Social Work / M.A. Social Science (Mental Health)

Women in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have a role to play in the development of their country’s political, economical, educational and social goals. Although, social constraints exist for women and work, they presently dominate sectors like education. A qualitative research design was employed to identify barriers, current leadership roles and the participation of national female educators in the decision-making process. Barriers to both job entry and career progression were identified. In particular, married educators with children found difficulties in balancing their roles as care givers and career women. Educational leaders used transformational leadership styles, were considered role-models and contributed to decision-making by providing quality decisions based on their experience and expertise. Strategies to assist women in overcoming barriers are recommended because when women start forming an integral part of the workforce, their empowerment and their input in terms of leadership will be a key factor for the UAE government’s goal of Emiratisation. / Educational Studies / M.Ed.

In contemporary society, work and home represent the two most significant domains in the life of working individuals. South Africa’s socioeconomic, political, and societal circumstances will influence employees’ experiences of work-life balance differently, compared to that of employees in other countries, suggesting that the construction of work-life balance amongst different race and cultural groups may differ. The present study used in-depth qualitative interviews with ten black women and men employed in a customer care environment, to explore their construction of work-life balance. A grounded theory approach was used to analyse the data and identify themes. This study suggests that work-life balance is a unique experience for individuals, which varies over time and in different situations. The study confirmed that attaining work-life balance is a process of balancing ever-changing experiences over time, and in different life stages. The results of this study are also discussed in relation to the relevant literature. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

The need to carry out an analysis of gender issues in development stems from a concern about the persistent inequalities surrounding African rural women. Women assume social and economic roles inside and outside the household but their contribution does not receive due recognition. Having being excluded from crucial decision making processes, their productive roles have been secondary to their reproductive responsibilities. The purpose of this study was to highlight the negative impact imposed by gender oppression on women's economic and social progress. This necessitated an in-depth review of literature that included journals, books, newspaper articles and general publications. The review reflected that women have undisputedly faced social, cultural, economic, political and educational barriers and that simple rhetoric has not done much to alleviate women's subordinate position and dependency on men. Finally a suggested plan- of action followed to provide an axis around which gender issues in development should revolve. / Development Studies / M. Admin. (Development Administration)

In modern South African society, many women have overcome traditional notions of gender by becoming breadwinners in their homes and providing primary financial support for their families. Employing a Phenomenological Feminist viewpoint, this dissertation contextualises the meaning that South African female breadwinners (FBW) ascribe to their experiences within their lived environment, utilising data collected from in-depth, unstructured interviews with FBW from the Mpumalanga and Gauteng provinces. While taking into consideration their intersectional experiences of gender, race, as well as cultural and traditional societal pressures, this study represents these womens’ voices in order to understand how they make meaning of and negotiate their spaces and roles as breadwinners. In the course of interviews and analysis, the realities faced by FBW revealed experiences, individual and communal, shared and unique, which expose archaic divisions of gender within our society, which have been hiding behind constructions of reform advocating equality among the sexes. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Thesis (MBA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / This research report is an autoethnographic narrative that gives a first-hand account of life as experienced by a young Black South African woman living in post-apartheid South Africa. It is a story of her life as a young child who was adopted after the death of her mother and the subsequent abandonment by her biological father. It is also the story of a Black professional woman who struggles to negotiate her way through the corporate world after having had negative experiences in some of the organisations that she has worked for. It highlights the plight of Black professionals all over South Africa who resort to job hopping as a means with which to escape unfair treatment in the workplace. The narrative also deals with issues that are specific to women only. Her experiences of these issues include unfair treatment due to the fact that she was pregnant and later on unfair treatment due to the fact that she is a single mother. They also include the abuse that she has suffered at the hands of certain men in her life. All of these issues have gone a long way towards shaping her perceptions of the country in which she lives as well the role that she feels she is expected to fulfil in it. The narrative is an honest and authentic account of the events that have shaped her perception of corporate South Africa as it struggles to incorporate Employment Equity and Affirmative Action policy into their organisational culture. She highlights the fact that the organisational policies and systems in themselves may be perfect but due to the fact that they have to be implemented by people they often reflect some of the prejudice that exists in society. In sharing her story it is her hope that other Black people would make their stories known for she believes that it is only when these stories are let out in the open can we begin to have meaningful dialogue about them and in so doing come to a resolution that will benefit all of us as a nation. She believes that our failure to talk to one another can only serve to widen the gap that currently exists between Black and White South Africans.

This study provides a feminist analysis of protective labor legislation in the Supreme Court case of UAW v. Johnson Controls, Inc. History of protection rhetoric and precedented cases leading up to UAW are provided. Using a feminist analysis, this study argues that the victory for women's labor rights in UAW is short lived, and the cycle of protection rhetoric continues with new pro-business agendas replacing traditional justifications for "protecting" women in the work place. The implications of this and other findings are discussed.

This thesis analyses the content, tone, form and authorship of the national newspaper gossip column 1918-1939, as a new means through which the qualities of the popular press in this period can be more closely defined. Often dismissed as an example of the sensational, Americanization of early twentieth-century popular culture, the celebrity gossip column has been loosely grouped with the friendly, informal language and bolder formatting of the ‘New Journalism’ of the late nineteenth century and the development of the dramatic ‘human-interest’ stories of ‘everyday life’ in the interwar period (LeMahieu, 1988; Wiener, 1988). Through a comparative study of six newspapers including the Daily Express, Daily Mail and News of the World, I analyse the changing representation of the celebrity subject, and, originally, the shifting character and persona of the gossip columnist. Whereas some historians have analysed the content of newspapers without considering the questions of the newspaper’s production, I analyse newspaper employment records, gossip columnists’ memoirs and their unpublished letters and diaries to define the specific economic, social and cultural circumstances which, I argue, influenced their public portrayal. Also, in examining the unpublished correspondence between editors, proprietors and columnists and the burgeoning print culture of journalistic training manuals and professional memoirs, I provide a history of the press’s professionalization in this period. The national popular press has often been used as a historical source to define national character and national identity in the interwar period (Bland, 2008; Kohn, 1992). By scrutinizing the content and production of the gossip column and particularly the class, behaviour, interactions and subject matter of the columnist, I argue that the gossip column presented a version of ‘Britishness’ that was not so inward-looking and domesticated as so many accounts of interwar Britain suggest.

This thesis examines the entry of women, during World War I, into industrial employment that men had previously dominated. It attempts to determine if women's wartime activities significantly changed the roles women played in industry and society. Major sources consulted include microfilm of the British Cabinet Minutes and British Cabinet Papers; Parliamentary Debates; memoirs of contemporaries like David Lloyd George, Beatrice Webb, Sylvia Pankhurst, and Monica Cosens; and contemporary newspapers. The examination begins with the early debates concerning the pressing need for labor in war industries, women's recruitment into industry, women's work and plans, the government's arrangements for demobilization, and women's roles in postwar industry. The thesis concludes that women were treated as a transient commodity by the government and the trade unions.

In modern South African society, many women have overcome traditional notions of gender by becoming breadwinners in their homes and providing primary financial support for their families. Employing a Phenomenological Feminist viewpoint, this dissertation contextualises the meaning that South African female breadwinners (FBW) ascribe to their experiences within their lived environment, utilising data collected from in-depth, unstructured interviews with FBW from the Mpumalanga and Gauteng provinces. While taking into consideration their intersectional experiences of gender, race, as well as cultural and traditional societal pressures, this study represents these womens’ voices in order to understand how they make meaning of and negotiate their spaces and roles as breadwinners. In the course of interviews and analysis, the realities faced by FBW revealed experiences, individual and communal, shared and unique, which expose archaic divisions of gender within our society, which have been hiding behind constructions of reform advocating equality among the sexes. / Psychology / M. A. (Psychology)