GMDC research

Urban poor women play key roles in the development of the health sector especially in issues of HIV/AIDS. Meanwhile, Zambian women have for a long time been marginalized in this sector. Women are marginalized in the sense that access to health and education facilities is not as easy for them as it is in the case of their male counterparts. Therefore, one tends to wonder whether women really play a key role in the health sector. Is their potential being realized? HIV/AIDS has reached alarming levels in all corners of life. It is now infecting people in all age-groups but the most infected are women, (GRZ, 2002). Hence the study’s general objective was to investigate women’s participation in HIV/AIDS issues. The specific objectives were: to find out if women in Misisi compound had any knowledge on HIV/AIDS; the methods that they use to prevent themselves from being infected with HIV; whether HIV/AIDS patients and orphans are taken care by women in Misisi compound; and if these women do discuss HIV/AIDS issues with their families. Out of 7,000 households found in Misisi Compound, 40 were sampled at random. The interval sampling method was used to get a sample of 40 respondents. Among other things, this study has revealed that women in Misisi Compound have the knowledge about HIV/AIDS and how to prevent it, though not all of them use the known methods to prevent themselves from being infected. Some women are involved in taking care of HIV/AIDS orphans and patients. There are also organizations that deal with issues of HIV/AIDS in terms of treatment and care to infected persons. In view of the above findings, recommendations made are that there is need to empower women education wise and economically for them not to engage themselves in sexual activities in exchange for money to sustain their livelihoods. Gender roles should be explained properly to the people and women should be sensitized very much on what is right for them.

In line with recent media reports, it is apparent that homosexual individuals are treated unfairly in a variety of contexts. Yet, little is known regarding the discrimination of homosexual employees in the South African workplace. The objective of this study was to examine the nature of discriminatory experiences of South African homosexual employees. In this study a qualitative approach was used with hermeneutic phenomenology as the method of data analysis. Data were collected through the means of semi-structured interviews with ten homosexual employees from various industries within the Gauteng province. The findings suggest that homosexual individuals do experience discrimination at work and that the experiences of discrimination at work are slightly different for gay employees than for lesbian employees. Three themes generated for gay employees (workplace bullying, the use of prejudice and stereotypes, and problems with people management practices, policies and procedures), while four themes were generated for lesbian employees (workplace bullying, the use of prejudice and stereotypes, problems with people management practices, policies and procedures, and sexual harassment). The contributions of the study will be to provide much needed awareness and understanding of workplace discrimination against homosexual employees. It is hoped that the findings of this research will lead to a re-examination of human resource practices and policies regarding diversity training and anti-discrimination.

Abstract
My research is motivated by concerns with promoting ÀžtransformationÀŸ in Stellenbosch
University, a formerly white Afrikaans University which is still predominantly white in terms
of numbers and
proportions of students attending the institution. While I argue about the
importance of taking measures to promote more ÀždiverseÀŸ student populations, I am critical of
discourses which equate transformation with ÀžimprovingÀŸ demographic profiles defined in
terms of numbers of black, white, coloured and Indian students. I argue
that understandings
of transformation and
diversity need to engage with the studentsÀŸ
views and
experiences of
the university in order to make meaningful change with regard to social
cohesion and
integration, which goes beyond statistical change. My research does this by exploring how
students from particular residences, in Stellenbosch University, construct and experience
university and residence life and their own identifications. Th
e students were interviewed in
friendship groups, selected by the students themselves, and a key concern of mine was to
facilitate conversations with them on broad themes relating to their reasons for coming to
Stellenbosch and their interests, aspirations
, motivations, identifications and dis
–
identifications as particular
students in particular residences in Stellenbosch. I was
particularly concerned to pick up on issues which the students
raised in these Àžfocus group
discussionsÀŸ so that the students, the
mselves, played a key role in setting the agenda in the
discussion and they and their reflections on their experiences
and constructions of themselves
and others became the topic of discussion. Rather than taking the group interview as an
ÀžinstrumentÀŸ (as
interviews, like questionnaires, are often described in methods texts in the
social sciences), I write about it as ethnographic encounter involving them and myself as
participants, and I explore insights about the nature of their friendships and relationsh
ips
derived from first
–
hand experience, of how they engage with their selected friends and with
me in the research group. Furthermore, by engaging with them as authorities about their lives
and identifications as particular kinds of students at Stellenbosc
h, and posing questions which
encouraged them to reflect on these
.
I argue that this kind of research can itself become a
model of good pedagogic and ÀžtransformativeÀŸ practice.

Research on how children learn to behave in gendered ways has focused on a top-down process of socialisation which positions children as passive recipients of gender norms of the societies they inhabit. In contrast, this ethnographic study explores gender as constructed and experienced by children themselves with a specific focus on play as a means through which social identities are produced.

This article examines the representation of disability by disabled black South African men as portrayed in two texts from the autosomatography genre, which encompasses first-person narratives of illness and disability. Drawing on extracts from Musa E. Zulu’s The language of me and William Zulu’s Spring will come, the article argues that physical disability affects heteronormative concepts of masculinity by altering the body, which is the primary referent for the construction and performance of hegemonic masculinity. In ableist contexts, the male disabled body may be accorded labels of asexuality. This article therefore reveals how male characters with disabilities reconstruct the male self by both reintegrating themselves within the dominant grid of masculinity and reformulating some of the tenets of hegemonic masculinity.

The anthropological investigation of masculinities remains an understudied dimension of transnational migration and xenophobia studies in post-apartheid South Africa. This thesis sets out to examine the interface between xenophobia, migrant experiences and masculinities among Zimbabwean male migrants in Cape Town and Stellenbosch. Drawing from the conceptual ideas of Critical Studies of Men (CSM) and on the basis of conversations with Zimbabwean male migrants in Cape Town and Stellenbosch, the thesis explores the relationship between the perceived threat of xenophobia and the production of enclaved, subaltern, troubled and aspirational masculinities. The thesis assesses how “xenophobia talkÀ among the Zimbabwean male migrants appears to produce socio-spatial separations with South African nationals. We see in the football-playing migrants in Stellenbosch an attempt to circumvent perceived exclusion by establishing enclaved male domains that assert their ‘authority’ as Zimbabwean men. The thesis therefore demonstrates the productivity of talk in the construction of xenophobia, male identities and identifications. There is literature suggesting that sections of South African nationals refer to African migrants derogatively as amakwerekwere. Conversely, evidence from Cape Town and Stellenbosch show how Zimbabwean male migrants openly talk about South Africans in equally adverse terms. This raises questions about the role migrants play in the production of reverse xenophobia and their contribution towards the perpetuation of processes of othering that transnational migration often engenders. The thesis draws the conclusion that the threat of xenophobia does not deter Zimbabwean male subjects from migrating to South Africa. However, it compels them to map South African urban spaces in very specific ways.

Developmental initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa emphasise participatory citizenship
as the means through which poor women can assert and claim their citizenship
rights. Although citizenship and agency are crucial elements in this narrative, little is
known about the citizenship process for African women. Furthermore, there is no
analytic framework to guide an empirical analysis of agency. This dissertation aims
to address these gaps by examining how marginalised Black African women
understand themselves as citizens, navigate their structural barriers and develop
strategies to negotiate their membership in and relationship with their states
.
This dissertation uses a deviant case analysis
of
women living in Zimbabwean and
South African townships, who identify as members of the isiNdebele and isiZulu
ethnic groups respectively, to Western theories of agency. Data was collected
through the use of in-depth interviews and analysed using content and relational
analysis. Results indicate that the women use a range of everyday resistance
strategies to negotiate their relationship with their states. These strategies are
mapped onto an innovative analytic framework that synthesizes feminist,
androcentric and subaltern theories of citizenship agency, in order to highlight the
n
on
-conventional ways that marginalised African women exercise their agency as
citizens.

Marriage is regarded as one of the most important and universal cultural symbols of belonging, and incorporates a range of privileges that can be acquired in no other way. It is where relationships of desire, politics and economics are fused into personal and public rituals of socially sanctioned connection and inclusion. Yet it draws new boundaries of social inclusion and exclusion or stigmatisation. In this thesis I use narrative inquiry to investigate how seventeen Capetonian queer couples in committed relationships perceive and experience same-sex marriage, and ask whether the Civil Union Act has given them a greater sense of belonging. Sexuality is deeply politicised through gendered disciplinary regimes that impinge on people’s emotional and intimate lives. Sexual politics in South Africa today emerge from a complex history of the sycretisation of widely varying cultural and political discourses, beliefs and practices wrought through colonialism and post-colonial recuperation. The formal protection of lgbti-q identities in the post-apartheid South African Constitution is the outcome of strategic struggles for lgbti-q recognition as human rights. However, formal rights do not necessarily lead to social inclusion as they may not reflect extant cultural values, hence I use the thicker concept of ‘belonging’ as developed by Yuval-Davis to analyse everyday inclusion-a concept which enables me to understand ‘privatised’ and affective dimensions of citizenship shaped by contexts of care and interpersonal intimacy. Worldwide, marriage has long been a central institution in how societies regulate their social and physical reproduction; but marriage also confers privileges which can be accessed in no other way. As in the West, marriage equality was a key aim for lgbti-q struggles in South Africa. But feminists have critiqued marriage as an institution of gendered hierarchy and a site of profound oppression for women. It is at the centre of the private|public dichotomy, and symbolic of women’s differentiated citizenship through, inter alia, the ideology of ‘women as property’. Hence same-sex marriage is deeply politicised in how it upholds or challenges heteropatriarchy. By looking at how a diverse range of same-sex couples in committed relationships perceive and experience same-sex marriage in South Africa, I unravel the ambiguities and contradictions of marriage as a project of belonging for lesbians and gays. Marriage as a sexual politics of belonging is about how lesbian and gay citizens experience equality and dignity in their everyday lives-recognition of them as citizen-subjects, protection of their intimate relationships as well as their struggles for belonging. I engage with the complex outcomes of colonial conquest and post-colonial recuperation on African sexual identities, before turning to an understanding of queer citizenship. I show how belonging is a much thicker concept than citizenship because it accesses our affective relationships. I proceed to use Nira Yuval-Davis’s framework for analysing belonging. She divides belonging into two streams: facets of belonging relating to identities, social locations and political and ethical values; and a politics of belonging. Struggles for belonging are waged around boundaries of inclusions and exclusions, and only become visible when belonging is contested. Projects for belonging are complex and multi-layered negotiations around the boundaries of belonging. Using narrative inquiry, I present the stories of seventeen couples and six key informants to fashion a narrative about same-sex marriage as a project of belonging. I asked them about coming out, and how they met their partners. They also told me about their relationships with children and significant others. We talked about their perceptions and experiences of same-sex marriage, and their views of the Constitution and Civil Union Act. I also asked about their sense of safety as queers and what they thought needed to be done to help queers belong (more). The participants’ most significant sense of belonging derived from having their rights protected in the Constitution. Their sense of entitlement to be who they are, was the outcome of powerful struggles for recognition. The various couples had been in committed relationships for between 8 and 52 years. Some had made use of the immigration status of same-sex partners to be together, which meant they were instantly thrown into ‘marriage’-like situations. Some didn’t want to get married, but 10 couples were married. Except for two couples, all the couples who got married did it primarily for the tangible benefits associated with marriage: through marriage they established formal kinship relationships linked to property and commitment to care. They were generally not interested in the cultural trappings of ‘weddings’, and had modest and quiet ceremonies. All the married couples affirmed that the Act had given them a greater sense of belonging. While all the participants valued formal recognition through the Constitution, the lack of substantive equality needed to be addressed to ensure future belonging for lgbti-q. I concluded that same-sex marriages are powerful social institutions, capable of either upholding heteropatriarchies through homonormative performances, but also capable of subversions. A foundational challenge comes through disrupting the ‘women as property’ exchange embedded in most marital traditions.

Paraphrasing Spivak’s essay, “Can the subaltern speak?À (1988),
this paper will discuss how blogs can be manipulated by corporate
media at both a linguistic and multimodal level, analysing Malala
Yousafzai’s 2009 blog. Malala won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014
and is known for her activism in women’s rights, but critics have
questioned the authenticity of her voice, maintaining that her lan-
guage is not likely to be produced by a child. Th is paper will address
the question as to whether her blog has been manipulated, analysing
linguistic features – such as lexical density, readability, keyness, mo-
dality markers in English, and multimodal resources. Linguistic and
visual data will be discussed to see how multimodal approaches to
communication can disentangle corporate mass media manipulation

There is increasing recognition about the need to build capacity inside development organisations for the purpose of delivering gender equitable policy, programmes and projects. Applications for UK AID DIRECT for example, have to show evidence of gender considerations at each stage of the project cycle AND evidence of organisational gender capacity.
” …in order to implement a project effectively it is also important for UK AID Direct grant holder and their implementing partners to understand gender at an organisational level. Indeed, it is not appropriate to ask projects to mainstream gender if the principles are not understood and practiced within the implementing organisations. An organisational understanding is therefore vital if gender is to be truly “mainstreamedÀ, with good practices promoted and efforts toward gender equality sustainedÀ

This study contributes to the growing body of research in South African hip-hop by analyzing
gender construction in the music and videos of the selected artists, Hip-Hop Pantsula, Slikour
and Zulu Boy. South Africa is the chosen country as it is one of the most developed in terms
of hip-hop in Southern Africa. The overall purpose is to investigate ways in which the three
selected hip-hop artists represent and articulate gender in their music lyrics and videos. It is
of the assumption that the chosen hip-hip artists’ songs contain social change messages,
therefore, it is expected that their articulation of gender would be more progressive than other
mainstream hip-hop artists who are known to portray ideas that objectify women. The
literature review discusses a brief overview of research that has been done in the field and a
discussion of some key issues identified by theorists. Here, themes discussed include music
and popular culture, hip-hop music and identity, hip-hop music and gender, and hip-hop
music in the South African context. The theories chosen and discussed include theories of
feminism, theories of the male gaze and media representation, which encompasses gender
and representation and theories of identity. This study uses a qualitative research approach as
it seeks to understand and make meaning of media texts, specifically using thematic analysis.
The research findings and analysis have revealed interesting results. Two themes were found
during the presentation of findings section. The first theme encompasses sub-themes:
objectification of women, stereotyping of women, hyper-masculinites, as well as demeaning
and un-acknowledgement of women. These sub-themes highlighted problematic gender
representations. The second theme focuses on intersection of class, race and gender. Here the
relationships between gender, race and class are examined on multiple levels to explicate
various inequalities that exist in society. Finally, explanations of problematic gender
representations are also explored. These include ‘commercialisation of the music industry’,
‘patriarchal economy in the South African music industry’ and ‘consumerist and celebrity
culture’.

This paper investigates the challenges facing female councillors in Ekurhuleni
Metropolitan Municipality. It is based on the assumption that female councillors
are still faced with numerous challenges despite all efforts to address that
problem. The factors that discourage participation of women in politics are
classified as ideological factors, political factors, socio-cultural factors, economic
factors and media. It becomes very important for Ekurhuleni Metropolitan
Municipality to understand that these challenges exist so that proper and relevant
interventions may be developed, to assist in addressing those challenges.
Gender mainstreaming is discussed, which explains a variety of tools and
instruments used at international, regional and local levels. These tools are meant
to address gender equality: Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action (BPA), Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Municipal
Structural Act and Municipal Systems Act.
A qualitative study was used to respond to the research questions that focused
on challenges faced by female councillors, support structures available for female
councillors and the effectiveness of these support structures. The focus is on
feminist social research. The assumption is that men and women have different
perceptions of life because of their social status.
The findings of the research are that society is still divided along gender roles.
Women are considered as the main care givers for the family. Women are not
part of political inner circles, where major political decisions are taken, including
deployment to key and strategic positions. Socially, women are still facing
challenges of low education levels that result in a lack of communication skills,
which in turn hampers their ability to lead effectively. In terms of economy, most
women are in low income paying jobs. This makes it difficult for women to
campaign for strategic decision-making positions, as campaigning involves the
use of money. Women leaders are also not using media effectively to market
themselves.
iii
There is laxity in terms of implementation of gender equity policies. Support structures and system exist solely on paper. There is no proper assessment to check if systems implemented to support women are effective and relevant.