Originally written for M.A. degree, Western Michigan University (1994). / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 50-54).

Originally written for M.A. degree, Western Michigan University (1994). / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 50-54).

Thesis (M.Ed. (Community and Continuing Education)) --University of Limpopo / Unemployment is a crucial problem in the whole world. There are still a high number of unemployed rural women in the world in general and in South Africa in particular. Rural women are still marginalized and stay in poor conditions because they are unemployed, poor and lack skills required by the market. Black rural women form the majority of illiterates and unemployed in the country and this have a negative impact on the development of the country. This means that rural women stay in conditions of squalor because they are unemployed, poor and lack skills required by the labour market. This study focuses on the problems and challenges faced by unemployed rural women. It was conducted in Shoromong village of Greater Tzaneen Municipality in Mopani District. Unemployed rural women need to be empowered through ABET (Adult Basic Education and Training) programmes to stand up and fight poverty, ill health and other social ills they face. Chapter one outlined the background of the problem of unemployment based on the education in the past (before 1994). I also discussed different types of unemployment, causes and their effects. I formulated the following aim of the study: To investigate the problems and challenges faced by unemployed rural women in Shoromong village. In order to achieve the aim outlined above, I formulated the following main research question: What are the problems and challenges faced by unemployed rural women in Shoromong village? It is the objective of this study to develop a detailed picture of the problems and challenges faced by unemployed rural women in Shoromong village, explore the unemployed rural women’s feelings and attitude about their present situation, to contribute towards the development of a programme that will address problems and challenges faced by unemployed rural women, to contribute towards empowerment of rural women in order to enable them to take their rightful place in society and to bring awareness to the local government about poor living conditions in Shoromong village. Chapter two outlines the theoretical framework of the study. It is based on the readings of the relevant literature and preliminary discussions with the unemployed women of Shoromong village. I have also defined the following concepts: social exclusion, poverty, unemployment and adult education. The following critical factors are discussed: loss of respect and dignity, financial constraints, lack of education and skills and poor living conditions. In chapter three, I described the design of the study. One path of data collection, being fieldwork is the main focus. The fieldwork is divided into phases, namely: Introductory phase, extensive fieldwork phase, and observation. Extensive fieldwork comprises of four stages of interviews. An exploratory design was chosen for this study. An explanation and discussion of the instruments that were utilized to collect data from different role players in various phases of data collection is also given. I further explained how the data that has been collected from various phases was analysed using qualitative data analysis method. Chapter four presents the empirical findings and analysis of the study. I have also outlined the detailed views of interviewees in relation to the critical factors of the study. Results of observations of the study are also given. The results of the study indicate that unemployed women are faced with multiple problems and challenges. Those problems and challenges not only affect them as individuals but also affect their children, spouses/husband, relatives, the community and the whole society. The reality is the burden is on the individual who experience unemployment from day to day. Chapter five is the final chapter of my study. It presents the final conclusion and recommendations of the study. It also provides suggestions of what can bring solutions to problems and challenges of unemployed rural women in Shoromong village. This chapter mentioned areas that need to be further researched as ABET field seems to be under- researched. The chapter concludes by discussing “reflections”. It is a section that is about my learning experiences and difficulties that I encountered during the process of this research.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Sociology)) --University of Limpopo, 2009 / The thesis, Gender, Structural Adjustment and Informal Economy Sector Trade in Africa: A Case Study of Women Workers in the Informal Sector of North West Province, South Africa, comprises of five chapters{PRIVATE } CHAPTER 1 is mainly introductory and deals specifically with the general orientation of the study as outlined in the background and problem statement. This chapter presents the motivation for the study, main aim and objectives and the significance of the study. It also deals with methodology and attendant problems. The chapter also addresses stages of research such as research design, population and sampling, data collection techniques, data analysis of this study. Finally the limitations of the study are outlined. CHAPTER 2 comprises the literature background for the study. The literature focuses largely on the theoretical orientation of the study and on the position of women in the economy. This chapter is divided into two parts. The first part is more general in the sense that it focuses on theorising gender using the gender approach to make a substantive argument. It also focuses on the different definitions of the informal economy sector and the impact of economic reform measures on women in the informal economy sector. This first part further argues the predominance of women in the informal economy sector. Attention in the literature is also focused on women’s employment opportunities in the informal sector and on the marginalization of women through economic reform measures introduced. Such reform measures have been advanced by government means to improve the economy. The second part attempts to illuminate some characteristics of informal work in South Africa. The unit of analysis here is women and their employment or underemployment in the economy. CHAPTER 3 focuses on the effects of macro-economic reform policies on women in the informal economy sector. This chapter discusses the current neo-liberal economic reforms (i.e. Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs); Growth Employment and Redistribution-GEAR) that have been imposed by governments all over Africa and beyond in areas such as Latin America and Asia. The chapter also indicates the negative effects of these on the poor (women in particular) and on why economic reforms have hit women hardest in the mainstream economy and in the informal sector. As a concluding argument and points raised, the chapter argues for alternative policy approaches that could be used as references to means of improving the lot of operators in the informal economy sector, especially with regard to women. The point raised in this chapter is that legislation alone does not change attitudes, traditions, trade relations and power relations. Thus, alternatives from a female perspective are outlined here to position the situation of women in terms of accessing resources in terms of the policy climate in South Africa in particular economically. From this perspective one can understand whether or not there is adequate protection and promotion of women’s rights in the economy. CHAPTER 4 consists of the empirical data for the study. The findings of the study from fieldwork on the impact of neo-liberal GEAR on women in the informal economy sector is reported, analyzed and relevant interpretations are made. The findings in this study are presented as raw totals and in percentages, where useful cross-tabulations are carried out to reflect the relevant data, which influenced the findings.Qualitative data analysis method is used to analyse data from in-depth interviews, audio and visual recordings. The data is coded and variables and their relationships are generated using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Key words and phrases are categorised and underlined for the possibility of salient themes and summaries and possible explanatory statements are made. CHAPTER 5 gives a summary of the findings of the study and the implications thereof. A comparative survey of these findings and those discussed in the literature in chapter 2 is made. Finally, a conclusive statement is made and suggestions and recommendations for improving the informal economy sector as a valuable economic entity for women. The conclusion is that the informal economy sector does help to meet the needs of the general low income population while maintaining women’s economic activities to support their families. Thus, change on the thinking and application of socio- economic policies should start by fully refuting the more male oriented economic ideology premise on which current policy approach is based. / Council for the Development of Social Research in Africa (CODESRIA)

The research sought to examine the effect of literacy on access to, and utilization of agricultural information for household food security at Chirau Communal lands in Zimbabwe. The study was influenced by the diffusion of innovations approach based on interviews, observation and document study. Selected female farmers from Chirau communal lands were respondents to the self administered interviews and focus group discussions. Representatives from, Agriculture Extension and the Ministry of Agriculture were key informants. Systematic Random sampling was used to select 100 female respondents from the age of 18 to above 80 from wards 1 to 10 of Chirau Rural District in Zimbabwe. Data was analyzed into themes and coded for statistical analysis using the SPSS. The country is faced with food insecurity and the main findings of this study support the view that women play an active role in food production but their potential is limited by inadequate levels of literacy that affect the way they access and utilize resources for sustainable agriculture and household food security among other factors. This may be generalized to the situation of female farmers in Zimbabwe. Improved literacy competencies among the female farmers in Zimbabwe lends itself as one of the interventions that may assist in improving access to information and its effective utilization.. This calls decision-makers to boost literacy for women, develop available agricultural information resources and harness effort towards making them accessible. While interventions may be multi-sectored, the role of government is stressed in this report.

Thesis (M.Sc.) --University of the North, 2004 / Refer to document

The dissertation consists of three studies that seek to identify school caterer and women farmer constraints that have hindered the buy-local policy mandate of the Ghana School Lunch program, and to explore gendered agricultural technology adoption and contract participation strategies that could facilitate the policy mandate. The first study documents the constraints that have minimized caterer purchases of school food items from local farmers. The study presents an overview of the Ghana School Lunch Program and the buy-local policy mandate issued to school caterers. Survey data and descriptive analysis are employed to document and discuss the constraints that prevent school caters from purchasing from local farmers as well as the constraints faced by smallholder women farmers in supplying to school caters. The study subsequently discusses school caterers’ compensating variation of a hypothetical policy that requires them to firstly provide recommended portions of vegetables and protein, and secondly include fruits in the lunch of the schoolchildren. The second study analyses the factors underlying the probability that women smallholder farmers - compared to male farmers - adopt less a) improved seeds, b) fertilizer, c) herbicides and d) pesticides. The study further examines the sensitivity of gender differences in technology adoption to crop choice, particularly maize and legume, as well as the possible heterogeneity of technology adoption differences within rural and peri-urban communities. The adoption of these improved technologies is modeled using multivariate probit regressions. A gender gap is observed among legume farmers for improved seed and pesticide adoption. Moreover, the findings indicate that female maize farmers who have input into all cash crop production decisions are more likely to adopt improved seeds and pesticides. Among legume farmers, the results indicate that female farmers who are educated and have access to credit are more likely to adopt fertilizer, while female legume farmers who have a say in what the use of income generated from cash crop farming are more likely to adopt pesticides. These results imply that policy-makers and development practitioners in sub-Saharan Africa should consider strategies to target and increase educational, financial and productive assets of female farmers in order to close the gender technology gap and increase multiple technology adoption. The third study examines the use of farm-to-school contracts as a means to provide access to credit for women farmers in rural and peri-urban areas and facilitate the buy-local policy mandate. In particular, the study examines the factors influencing male and female smallholder farmers’ minimum willingness to accept (WTA) farm-to-school-lunch contracts for maize and cowpea beans. The minimum WTA simultaneously measures the decision to participate as well as the minimum price at which the smallholder farmer accepts the contract. Using sex-disaggregated data from a field experiment, a Tobit model is applied to explain the underlying factors influencing male and female smallholder farmer’s minimum WTA for a set of hypothetical maize and cowpea beans contracts. The results for the pooled sample indicate that the delivery at harvest option increases farmers’ minimum willingness to accept both the maize and beans contracts. The study further examines heterogeneity in the minimum WTA among smallholder farmers. The results in the female specification indicate that, the advance pay option lowers the minimum WTA for maize contracts. Additionally, women farmers who own non-farm business, compared to a male with a non-farm business, have a lower minimum WTA for the maize and beans contracts. The results suggest that if the government considers contractual arrangements between school caterers and local farmers to facilitate the buy-local policy mandate, an advance pay option to women farmers may yield lower premiums for contracted food items.

Zimbabwean rural women make significant contribution to agriculture and are the mainstay of the farm labour. Although women do the majority of agricultural work, men, for the most part continue to own the land, control women‟s labour and make agricultural decisions supported by patriarchal social systems. Thus, rural women faced difficulties than men in gaining access to land under Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP). Women‟s relationship with land is therefore through husbands, fathers, brothers or sons. Therefore, this study has undertaken with the objective of assessing the impact of land distribution programme with respect to its contribution to women‟s empowerment in the study area. The Gender and Development approach was employed to assess women access to land under the FTLRP. Such an approach to rural development can help in reducing the gender gap between women and men in order to achieve gender-balanced development. The study used qualitative research methodology where semi-structured interviews gather data from women in Mutasa District. Findings indicate that there are a number of challenges and constraints that are experienced by rural women under the Fast Track Land Reform Programme which include male land registration, no access to credit, inadequate government input support, lack of government laws and policies awareness on women land rights, shortage of farm implements and irrigation water supply and lack of agriculture training. On the other hand, culture and traditional practices still affect women in other cases, disadvantaging them in favour of men, as in inheritance of land and property in the household. It was generally assumed that the programme did not improve women access to land. To improve women access to land, in future, the study recommends that a serious intervention by the state should occur coupled with the revitalization of the programme and a paradigm shift towards an effective food security programme which emphasizes women and their important role in agriculture.

This study explores women’s access to land under the customary tenure system. It examines how the changes in land tenure, access and rights to land as a consequence of HIV/AIDS are affecting agricultural productivity, food security and poverty, with a specific focus on women who have lost their husbands to HIV/AIDS in Zvimba. Zvimba is a village community located in Zvimba District in the Mashonaland West Province of Zimbabwe. The study also discusses policy responses designed to cushion the impact of HIV/AIDS on local communities especially women living with HIV/AIDS. The study highlights the vulnerability of widows to land rights violations, mainly inflicted by relatives but sometimes by the wider community. The main form of abuse encountered included the use of abusive language, threats of evictions and at times, beatings. The legal route for seeking redress was rarely used. Fear of witchcraft, low educational levels and fear of causing conflict between children and their paternal relatives also led widows to abandon the fight for their rights. The study further reveals that widows are heavily exposed to dispossession of their land rights. HIV/AIDS has increased the vulnerability of widows and other women to threats and dispossession of their land and other property rights. Dispossession of arable fields was observed in the four wards. The dispossessions and threats to livelihoods were directly related to the HIV positive status of the widows. The findings from this study illustrate the predominant role that male members of the household or family have over land. Thus, culture and traditional practices still affect women in other cases, disadvantaging them in favour of men, as in inheritance of land and property in the household.