International studies of part-time employment have shown that most part-time workers are women, and specifically married women (Rosenfeld and Birkelund 1995; Caputo and Cianni 2001). The ability to work part-time enables women who have household commitments, such as caring for children, to maintain an attachment to the labour force and to preserve job skills while also undertaking household labour (Long and Jones 1981; Rosenfeld and Birkelund 1995). In many countries, therefore, the growth in part-time employment has constituted an important component of the increase in women’s work. However, part-time jobs are often considered to be poorly remunerated, offering little or no security, limited opportunities for career advancement and few (if any) benefits (Rosenfeld and Birkelund 1995; Rodgers 2004; Hirsch 2005; Bardasi and Gornick 2008). Although empirical research on South Africa’s labour markets has expanded significantly over the post-apartheid period, particularly with the introduction of nationally representative household surveys that capture individual employment data, little is known about the characteristics of South African part-time workers, or about the nature of the work these individuals perform. Using data from a selection of South Africa’s nationally representative household surveys, namely the October Household Surveys, the Labour Force Surveys and the Labour Force Survey Panel, this thesis aims to redress this lacuna. The thesis comprises four empirical chapters. The first chapter outlines the definition of part-time employment adopted throughout the study, and it presents gendered trends in part-time employment in South Africa from 1995 to 2006. The descriptive analysis shows that most part-time workers in South Africa are women, and further, that the growth in female part-time employment has been an important part of the feminisation of the labour force in South Africa. The second chapter compares part-time and full-time wage (salaried) employment. The main analytical question addressed in this chapter is whether women are penalised for working part-time. Although hourly wages in part-time employment are, on average, lower than in full-time employment, the study demonstrates that after controlling for differences in observable and unobservable characteristics, women in part-time employment receive a wage premium. The third chapter explores heterogeneity among part-time wage workers, distinguishing between women who choose to work part-time and women who report wanting to work longer hours. Key findings of this chapter are that a wage premium persists for women both in voluntary and in involuntary part-time work; but that involuntary part-time workers have a stronger labour force attachment than voluntary part-time workers. The fourth chapter uses the distinction between part-time and full-time employment to investigate changes in the gender wage gap in employment. The results show that the total gender gap in wages among part-time and full-time workers has fallen over the years, with the greatest reduction visible for those working part-time. The final chapter summarises the main findings of the thesis and it outlines avenues for further research on part-time employment in South Africa. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2009. / UKZN Economics department; Economic Research South Africa; UKZN Doctoral Scholarship Award

Empowerment is the degree of flexibility and freedom provided to individuals to make decisions in relation to their work. Individuals tend to respond more creatively when given additional responsibilities and are encouraged to contribute to and attain satisfaction from their work and its environment. Women in South Africa have unfortunately found it difficult to take advantage of this flexibility and freedom due to the countries past policies and laws. They have to face various barriers that restrict them from advancing in their careers and in the workplace, particularly at senior management levels. One of these barriers is to balance work and family life. The government has legislated policies and procedures for the empowerment of women in the workplace. Companies are required to use these policies and procedures to promote women to senior levels of management. The aim of the study is to determine whether women in South Africa are being empowered in the workplace and the impact of organisational practices on their progression. This study used a quantitative research design and data was collected using an electronic questionnaire in the Greater Durban Area using a non-probability sample. There were 129 respondents who responded to the electronic questionnaire of which only 121 were valid responses. The study showed that women were not accepted in a managerial role yet respondents preferred female managers due to their influence in the workplace. Barriers which affected women in acquiring higher positions in their companies were identified. The findings indicate that organisations which have policies and procedures in place invest in developing female leaders and managers. Based on the research findings it is recommended that organisations need to be more supportive of women with families. In this way they could retain the best. In addition, organisations need to ensure that for empowerment of women to materialise; power sharing, skills development and positive relationships should be a part of their organisations’ empowerment strategy. Government may need to change certain policies and procedures to encourage the promotion of women in the workplace. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2011.

African women in the past were not given equal opportunities with men in planning and construction of their houses. As a result there is no clear indicative level of participation of women during the planning and construction of their houses. The People’s Housing Process is one of the approaches adopted by government and community organizations to encourage community participation in their housing projects but; women’s involvement is still not clear. Therefore this research is aiming to understand the activities performed by women, their roles in related activities, and the methods that they used to get involved in the planning and construction of their houses. A Qualitative research has been conducted to identify the level of women’s engagement in planning and construction of their houses in the People’s Housing Process (PHP) project at Piesang River. The findings of the study revealed that the Urban Poor Fund (UPF) savings system, together with the government subsidy for housing, empowered women to participate in planning and construction of their houses at Piesang River. Moreover; the findings indicated that town planning procedures and bylaws were not properly applied during project planning and implementation. In conclusion this dissertation recommends the formation of Municipal Community Partnership (MCP) for Piesang River FedUP community and EThekwini municipality, in which both stakeholders work together to address the way forward for the project in preference to continuing blaming each other for the shortfalls. / M.T.R.P. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2013.

Urbanisation is an inevitable process that creates opportunities for economic growth and development, however, it can come at the cost of urban poverty and environmental degradation - two of the greatest challenges facing policy-makers. The global failure to develop in a sustainable manner has led to the adoption of green economy in the context of poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Given South Africa’s high rates of urbanisation, the nation’s government, in partnership with civil society and the private sector, is taking steps to green its economy, with the transition ranging from large-scale solar installation projects to small-scale grassroots level projects where the green jobs are created for the poor, predominantly women, by paying them for environmental services. This research investigates how urban poor women in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, under the management of a local environmental non-governmental organisation (ENGO), Wildlands Conservation Trust (WCT), are using the green economy concept to generate income and contribute to environmental sustainability. Using a case study approach, three areas were selected in which semi-structured questionnaires were administered to women who are involved in a ‘green-preneurship’ initiative, consisting of three project nodes, namely, waste-, tree-, and food-preneurship. The women registered under the project collect and segregate waste for sale to the ENGO (waste-preneurs), while others grow indigenous trees for sale to the ENGO (tree-preneurs), and some grow food crops for subsistence and sale of any excess to community members (food-preneurs). The project is reducing poverty levels and empowering the women both economically and socially. Furthermore, while the primary incentive for participating in the green economy initiative was found to be financial, the project has helped to raise environmental awareness and is a mechanism through which women can contribute to environmental sustainability. Their voluntary participation in the project indicates the importance of urban poor women to green economy. This role stems from understanding the importance of the environment to their livelihood, and in this regard, green economy can be said to be addressing the social and environmental externalities of urbanisation, with women at the forefront. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.

This thesis analyses the relation between the phenomenon of job scarcity and discrimination against women in the labour market. Job scarcity, that is the inadequate quantity of available jobs relative to the number of persons able to hold them, which is a chronic problem, has played an important role in the development of discrimination. The hypothesis of the thesis is that a positive relation exists between discrimination against women and job scarcity: as employment opportunities deteriorate discrimination intensifies. / The thesis verifies the discriminatory effects of job scarcity by examining the process of job allocation in the economy. An historical study covering the end of the last century to the crisis of the 1930's is the vehicle used to examine the employment rationing mechanisms that consolidated discriminatory practices.

The purpose of this dissertation is to establish the extent to which women's membership in self-help groups and their involvement in various activities of these groups, with particular reference to Micro Credit programs, impacted their socio-economic empowerment. The objective is to study the socio-economic empowerment impact factors (evidences) in women members of micro-credit self-help groups in rural India upon the self, the family and the community. / Data selected for analyses was based on an operational model of empowerment that encompassed indicators of purported empowerment at the personal, family and community levels. The working hypotheses in quantitative analyses are that there are significant differences in income, savings, assets, expenditure, basic amenities, as well as attitudinal and behavioral changes in the rural women before and after their group membership. / The qualitative interviews helped to assess the life conditions of the women as the process of empowerment before and after their participation in self-help group micro-credit program. The qualitative interviews were to corroborate the veracity of reported progress from the survey to shed some light on the specific factors that contributed to their empowerment in line with their present quality of life at personal, family and community levels. Hence, the impact of the program is measured as the difference in the magnitude of a given parameter between the pre-and post-SHG situations by comparing the life condition of members before joining the self-help group to their condition three years after joining.

This research examines the changing relationships of gender, place and identity wrought by women's entrance into Montreal's financial service sector between 1900 and 1930. I seek to answer two related questions. First, what kinds of identities were enabled in the new spaces created by the feminization of clerical work? In particular, how was gender, sexual, and ethno-linguistic difference constructed within the mixed-sex clerical workspace? Second, what effect did women's entrance into corporate workspaces in the financial district have on prevailing notions about gender, class and urban space? How did this change in labour markets affect representations of women in public more generally? / I make three arguments about women's entrance into Montreal's white-collar workforce. First, I argue that this process created a new kind of "contact zone" within and beyond the white-collar workplace. In these spaces, people came together across cleaves of difference, and ideas about nationalism, class, religion, and language were negotiated in new ways. Secondly, I argue that women's entrance into this sector of the labour market was marked by contradiction. On the one hand, women were held responsible for bringing sexuality into the white-collar workplace, and were sexualized within corporate culture. On the other hand, ideas about "respectability" defined through sexual propriety and corporeal restraint were central to the corporate image as well as media representations of female clerical workers. Finally, I argue that the feminization of clerical work re-mapped relations of gender, class and space. In the highly modernized offices of the financial district, ideas about public womanhood competed. I argue that this change in labour helped legitimize representations of modern womanhood which were consummately urban in nature.

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