor die Romeinse huweliksverhouding ten einde vas te stel of die klassieke Romeinse reg die Romeinse vrou se huweliksverhouding beskerm het indien dit deur haar man se wangedrag geskend is. Die navorsing het getoon dat, soos in die Suid-Afrikaanse reg, die Romeinse huweliksverhouding teen die klassieke tydperk 'n consortium omnis vitae met veral morele huwelikspligte was en dat die nie-nakoming van hierdie pligte op wangedrag en skending van die huweliksverhouding neergekom het. Daar is tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat, soos in die moderne reg, ook die Romeinse man die huweliksverhouding kon skend deur wangedrag, beperkte vorme van seksuele wangedrag, iniuria en bigamie. Die klassieke Romeinse reg het egter nie aan die Romeinse vrou direkte regsbeskerming verleen by die man se skending van die huweliksverhouding deur wangedrag nie. Sy het egter wel indirekte regsbeskerming in die vorm van toevlugof afskrikmiddels (soos egskeiding en die dos) geniet. / In this study research has been done on the Roman marital relationship in order to determine whether classical Roman law protected the Roman wife's marital relationship if it had been breached by her husband's misconduct. Research has shown that by the classical period, as in South African law, the Roman marital relationship was a consortium omnis vitae with primarily moral marital duties. Non-compliance with these duties amounted to misconduct and breach of the marital relationship. It was concluded that, as in modern law, the Roman husband too could be in breach of his marital relationship through misconduct, limited forms of sexual misconduct, iniuria and bigamy. However, classical Roman law did not grant the Roman wife any direct legal protection where her husband was in breach of the marital relationship because of misconduct. She nevertheless enjoyed indirect legal protection in the form of deterrents (such as divorce and the dos). / Law / LL.M.

Includes bibliography / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The human security concept challenges the traditional view of state security. The very essence of human security means to respect human rights. The Commission on Human Security did not focus on women as a special area of concern in the 1994 Human Development Report. The report does not recognise that being subject to gender hierarchies increases women’s insecurity and that women experience human security differently from men and shows that the human security concept does not include gender based violence (GBV) because there is no specific attention paid to issues that predominantly pertain to women. This study is conducted from a feminist perspective. It is reflexive research and based on standpoint theory. The data is gathered through analysis of secondary data and primary data, collected through interviews. GBV in South Africa tends to be continuous and the perpetrator is most likely to be a spouse or partner. Studies show that women are seen as being dependent on and weaker than men. Many men view women’s rights legislation as a challenge to the legitimacy of men’s authority over women. Women who try to be more independent in their relationships are regarded as threats and violence against them becomes a way for men to show control. The criminal justice system in South Africa has made progress in protecting women from GBV but myths, stereotypes and social conventions still prevent women from receiving justice. Traditionally, the state regards what happens in the private sphere as outside its responsibility. The public/private dichotomy challenges state regulations and norms which is evident in the case of domestic violence. It is often argued that GBV has remained imperceptible because it takes place in the private sphere. However, this research indicates that due to the socio-economic situation in South Africa, the abuse is often publicly known by those in the immediate environment as people live in informal housing. This research shows that a human security framework that targets GBV has to be developed for those who bear its consequences. When women are not viewed as subjects, issues that mainly affect them remain invisible. It is necessary that analysis of human insecurity starts from the conditions of women’s lives. Many women in South Africa live highly traumatic lives. Fighting GBV requires that we know the victims of GBV and let them decide what they need to feel secure. Creating human security requires that other threats which contribute to GBV, such as poverty, gender stereotypes and prejudice are also addressed. GBV has become an epidemic in South Africa and is a permanent constraint in women’s lives and impacts society as a whole. The security of the state rest on the security of women and as long as the state fails to treat GBV as a serious crime and protect women the state is more likely to use violence on a larger scale against its citizens. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die Menslike Veiligheidskonsept daag die tradisionele siening van staatsveiligheid uit: die kerbetekenis van Menslike Veiligheid is om menseregte te respekteer. Die Kommissie op Menslike Veiligheid het nie op vroue as ‘n spesiale area van kommer gefokus in die Menslike Ontwikkelingsverslag van 1994 nie. Die verslag het daarin gefaal om te erken dat die realiteit van geslags-hiërargieë vroue se insekuriteit verhoog, en dat die ervaring van menslike sekuriteit van mans en vroue verskil. Hierdie navorsing sal toon dat die menslike veiligheidsbegrip nie in staat is om geslags-gebaseerde geweld (GGG) in ag te neem nie, aangesien daar geen spesifieke aandag verleen is aan vraagstukke wat hoofsaaklik op vroue betrekking het nie. Hierdie studie is vanuit 'n feministiese perspektief gedoen. Die navorsing is reflektief en op standpunt-teorie gebaseer. Die data is deur die analise van sekondêre data, asook die gebruik van primêre data i deur middel van onderhoude ingesamel . GGG in Suid-Afrika is geneig om oor ‘n uitgerekte tydperk plaas te vind en die mees waarskynlike oortreders is ‘n eggenoot of lewensmaat. Navorsing toon dat gemeenskappe geneig is om vroue as swakker en afhanlik van mans te sien. Wetgewing op die regte van vroue word deur vele mans as ‘n uidaging van hul legitieme superioriteit, ten op sigte van vroue, gesien. Vroue wat dus onafhanklikheid in hul verhoudings probeer uitoefen, word as bedreigings gesien en geweld word gebruik om hulle “in hul plek te hou”. Die Suid-Afrikaanse kriminele regstelsel het al vordering gemaak in terme van die beskerming van vroue teen GGG, maar mites, stereotipes en sosiale konvensies belemmer steeds die volle gang van die gereg. Die staat het in die verlede die private sfeer as buite sy jurisdiksie gesien. Die openbare/private sfeer digotomie bied uitdagings vir staatsregulering en vir die implementering van regulasies , en dit word veral duidelik in die geval van huishoudelike geweld. Daar word aangevoer dat aangesien GGG in die private sfeer plaasvind, dit onsigbaar bly. Hierdie navorsing het egter bevind dat GGG in die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks dikwels in die openbare gemeenskapsfeer (deur diegene in die onmiddelike omgewing) opgemerk word, omdat baie mense in Suid-Afrika informele nedersettings woon.Hierdie navorsing het verder bevind dat ‘n GGG raamwerk vir menslike veiligheid ontwikkel moet word wat diegene wat die gevolge van GGG dra insluit. Indien vroue nie spesifiek as navorsingssubjekte geag word nie, bly faktore wat hulle spesifiek beïnvloed onsigbaar. Dit is belangrik dat analise van menslike insekuriteit begin om die omstandighede van vrouens se lewens in ag te neem. Vroue in Suid-Afrika leef in hoogs traumatiese omstandighede. In die bestryding van GGG is dit belangrik dat die slagoffers van GGG in ag geneem word en dat dit hulle toelaat om dit duidelik te maak wat hulle onveilig laat voel. Die skep van menslike veiligheid vereis dat bedreigings wat bydra tot GGG, naamlik armoede, geslagstereotipes en vooroordeel , ook aangespreek word. GGG in Suid-Afrika het ‘n epidemie geword, en plaas ‘n permanente beperking op vroue se lewens. Dit het ook ‘n blywende impak op die samelewing as ‘n geheel. Die veiligheid van die staat rus op die veiligheid van vroue. Solank as wat die staat versuim om GGG te bekamp en as ‘n ernstigge misdaad te erken, en vroue nie die beskerming van die staat geniet nie, is daar ‘n hoër moontlikheid vir die gebruik van geweld deur die staat teen sy eie burgers op ‘n groter skaal.