Browsing by Author "Muthuki, Janet Muthoni."

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The ‘accompanying spouse dependent visa status’: challenges and constraints faced by Zimbabwean immigrant women in integration into South Africa’s formal labour market.
(2019) Chimukuche, Rujeko Samanthia.; Muthuki, Janet Muthoni.
Transboundary migration at both regional and continental levels has become the defining feature of the 21st century. Among other issues, poverty and economic strife, regional conflict and extreme environmental disasters have been cited as key factors motivating global migration patterns. A holistic address to the current migration challenges, coupled with other key development issues such as gender, health and education can contribute significantly towards attaining the Sustainable Development Goals. The recent global migration crisis due to economic strife and war brings back to the fore an old age problem, but with fresh challenges. Migration and forced displacement are issues that require long-term solutions. In South Africa for example, whilst much attention has been placed on xenophobic attacks and other issues at the nexus of immigrant and indigenous communities, limited focus has been placed on the integration, specifically formal labour integration of immigrant communities and the gender inequalities that are prevalent. Despite noble efforts by South Africa hosting several immigrants, several challenges arise in integrating the migrants into society as it is often difficult to harmonize the interests of indigenous communities and those of foreign nationals. This research study has aimed to fill in the gaps by analyzing how stringent immigration and visa regulations prevent skilled migrant women spouses from employment which often results in several societal vices including domestic abuse, minimum or no access to important services such as healthcare, education, social welfare among others. Using a qualitative approach, the study analyzed South Africa migration and labour policies in terms of mainstreaming the gender needs of skilled migrant women. Secondly, the study highlighted the migratory experiences and constraints of skilled Zimbabwean women migrant spouses in South Africa labour integration. The experiences of these women have shown the gender inequalities of the migratory policies. Thirdly, Zimbabwean women opportunities and/or challenges in integration into South African formal labour market were explored. Lastly, practical interventions to support the integration of skilled migrant women spouses into South Africa’s formal labour market were suggested. Key findings show that gender dynamics are pivotal in migration patterns and the mainstreaming of gender in migration policies is important. This study has therefore contributed to the fields of gender and migration by examining ways in which gender rights of skilled migrant women spouses can be incorporated in labour integration policy making.
Alternative rituals of widow cleansing in relation to women’s sexual rights in Zambia.
(2016) Saguti, Edward.; Muthuki, Janet Muthoni.
One cannot understand the alternative rituals of widow cleansing without having a full understanding of the ritual of widow cleansing itself. Widow cleansing is a ritual which demands a widow to have sexual intercourse with another man, normally one of her brothers-in-law in order to let the spirit of the deceased rest in peace among the dead. The rationale behind this ritual is the belief that the spirit of the deceased husband still recognizes the widow as his wife, hence interfering with any relationship the widow might establish. The ritual of widow cleansing was however challenged by various groups especially at the dawn of the HIV and AIDS pandemic. Through increased awareness about the HIV and AIDS malady and its widespread effects on human health, communities in Zambia have adopted alternative cleansing rituals to cleanse widows without the act of sexual intercourse. While many scholars have hailed the alternative rituals to the extent of encouraging them, the question about women’s sexual rights seem to have been ignored. Studies have shown that although the alternative rituals do not involve sexual contact, some of them are done in a manner that comprise the sexual rights of women. The disregards for and of women’s sexual rights causes the marginalization and denial of their social, political and economic rights. This thesis explores the alternative rituals of widow cleansing in relation to women’s sexual rights in Zambia. In this light, the study draws attention to the fact that women in Zambia are born and nurtured in the context of African culture and as such possess rights to live in a society that does not oppress or discriminate against them. Thus, it asserts that the government and citizens of Zambia have an obligation to make sure that women are not subjected to any traditional practices that undermine their sexual rights. However, the study recognizes that despite the presence of laws and legal structures aimed to protect the rights of women in Zambia, their lack of implementation especially in rural areas continue to be a challenge to women’s rights. Besides this, the study notes that since cleansing rituals have been practiced for a long time in Zambia and are embedded in the cultures of people, they cannot just be addressed through legislation. The most suitable way of addressing such practice is through education, negotiation and dialogue. This strategy for redress as proposed by this study is rationalized on the basis that negotiation comprises the process of compromise, which is give and take, and is inclusive of the local people in the dialogues and context of problem solving and the practice of cleansing rituals that contravenes the rights of women. Likewise, negotiation gives room to cultural transformation where men and women can live in communities free of practices that are not life-giving to women.
An analysis of the perceptions of African Christian men regarding family planning choices at Paran Pentecostal church in Durban.
Sahabo, François.; Muthuki, Janet Muthoni.
Family planning has been a critical issue worldwide and particularly in Africa, especially in recent years. This research study, which is qualitative in nature, was based on the inclusion of men in family planning services. Most approaches to family planning and sexual reproductive health focus on women alone without involving men who are important decision-makers in all family matters. The aim of the study was to analyse the knowledge, attitudes and practices of Pentecostal African men regarding their family planning choices at the Paran Pentecostal Church in Durban. Ten Pentecostal African men were interviewed as research participants in the study with the aim of obtaining individual understanding of family planning, impact on their family planning choices, the contribution of the teachings of the church to their family planning choices. And also to know the role of the partners (women) in family planning choices, strategies they use in addressing their family planning needs and finally to know the challenges they encounter as Christian men in accessing family planning services. The thematic analysis method was used to interpret and analyse the data which was obtained in order to reach to the final conclusions and recommendations of the study. The major themes that emerged from the participants were as follows: (i) Gender relations in family settings, which includes multiple meaning of manhood and men’s understanding of the role of women in the family; (ii) Multiple factors influencing family planning choices which includes knowledge about family planning, Individual strategies in meeting family planning needs, the role of the partners in family planning choices, personal beliefs and preferences on the use of family planning choices, influence of religious and cultural beliefs in family planning; (iii) Challenges encountered by African Christian men in accessing family planning services that include cultural prejudices and stigmatization.
Building peace in post-conflict societies: An exploration of the role of women in Liberia's peacebuilding architecture.
(2018) Shulika, Lukong Stella.; Muthuki, Janet Muthoni.
Post-conflict situations raise questions about the level to which the notion and practice of peacebuilding can contribute to sustainable peace, reconstruction, and development through transformative gender-responsive and inclusive processes. Embedded in these inquiries are the different standpoints and accentuation that the role and contributions of women in peacebuilding are an important contextual component for (post-)conflict agendas and are very much interlinked to their human and civil rights to participation and representation in public and official decision-making processes. This notwithstanding, the question regarding women’s participation, representation, and the consideration of their interests in the array of post-conflict approaches and processes still remain subject to a complexity of institutional, structural, socio-economic injustices and challenges, even at the grassroots levels. This study recognizes the manner and extent to which the importance of demystifying misconceptions about women and integrating their lived experiences into peacebuilding is imperative for the effectiveness and sustainability of post-conflict drives and its environment. Therefore, to understand the processes of peacebuilding in post-conflict transitions and address the question regarding the role of women therein, this study capitalizes on the Liberian experience as a macrocosm that embodies these themes. It provides a nuanced perspective and context of the role of women and women's organizations in Liberia’s peacebuilding architecture using a qualitative research methodology that comprises the review of relevant secondary info and primary data generated from focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews with selected women organizations, institutions, and individuals in Liberia. The study identifies the absence of comprehensive scholarship that specifically examines women’s role in relation to each defined pillar of what constitutes post-conflict transition processes. Likewise, it uncovers dearth in literature inherent in the areas of policy implementation and domestication as well as the tendency to homogenize women and women’s organizational roles and significance. In response to these gaps, the study adopts a post-conflict peacebuilding, reconstruction and development theoretical framework, and Maxine Molyneux’s organizational theory. These theories serve as the lens through which the study expounds on the underlying importance of women’s peacebuilding agencies as being practically and strategically diverse as their experiences of conflict and the approaches that inform the different post-conflict processes. Hence, the study generates critical insights on women’s opportunities and challenges of engagement as well as the importance of using transformative stances to peacebuilding programmes; cognizant of the proactive rolewomen are playing and their underplayed contributions in Liberia. It arrives at several findings, including that Liberian women through their distinctive and shared experiences of conflict provide a gendered specific and transformative perspective to peace and security agendas both at the structural and practical levels. It also establishes that diverse women initiatives remain(ed) the core interventionist platform for women’s efforts in peace and decision-making processes during and in (post-) conflict Liberia and that there are numerous barriers to women’s peacebuilding efforts. The study concludes with several recommendations and the contention that women’s initiatives and agency for peace if genuinely supported would represent and serve as a strategy to progressively advance their different gender interests, participation, and representation in decision-making. It would equally increase the effective implementation as well as eventual sustainability of peacebuilding and development processes in Liberia.
Commission on gender equality : drawback or progress for rural disadvantaged women in South Africa.
(2014) Waiganjo, Anthony Gathambiri.; Muthuki, Janet Muthoni.
The issue relating to women‘s empowerment has received increased attention from scholars in recent years. The recent studies seem to be favouring policies which appear attractive only on papers with less attention on how these policies translate into reality. This study is a critical analysis of the South African Commission on Gender Equality (CGE) which in its papers claims to empower rural women but in reality continues to encounter a series of setbacks. The study argues that CGE cannot claim to be successful to rural women if its link with other sister machineries nationally is tenuous, for instance its collaboration with other civil society organisations such as the Women Society Organisation (WSO), Women Empowerment Unit (WEU), and National House of Traditional Leaders (NHTL) among others. The study has adopted the theories of state feminism and theory of gender interests as the analytical engine used to scrutinise the impact of CGE in fulfilling its mandate to rural women as delegated by the Constitution towards enhancing and the realisation of equality in the current democracy. The study used non-empirical qualitative methods as it critically examined the CGE operational documents ranging from its modus operandi, minute books, policy papers and meeting agendas, monetary and evaluation reports, and the constitutional provisions. The CGE is charged with the mandate of monitoring government and the private sectors institutions and the public education of society (SA.info 2014). However, the researcher has identified that the link between the CGE and the other gender machineries has indeed been declared tenuous according to recent reports. The researcher thus maintains that representation of women by the CGE has rather been politically inclined than developing the disadvantaged people in the society especially the rural women citizenry. The study hence considers various strategic interventions that the commission has undertaken towards emancipating the rural women, in spite of the lack of proper consultations and contribution from the rural women. Thus, the presumption that rural women do not know what they need and /or how to go about it in the context familiar to them could be the cause of procedural hegemony that arises in CGE pattern where the ―elitist women‖ develops the rural women. The study as such recommends that, in order to directly relate to local or rural women the rural women must be consulted from grassroots. The members of CGE and sister commissions and machineries should elect some representatives from rural women that better understands the interests of rural women. Also CGE needs to intensify monetary and evaluation aspect of their operations with rural women and with other sister machineries and commissions in South Africa.
The engagement of women in the student government of the University of KwaZulu-Natal with the organizational mandate so as to transform the politics in terms of policy.
(2013) Nsele, Thandanani Amon.; Muthuki, Janet Muthoni.
Although the political participation and representation of women has been increasing in South Africa, in other political sectors, this is debatable. In other words, the transformed nature of South African government institutions suggests that in politics, gender transformation has been achieved. While this may be true of the national government, the same is the contested terrain in as far as other levels of political activism are concerned. For example, a look at student politics raises questions on the idea that there is gender equality in South Africa political sphere. Furthermore, there is an assumption that when women are in governance, they use their positions to influence policies to be responsive to issues that affect women. Even this is a highly contested debate, particularly in the context of student politics. In the context of South African institutions of higher learning, Student Representative Council (SRC) is a body through which students are represented in governance of such institutions. In most institutions of higher learning, SRCs have been dominated by male students. However, there has been development which has seen more women getting into SRCs, and this development is credited to policies of individual institutions as well as that of the student political movements which provide for gender transformation. The genesis of gender transformation in student politics has been on the question of presence. In other words, the focus has been on ensuring that women are part of the composition of the SRCs (descriptive representation). And when descriptive representation has been achieved, the focus will extend to the notion of substantive representation. It was therefore important for this study to use a specific institution, University of Kwa Zulu Natal (UKZN) and explore the composition of its SRC with the aim establishing whether the representation of women is descriptive or substantive in nature or even both. The point of entry was to acknowledge the presence of women in the SRC. In exploring the nature of their representation, the researcher focused on how they engage their political movements and the mandates thereof in order to advocate for the feminization of policies. The findings of this study firstly reveal that the SRC of UKZN has not achieved the descriptive representation of women, let alone the substantive one. This needs to be elucidated on. While there are some women in the SRC, their number is too small which is 10 out of 60 and that equals to 16.6%. Politics being the game of numbers, this would naturally make it hard for women to exert a lot of influence. Furthermore, this is a lot less than the target of the vanguard political movements. Secondly, of all the women that are in the SRC, only a small number of women indicated to be contributing a lot of substance in promoting the gender transformation agenda. What separates these women from others is political experience and will power which may translate into capacity. However, the same cannot be said of the other women.
An examination of women’s voices in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “The thing around your neck”.
(2018) Olorunfemi, Christy Aisha.; Muthuki, Janet Muthoni.
This study investigates Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s female character portrayal in her first short story effort, The Thing Around your Neck, an anthology of twelve short stories. The study offers an insight into a variety of female characters taken from the author’s short stories. These characters, after being contextualized within a patriarchal society/environment, are analyzed in terms of gender subjugation and marginalisation vis-à-vis an African Reformist Feminist reading to explore and analyse a variety of Adichie’s portrayal of female characters in the text and to ascertain how the author equips and empowers her females to fight and overcome subjugating situations and attain their liberation and freedom. The study further employs the Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis model to examine the ways in which the author resists sexism in literature through her writing and her attempt to increase the awareness of the sexual politics of language and style in writing. The study also identifies and critically explores the strategies adopted by Adichie’s female/women characters in the society to involve the men in their women’s emancipation. This analysis justifies the author’s aim to involve men as partners in the women’s quest for freedom and emancipation in the development of the Nigerian society in particular and Africa as a whole. Also, possible symbols or connections to recent African history are examined in order to give domestic stories a larger meaning.
Examining the contestation between domestic violence legislation and the socio-cultural norms of the Oyo community in Nigeria.
(2018) Oduola, Adebimpe Anike.; Muthuki, Janet Muthoni.
Domestic violence is a pervasive issue that occurs globally in various cultures and traditions regardless of victims’ social, economic, religious, ethnic or racial background. Women are being beaten, sexually coerced and abused. And the existence of strong patriarchal values, encourages males to become sexually, physically and psychologically abusive toward their female partners. In Nigeria, domestic violence affects women in all communities, of every ethnic, classes, religious and socioeconomic groups, living in both rural and urban areas. However, this study found that the prevalence of domestic violence is mostly pervasive in the Oyo community because it is a male-centered community, with diverse traditional and cultural beliefs and practices, as well as a rigid customary legal framework that supports male domination and discrimination against women in the form of male-child preference syndrome, levirate marriage, primogeniture, and widowhood rites, which have become the norm in their daily activities. Despite Nigeria is party to several international as well as domestic human treaties which aimed at addressing and protecting the rights of women and girls, to be free from domestic violence. In addition, the Oyo State House of Assembly enacted the provision of laws that prohibit and protect against gender-based violence and other related matters in public and private life in 2013 and 2016, of which protection of women from domestic violence and harmful traditional practices received a mention. The study revealed how Oyo community’s socio-cultural norms affect the implementation of legislation on domestic violence in the community, by examining how the numerous traditional and socio-cultural beliefs and practices of the Oyo community towards domestic violence is a hindrance to the implementation of the legislation on domestic violence in the community to curb domestic acts of violence. Nego-feminism and Legal feminism theories were employed as the theoretical lenses that guided the study. Nego-feminism was used to know how to utilize the culture of negotiation for the deconstruction of patriarchy in the Oyo community for the benefit of women. While the legal feminism theory was used to explain the issue of gender inequality, by critiquing and changing laws on behalf of, and from the perspective of women towards challenging gender subordination and condemning other patterns of injustice, specifically patriarchy, for the liberation of women. The study adopted qualitative content data analysis method. This was achieved through the review of YouTube videos of interview sessions with an Ifa priest and priestess on the mythology contained in Odu Ifa (literary corpus). The study also assessed legislature documents.
Examining the effectiveness of prevention programmes being implemented to address the needs of women experiencing intimate partner violence in Msinga, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
(2021) Ndlovu, Cynthia Sanelisiwe.; Muthuki, Janet Muthoni.
As with other nations, South Africa still contends with women’s subordination in society which leaves them vulnerable to many forms of violation. Existing literature claims that while policy and legislative frameworks exist to eradicate intimate partner violence (IPV) in all spheres of life, women continue to endure abuse in their private lives. Intervention programmes adopted across the globe and at the national level to address the problem have been too limited in systemically addressing IPV. Based on this foundation, this study, located in the interpretivist paradigm, investigated the effectiveness of programmes being implemented to address the needs of women experiencing IPV in Msinga, a rural area within the uMzinyathi District Municipality in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The study employed a qualitative research design. The data collection methods included indepth individual interviews and two focus group discussions. Purposive sampling was used to select 40 individual interview participants. The first set of interviews and the first focus group discussion were with the key informants (members of staff) from the organisations that were identified as dealing with cases of IPV in Msinga. The second set of interviews and second focus group discussion were held with 32 women survivors of IPV in Msinga. Both in-deth indivual interviews and focus groups discussions examined the effectiveness of the IPV programmes implemented in Msinga. The post-structural feminist theory and the socio-ecological model were used as the theoretical framework to inform the study. Informed by this framework, findings revealed that the intersectionality of gender, race, class and ethnicity leave women from poor socio-economic upbringing more vulnerable to IPV. Henceforth, IPV unfolds in an explicit context whereby layers of disadvantage preserve women in a deprivation trap, resulting in a vicious cycle of poverty. This observation echoes that women’s everyday realities are context-specific. Against this background, the findings conclude that women’s lived experiences influence how they construct the factors that perpetuate IPV in their relationships. Additionally, it was discovered that in most occurrences the emotional and physical abuse of women are interwoven and that a patriarchal system (yet again) perpatrate the oppression of women. Findings suggest that structural inequalities and the socialisation of women in Msinga contribute to individual and societal acceptance of IPV, consequently perpetuating the subordination of women. While existing measures such as shelters for abused women provide protection, they are unable to address the structural and systemic nature of IPV. Thus, women in rural areas who experience IPV lack long-term support that is presented in a transformative and sustainable manner. To promote effective IPV intervention, it is recommended that prevention programmes need to occur at three levels: 1) At a primary prevention level. This is critical in preventing IPV in that it intervenes with individuals, families and communities in ways that stop the perpetuation of violent behaviours. 2) At a secondary intervention level. This provides victims with information and services thereby mitigating the consequences of exposures to violence. 3) At a tertiary intervention level. This is concerned with reducing the long-term negative effects of violence. Merging primary, secondary and tertiary prevention strategies would be best particularly in communities or families that are already characterised by violence.
Experiences of gender-based violence in a transnational context: a case study of Congolese male refugees living in Durban, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.
(2022) Mugisho, Ndabuli Theophile.; Muthuki, Janet Muthoni.
Gender-based violence (GBV) is a global issue that can occur in any setting, and the transnational environment is no exception. GBV among male refugees in their communities is a large field that needs more focus since most research explores opinions about female victims instead of perpetrators. The unending armed conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) caused dreadful atrocities by entangling people’s lives, a condition that caused many to flee their country. Women and men suffered the violence differently; women endured violence because of the cyclic wars and abusive social norms. While living in their home country, these Congolese male refugees were informed of GBV; either they committed, heard or saw it. They migrated to the transnational setting of South Africa, in Durban in particular but never left behind their home perceptions of gendered violence. This research details fieldwork carried out in 2021 regarding the transnational experiences of GBV of Congolese male refugees living in the South African city of Durban. Specifically, the researcher used a qualitative method, with a sample of 30 Congolese male refugees living in Durban, in the province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). In an in-depth telephonic interview, the participants, whose ages varied between 25 and 50 years old, willingly shared their experiences with the researcher. The research findings confirm that Congolese male refugees' experiences of GBV, while living in DRC or Durban, built on their past cultural insights, values and practices, which they merged with their new context in their transnational setting. However, they also learned the local culture through their new connections, which they sometimes mixed with theirs. In this way, they created new techniques of abusing their women. This highlighted socialisation, the complexity of GBV, identities and masculinities as renegotiated in a transnational space. Indeed, the traditions and norms these refugees came with and those they learned during their socialising in the South African community of Durban played a great role in promoting the abuse of women. vii By using a thematic analysis paradigm that is a qualitative approach, the researcher wanted to underline the context in which the shared manner of beliefs and observations of the Congolese male refugees and his multidimensional positionality overlapped to create understanding. The researcher equally emphasised masculinities and socialisation as critical and dynamic issues in the data collection process. The collected information shows that DRC male refugees admit that masculinities, socialisation and transnationalism were the main factors that influenced their violence toward women. As these men fled their country for safety, they willingly chose South Africa and the City of Durban, in particular, as host communities because they offered life opportunities. They mingled with local GBV tactics because the surrounding environment condones the violence. This has considered the socio-ecological context and opportunity in place since they build on masculinities and societal norms that encourage men to take advantage of abusing women in a relatively different context to that they experienced in their home country. Moreover, the social conditions and the problems these male refugees face regarding social integration and gender-based norms in their transnational setting push them into perpetrating GBV. Lack of government assistance, discrimination over access to a job, and being separated from their home families and relatives cause them stress, making them fail to fulfil their role as respectable household managers and breadwinners. The situation has forced them to perpetrate violence against women to gain authority and respect. The onus of perpetrating gendered violence remains on the shoulders of society because masculinities and oppressive patriarchal norms keep these male refugees in their position as respectable men. This research also provides critical insights into the dynamics faced by these Congolese male refugees because of immersing themselves in Durban, a city located in the province of KZN. The province has a high level of violence, particularly GBV, and accommodates many refugees from Africa and other continents. Research outcomes confirm that interviewees’ constant socialisation and renegotiating identities opened a good opportunity to reinforce their perspectives of gendered violence. GBV overlaps with migration because local social norms, socialisation, masculinities and identities facilitate refugees in their transnational milieu, mostly those from societies with hegemonic masculinities, to learn much from the local community regarding women abuse. Indeed, living in the Zulu community in the transnational context required these refugees to socialise for cultural and social integration. Consequently, these Congolese men had to learn local attitudes and beliefs about gendered violence in addition to the perceptions they brought with them when they relocated to South Africa. Overall, social integration required them to learn new approaches regarding GBV, and to renegotiate their masculinities and identity in Durban. The themes raised in this research show that, in their transnational setting, Congolese male refugees perpetrate GBV to ensure that women remain submissive to them and that their power and social status remain valued. It was an interesting result as the interviewees were reinterpreting and redefining their masculinities and shared their experiences regarding GBV based on how they renegotiated their social identities and masculine influence to socialise and integrate into their new locale. Similarly, this research has explored how the interviewees’ social integration empowered them by creating several versions of masculinity and various strategies for perpetrating GBV within their transnational milieu. The exploration of these male refugees’ engagement in sharing their personal experiences about GBV in a transnational setting clearly confirms there is a dilemma based on the dialectic of their experiences. GBV in DRC and the transnational environment remains the result of gender attitudes, masculinities, socio-cultural upbringing, and social beliefs the interviewees came with and those they met in Durban. Such context demonstrates how masculinities and identity renegotiation are hybridised for condoning GBV in a transnational locale.
Exploring the experiences of African female students in the environmental science program at the University of KwaZulu-Natal Pietermaritzburg and Westville campus.
(2017) Khoza, Sindiswa Yoland.; Muthuki, Janet Muthoni.
The study is based on African female students and the different obstacles they have faced and continue to face due to aspects such as social, political and economic oppression that have hindered their growth in the academic and work environment. The aim of the study was to explore the experiences of African female students in the Environmental sciences field at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The study gathered the different experiences that Black female students’ experience in the previously male dominated field of study phase. The study also looked at different aspects such as the factors influencing Black female students’ choice of Environmental Science. The study included various questions that broadened experiences and asked specific questions that looked into the influences on black females in the environmental science field and how negotiation will impact the women’s personal and work environment. The questions also included the challenges that the women faced and what their future aspirations were. These sets of questions opened up different areas of experience that the affected women had and their influences in shaping their experience in the field. The study identified various challenges faced by Black women in environmental sciences. Racial discrimination is one of the major challenges that Black female environmental science students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal are faced with. The study also suggested further research in the environmental sciences at postgraduate level is needed. The study also suggested that several studies look at engineering and medicine, it would be more informative if environmental science is viewed as a field that can stand on its own and not be organized under Science, Technology Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields.
Exploring the impact of women's organizations in peace building in Africa : a case study of women's organizations in South Sudan.
(2015) Adeogun, Tolulope Jolaaden; Muthuki, Janet Muthoni.; Okeke-Uzodike, Nwabufo Ikechukwu.
At the center of the crisis within Africa’s war-affected countries and regions, are similar causes of war such as the desire to acquire power and secure resources for one group of elites or one ethno-national group at the expense of others. These are few examples; Côte d’Ivoire was virtually split in half with government and armed resistance movements on opposite sides, in Uganda, the Lord’s Resistance Army continues to abduct children and transform them into soldiers; in Sudan, ethnic militia violently confronted each other for about two decades, over resource allocations and other reasons as mentioned above. Regrettably, women and children suffer the most severe consequences of conflicts. In lieu of this, African women decided to take up the challenges by organizing groups that will not only focus on women empowerment at the grassroots but also on how to get women involved in decision making policies especially when it involves peace building. Literature is replete in the area of women’s organizations and peace building in Africa but as regards women’s organizations in peace building in South Sudan there is a paucity of studies and the few studies executed in this regard, were carried out among foreign based women’s organizations outside South Sudan because of the risks involved. But as far as women’s organizations in peace building in South Sudan are concerned, this study is the only work so far carried out among the local women’s organization and women at the grass roots within the four corners of Juba in South Sudan. With the Lederach Moral Imagination and Molyneux organizing theories, this study interrogates the strategies employed by women organizations in South Sudan in building peace. Based on the findings of the study, women’s organizations were able to strategize depending on each organization’s programs on how to help women by involving men and youths in the society. That is, looking at the society and the effect of patriarchy, and also knowing the power these men have on their women to hold them back from participating in trainings, women’s organizations were able to come up with a way out. With this way out they were directly or indirectly involving the society in the peace building role. This study also finds out that women were more involved in peace building at the grass roots than at the decision making level, which incapacitates the ‘bottom-up’ approach used by these women’s organizations in South Sudan. In the findings of this work it was realized that women’s organizations are working hard to get women involved in peace processes of their country but there are some constraints in the way of their success, some of which include high level of illiteracy among South Sudanese women, lack of infrastructure, and exclusion of women in decision making bodies, patriarchy, lack of funds and so on. These constraints hinder the success of women’s organizations in peace building in South Sudan. This study concludes that for women’s organizations to build peace successfully using the ‘bottom up’ approach in South Sudan, they must be effectively represented in decision making, peace processes and there must also be a kind of ‘top down’ effort corroborating their efforts.
Exploring the intervention efforts in helping women survivors of sexual violence in the aftermath of the 2007/2008 post- election violence in Kisumu county, Kenya.
(2018) Makau, Esther Mwongeli.; Muthuki, Janet Muthoni.
During Kenya’s 2007/08 post-election violence, sexual violence in form of single and gang rape was rampant with women bearing the brunt of it. The deteriorating levels of insecurity not only in Kisumu but in other parts of the country that witnessed intense violence and the inability to access support services worsened the experiences of the women who had suffered sexual violence. Many women endured immense pain as the physical, psycho-logical and socio-economic effects of the violence took a toll on them. As a result, the government and other stakeholders initiated several interventions with a view to alleviate the suffering that the female survivors of sexual violence had experienced. This study aims at exploring the intervention initiatives that were put in place to address the needs of the female survivors of sexual violence in Kisumu County. Even though research on intervention strategies for female survivors of sexual violence during and after conflict has been widely researched in countries that have experienced conflict, in Kenya, it remains under-researched. In this regard, the study utilized qualitative research methodology in order to explore the effectiveness of the intervention strategies by relying heavily on the perspectives of the female survivors of sexual violence as well as other key informants. Thirty- five women participants (survivors of sexual violence) were interviewed as well as nine key informants who were exclusive of the thirty primary participants. The study examined how the women traversed through the various agencies in order to access the support services made to address their needs and the challenges they encountered during this process. It also examined the challenges faced by the various actors in offering support to the women, how they countered them as well as the inter-linkages that existed among them. Three theories were employed in this study: the feminist theory of rape, the conflict transformation approach and the socio-ecological model of intervention. Key study findings established are; as the women interacted with the formal support structures in finding help, in some instances, they experienced positive reactions while in other circumstances, it was adverse. However, despite the undesirable responses that they received, they were able to adopt various coping mechanisms that helped them to remain robust. In the course of the study, what was further established was that, sexual violence as was experienced by women survivors in Kisumu County was rooted in inequality, discrimination and male domination that was rooted and engrained in indigenous Kenya, was solidified during the colonial period and transited through post-independent Kenya. Despite the intervention strategies initiated, the female survivors of sexual violence perceive themselves as a neglected category by the state whom they quantified should take the lead in addressing their plight.
The extent to which African indigenous language tools are an instrument to promote or/and hinder gender equality: critical analysis of chichewa proverbs of Malawi.
(2019) Chiwaya-Kamwendo, Juliet Jacinta.; Muthuki, Janet Muthoni.; Kaya, Hassan Omari.
This study is traced from the United Nation Sustainable Development goal number five of gender equality and women empowerment which supersede Millennium Development Goals number three. One way in which language is used is through the use of proverbs. The study aimed at finding out how Chichewa proverbs of Malawi can be an instrument to promote or hinder gender equality and women empowerment. The study followed hermeneutic phenomenological method and qualitative research approach to understand and interpret the connotations inscribed in Chichewa gendered proverbs. In order to unpack and analyze the proverbs, the study is underpinned within the Knowledge translation theory, along with critical discourse analysis and the reformist African feminism. Two methods of data collection were adopted in this study: desktop search and interviews which were conducted with the aid of semi-structured open ended questions. The interviews were conducted in two separate ways ie. Individual face to face as well as focus groups. In total, fourty four participants were from four different population groups namely; the block leaders, the ward councillors, the education managers and other respondents who were just residents of the area. Using content analysis, the data were analyzed qualitatively and findings presented and discussed thematically. On a positive note, the results of this study reveals that Chichewa proverbs may work positively towards enhancing gender equality and women empowerment. This is demonstrated when some proverbs portray women as symbols of warmth to the society while others encourage women empowerment and agency. Secondly, men’s bad and evil behaviors towards women are rebuked in some Chichewa proverbs. The results of this study further shows that within Malawi society, men are not completely free from proverbial negativity but are equally victims of proverbial messages. With special reference to matrilineal society, proverbs have shown elements of discrimination on the part of suitors (mkamwini). This is in conflict with some Eurocentric gender studies which completely ignore the dynamics and uniqueness of different context, cultures and traditions. With the aid of poly-epistemic research approach and methodologies, such tradition dynamics were unravelled to fill the gaps and contribute to already existing body of knowledge. However, to the larger extent Chichewa proverbs have elements that work against women in various aspects. The proverbs are tools used to create and sustain the construction of hegemonic masculinity and femininity hence the superiority of men and inferiority of women in Malawi is sustained. By creating a body of knowledge which portray women as gossipers, evil beings, weak and people lacking decision-making skills, women continue to suffer oppression, marginalization, subordination and discrination in various ways both in public and privatespheres. Even though the results of this study reveal that probably both men and women were involved in the construction of proverbs, but the knowledge contribution of women in this domain was just meant to serve the male chauvinistic. This study therefore concludes that although some Chichewa proverbs can be used by gender activists to promote gender equality in Malawi, the wisdom embedded in some proverbs seem to be a hindrance towards the advance.
From autonomy to independence : the challenges of nation-building in South Sudan.
(2014) Akwanga, Ebenezer Derek Mbongo.; Okeke-Uzodike, Nwabufo Ikechukwu.; Muthuki, Janet Muthoni.
This study explores the dynamic process of the now Republic of South Sudan‘s achievement of independence after years of autonomy, with a focus on the challenges confronting nation-building efforts in the world‘s youngest nation. The author has a special interest in the study because of his direct involvement in the struggle for external self-determination in his Homeland, the former Barotseland. He followed the events prior to, during and after South Sudan‘s independence with close interest. The hope of attaining independence endured for decades, even when the country was in the grip of one of the most disastrous civil wars. Despite immense challenges and setbacks, South Sudan has managed to rise from the dust of civil war and the limitations of a contradictory autonomy to a new dawn as an independent state. The purpose of this study is fourfold. First, it examines recent national and international processes that contributed to the making of the world‘s youngest country, the Republic of South Sudan, grounding the discussion on the nation-building theory. Secondly, the study provides a case study analysis of other African and Asian nations that have undergone similar or near-similar nation-building processes. Thirdly, through an empirical investigation using primary data, the study identifies the challenges confronting South Sudan in its nation-building quest, and considers the country‘s future prospects. Finally, based on the available literature, the study makes a number of recommendations regarding the challenges facing this young, troubled, yet promising nation.
Gender complexities in the context of xenophobia-afrophobia in the transnational space: the experiences of Somali women in Mayfair and Pretoria West in Gauteng Province, South Africa.
(2017) Waiganjo, Anthony Gathambiri.; Muthuki, Janet Muthoni.
The migration of Somali women into South Africa is a fast growing phenomenon due to migrants fleeing intersecting factors of socio-political and economic nature. As compared to Somalia and Kenya, where they encounter socio- political and economic destabilization, these women arrive in South Africa with many expectations for a better life. Somali women leave their countries of origin due to civil wars, Al-Shabaab menace, economic crisis, a lack of opportunities and the need for the transit route to Europe and America. Despite this, women encounter several complexities within the transnational space, such as Xenophobia-Afrophobia. This study focuses on the Xenophobia-Afrophobia related complexities of Somali women in the transnational space. While Xenophobia is the fear of foreigners, Afrophobia is the fear of Black foreigners of African origin. The term Xenophobia-Afrophobia is adopted into the study because, in South African context, both Black Africans who are non-South Africans and foreigners from outside Africa are soft targets of the antiforeigner’s bigotry. Bigotry among anti-foreigners poses a current problem facing contemporary South Africa, damaging the image of Africa and other counties who are resisting immigrant’s influx into their countries. Due to Somali businesses being established amongst the poorest communities in South Africa, natives brand them as ‘job stealers’ and competitors of scarce opportunities manufacturing them as the main victims of Xenophobia-Afrophobia. (Niyigena, 2013). The upsurge of violence against foreign nationals in 2008 and 2015, and the isolated incidences of 2010, 2013 and 2014, are some of the examples that vividly speak to the issues of Xenophobia-Afrophobia in South Africa. This study ushers in a gender perspective of the complex phenomenon of Xenophobia-Afrophobia, as it centres around Somali women. Existing studies in Xenophobia-Afrophobia tend to categorise migrants as a homogeneous entity. However there is a huge diversity among foreign nationals with reference to their different social locations. This study examines women’s multiple social locations by accentuating the diversity of their experiences of Xenophobia-Afrophobia. It also unearths underlying interconnected power factors that either impede or empower their capacity to navigate a transnational context. This is an empirical qualitative study that adopts in-depth interviews for the data collection of Xenophobia-Afrophobia experiences of Somali women in the Gauteng province. The in-depth interviews were purposively conducted with forty interview participants that comprised 2 Action Support Centre officials. There were 38 Somali participants within and outside SASOWNET that were interviewed. The sample included Somali academics from various South African universities. The analysis of the datum, which was intended to give meaning to the social phenomenon facing complexities amongst Somali women, adopted a thematic analysis that capitalized on the salient themes throughout the analysis process. The study employed the theories of feminist intersectionality, Gendered Geographies of Power, and Social Network. This study found out that within the transnational space, women experienced overt and covert Xenophobia-Afrophobia within the intersections of their nationality, gender, clan, education, religion differently, because their social locations affected how they negotiated their spaces within the context of Xenophobia. Despite the Xenophobia-Afrophoba complexity affecting Somali women, this study rules out that women are helpless victims. However it proposes the thinking that women have agency which facilitates the negotiation within the transnational space. Within the transnational space, women experience covert Xenophobia-Afrophobia in the Department of Health, Department of Home Affairs, law enforcement and educational institutions. Futher, overt Xenophobia is also manifested in the violent attacks that have been prevalent in the province.
The gendered politics of land distribution and inheritance by widowed women in KwaZulu-Natal.
(2018) Owusu, Iris Bongi.; Muthuki, Janet Muthoni.
The land question in South Africa is a recurrent debate in today’s political and socio-economic atmosphere, so too is the discourse about the rights of women to land inheritance. While the South African Government is making efforts to ensure that the rights of women to land inheritance are protected, women still remain marginalized. They continue to be confronted with numerous cultural injustices and other harmful practices that conflict with the Constitution of the country as well as with international treaties and agreements to which South Africa is signatory. The thesis examined the gendered politics that are involved in land inheritance amongst the Zulu Speaking widowed women in KwaZulu-Natal. The study focused on the experiences of the Zulu speaking widows who are members of WWOSA which is a non-governmental organisation based in the Northern part of KZN in Richards Bay. Even though the focus is within WWOSA, the study reviewed other relevant and related literature on widowhood rituals and land disinheritance globally, seeing asit is not uniquely South Africa phenomenon and is quite prevalent in other parts of the African continent. Therefore, to investigate the phenomenon and the politics involved in the land inheritance by the Zulu speaking widows, the study sort to answer the following questions: What are the traditional practices surrounding land inheritance for widows in KZN Province? What are the constitutional provisions related to land inheritance for widows? What is the role of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) in implementing land reform gender policy? How does the DRDLR partner with other stakeholders in land access and distribution issues? The study adopted a qualitative research approach to address the aforementioned questions, which included in-depth interviews with WWOSA and sourcing relevant secondary data like documents from DRDLR, newspaper articles, published books and journals to mention a few.
Health care access and challenges: a case study of women migrant labourers in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal=Ukufinyelela kwezempilo nezinselelo: ucwaningonto ngabesifazane bokufika abasebenza eMadadeni, KwaZulu-Natali.
(2023) Ntshangase, Mlungisi Lungisile.; Muthuki, Janet Muthoni.
Extreme economic disparity, both within and between nations, as well as unequal national political settings, characterize Southern Africa. “In 2019, 272 million people worldwide were international migrants” (Jinnah, 2020). Different types of cross-border mobility take a pivotal role in the livelihoods of both individuals and households in these circumstances. Historically, formal male migrant labour had dominated intra-regional labour mobility, particularly in the mining industry in South Africa (SA). Even now, the major destination is still South Africa, but over the past 20 to 25 years, political and economic shifts have led to a greater diversity of intra-regional migrant flows by location, temporality, and demography, including gender. Additionally, migrants' jobs and means of support now cover a diverse range of formalities, industries, and security. Female migrants often work in feminized labour, such as domestic and care work, but they also engage in a variety of service sector jobs and informal cross-border trading. Their presence in the labour market puts them in confusing and contentious relationships with South African citizens, who also deal with high unemployment and insecure employment rates. As a result, immigrants face xenophobia, gender and employment vulnerability and are accused of "taking jobs" from South African citizens. There is a great heterogeneity and history to migration in Southern African Development Community (SADC), including but not limited to, forced migrants fleeing conflict; individuals moving in search of improved livelihood opportunities; asylum seekers and refugees; traders and seasonal workers displaced within their own countries or moving cross-border - some have legal documents while others are without (Crush et al., 2005). In cases of labour migrants each situation may create and respond to its own set of health concerns, dependent on part upon where migrants work and live, the duration and conditions of their stay, and whether and when they return home (Preston-Whyte, 2006:33). Various interrelated factors account for migrant health, including behaviour, health-seeking behaviour and care-seeking decisions. Some behaviours are born of vulnerability, such as risky sex to procure food security, and some vulnerabilities are born of discrimination. Furthermore, health is not solely a physical condition that should be attained or maintained, but one that also incorporates mental health, which can be damaged through trauma, torture or depression, and ultimately causes much detriment to the well-being and the ability to adapt to a new environment (IOM, 2013; UNAIDS, 2014). The behaviour of health professionals has similarly ix | P a g e been indicated as one of the two factors that most determine the use or non-use of health services by immigrant communities. Studies suggest that these professionals frequently present a limited knowledge of legislation and/or its applicability and act in accordance with social stereotypes (Wolffers & Fernandez, 2003 and Dias et al., 2010), not responding to the effective needs of the users. In addition, they tend to have no cultural competencies necessary to relate with users from other nationalities, and do not know their specific characteristics (Pusseti et al., 2009). The South African legislative framework advocates for the universal acquiring of health services and the basic determinants of health. The National department of health has committed to providing efficient, equitable and accessible health services to all people residing within the country regardless of their identity status. Inaccessibility of healthcare service not only violate women migrants’ rights, but also may results in increasing the prevalence rate of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV); Sexually-transmitted Infections; Prevention of Mother-toChild Transmission (PMTCT); Non-communicable diseases and Child mortality rate. This may also threaten the women labour migrants’ lives if they had not taken necessary precautions. Women labour migrants from Southern Africa, working in the Newcastle Municipality textile industry, are also not immune to the challenges of healthcare accessibility. This study examines the experience of women migrants labourers from Southern Africa to determine their accessibility to healthcare services given their working conditions, culture shock, language barrier and their socio-economic conditions. This is an empirical qualitative study that adopted in-depth interviews for the data collection of women labour migrants’ views and experiences regarding access to healthcare services within Newcastle Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal Province. The in-depth interviews were purposively conducted with 35 participants from Newcastle textile firms, and these comprised 7 key informants. The sample was only limited to women labour migrants from Southern Africa working in the textile industries within Newcastle Municipality. The analysis of the datum, which was intended to give meaning to the conundrum of women labour migrants’ access to healthcare services, adopted a thematic analysis that capitalized on structured themes throughout the analysis process. The study employed the theories of intersectionality feminism, the health capability approach thus including capabilities of gender inequality, access to health care, and the social exclusion theory. This study found out that within the transnational space, women experienced overt and x | P a g e covert issues regarding access to health-care services on transition and during their stay whilst working in the textile industry. However, there were some factors that influence their utilisation of healthcare facilities within the Newcastle Municipality area, these include culture, degree on basic education, the number of years stayed in the area and spoken language. IQOQA Umehluko omkhulu womnotho, ngaphakathi naphakathi kwezizwe, kanjalo ukungalingani kwezimo zombusazwe kuzwelonke, kuhlonza iNingizimu Afrika. “Ngowezi-2019, izigidi zabantu ezingama-272 emhlabeni wonke bayizihambi zamazwe ngamazwe” (Jinnah, 2020. Izindlela ezahlukene zokuwela umngcele zibambe elikhulu iqhaza empilweni yokubili kumuntu ngamunye nasemindenini kulezi zimo. Ngokomlando, ukuhamba kowesilisa okusemthethweni ngokomsebenzi bekudlangile nokuhamba ngomsebenzi kwangaphakathi, ikakhulu embonini yezimayini eNingizimu Afrika (SA). Ngisho namanje, ufuduko lusalokhu lubheke eNingizimu Afrika, kodwa eminyakeni eyedlule engaphezu kwama-20 kuya kwengama-25, izinguquko kwezombusazwe nakwezomnotho ziholele kokukhulu ukwehlukana ngokutheleka kwezihambi ngaphakathi kwesifunda ngokokuhlala, ukugoba amadlangala nezibalo zabantu, kubandakanya ubulili. Ukwengeza, imisebenzi yezihambi nezindlela zokwesekela manje zifaka izinhlobonhlobo zemigomo, izimboni nezokuphepha. Izihambi zesifazane zivame ukwenza imisebenzi yabesifazane, njengokuthi nje imisebenzi yasekhaya neyokunakekela, kodwa futhi bayazibandakanya emikhakheni yezinsiza yemisebenzi eyahlukahlukene nasekuhwebeni okungagunyaziwe emingceleni. Ubukhona babo emisebenzini yokuhweba kubabeka ebudlelwaneni obudidayo nobunezinxushunxushu nezakhamuzi zaseNingizimu Afrika, nazo ezibhekene nezinga eliphezulu lokungaqashwa namazinga aphakeme okungavikeleki kokuqashwa. Ngenxa yalokho, izihambi zibhekana nokucwaswa ngokobuzwe, ngokobulili nokuba sengozini ngokuqashwa kanye nokugxekwa “ngokuthatha imisebenzi” kwizakhamuzi zaseNingizimu Afrika. Kukhona okukhulu ukwehlukaniswa kanye nomlando wokufuduka komphakathi osathuthuka eNingizimu Afrika (SADC), kuhlanganisa kodwa okungenamkhawulo kukho, okuphoqa izihambi ukubalekela izinxushunxushu; ukuhamba kwabantu ngabanye ngabanye ukuyofuna amathuba angcono okuzithuthukisa empilweni; abafuna ukukhoseliswa nababaleki; abahwebi nabasebenza ngenkathi ethile abadingisiwe emazweni akubo noma behamba beqa umngcele – abanye banezimvume ezisemthethweni lapho abanye bengenazo (Crush nabanye, 2005). Ezindabeni zokusebenza kwezihambi isimo ngasinye singase sidale futhi siphendule esimeni saso sokukhathazeka ngempilo, kuncike engxenyeni yokuthi izihambi zisebenza futhi zihlala kuphi, ubude besikhathi nezimo zokuhlala kwazo, nesimo sezulu nokuthi zibuyela nini ekhaya ((Preston-Whyte, 2006:33). Izimo ezahlukahlukene ezihlobene ziyimbangela yempilo yezihambi, kubandakanya ukuziphatha, impilo yokufuna ukuziphatha nezinqumo zokufuna ukunakekelwa. Okunye ukuziphatha kubangelwa ukungavikeleki, njengokuba socansini olubucayi ukuba kutholakale ukuvikeleka kokudla, nezinye izingozi ezidalwa wukucwaswa. Ngaphezu kwalokhu, impilo akuyona kuphela eyesimo somzimba okufanele itholakale noma inakekelwe, kodwa enye futhi ifaka impilo ngokomqondo, engalimazeka ngokuhlukumezeka, ukuhlushwa noma ngengcindezi, bese umphumela udale omkhulu umonakalo kwinhlalakahle nangokukwazi ukwamukela indawo entsha (IOM, 1013; UNAIDS, 2014). Ukuziphatha kongoti bezempilo kuvezwe ngokufanayo njengezinto ezimbili ezinquma ukusetshenziswa noma ukungasetshenziswa kwezinsiza zezempilo wumphakathi wezihambi. Ucwaningo luphakamisa ukuthi labo ngoti bavamile ukwethula ulwazi olungenele lwesishayamthetho nokuthi noma ukusetshenziswa kwalo nokwenza ngokuhambisana nemibono yenhlalo (Wolffers & Fernandez, 2003 no-Dias nabanye, 2010), hhayi ukubhekana nezidingo ezisebenzayo zabazisebenzisayo. Okunye, babonakala bengenalwazi ngokwesiko oludingakalayo ukuhlobana nabasebenzisi abavela kwezinye izizwe, futhi abazazi izimpawu zabo ezikhethekile (Pusseti nabanye, 2009). Uhlakakusebenza lomthetho waseNingizimu Afrika luqhakambisa ukutholakala kwezinsiza zempilo emhlabeni nezinqumo eziyisisekelo sezempilo. UMnyango kazwelonke wezempilo uzibophezele ekuhlinzekeni ngempumelelo, izinsiza zezempilo ezingakhethi nezitholakalayo kubo bonke abantu abahlala ezweni ngaphandle kwesimo sokuhlonzwa kwabo. Ukungafinyeleli osizweni lwezempilo akuphuli nje kuphela amalungelo abesifazane abayizihambi, kodwa futhi kungase kuholele ekwandiseni izinga lokudlanga kwegciwane lesandulela ngculazi/Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV); ukuthelelana ngezifo zocansi ezithathelwanayo; ukuvikelwa kokudlulisela kukamama enganeni ukuthathelwana (PMTCT); izifo ezingathathelwani kanye nezinga lokufa kwezingane. Lokhu kungase futhi kubeke engcupheni impilo yabesifazane abayizihambi abangabasebenzi uma bengathathi izinyathelo ezidingekayo. Abesifazane abangabasenzi abayizihambi bevela eNingizimu Afrika, abasebenza kuMasipala eMadadeni embonini yendwangu, nabo futhi abagonyelwanga izinselelo zokufinyelela kwezempilo. Lolu cwaningo luhlola ulwazi lwabesifazane abayizihambi besebenza eNingizimu Afrika ukunquma ngokufinyelela ezinsizeni zezempilo abazithola ezimeni zabo zokusebenza, ukungajwayeli isikompilo, umgomo wolimi nezimo zomnotho womphakathi. Lokhu wucwaningo olwenziwe lwekhwalithethivu oluthathe inhlwayalwazi ejulile ukuqoqa imininingo yenhlolombono yabesifazane abangabasebenzi nolwazi lwabo mayelana nokufinyelela ezinsizeni zezempilo kuMasipala waseMadadeni esifundeni iKwaZulu-Natal. Inhlolovo ejulile yenziwe ngehloso kwabangama-35 ababambe iqhaza baseMadadeni ezimbonini zendwangu, futhi labo babandakanya abanolwazi abayisikhombisa abaqavile. Ilinge belinomkhawulo ophelela kuphela kwabesifazane bokufika babasebenzi bevela eNingizimu Afrika besebenza ezimbonini zendwangu kuMasipala eMadadeni. Uhlaziyo lomniningo, obeluhlose ukuveza incazelo ngenselelo yabesifazane abayizihambi ngokufinyelela ezinsizeni zezempilo, ukwamukela ukuhlaziywa kwendikimba okusebenzise izindikimba ezihleliwe kuyo yonke inqubo yokuhlaziya. Ucwaningo lusebenzise izinjulalwazi ezixubile ezaziwa ngabesifazane, indlela yekhono lezempilo ngakho kuhlanganisa ukukwazi ngokungalingani kobulili, ukufinyelela ekunakekelweni kwempilo, nenjulalwazi yokungabandakanywa emphakathini. Lolu cwaningo luthole ukuthi phakathi endaweni yamazwe ngamazwe, abesifazane babhekana nezindaba ezisobala nezifihlakele maqondana nokufinyelela ezinsizeni zokunakekelwa kwezempilo ekuguqukeni nangesikhathi sokuhlala kwabo lapho besebenza embonini yendwangu. Kodwa zikhona ezinye izinto ezinomthelela ekusebenziseni kwabo izikhungo zempilo kuMasipala wasendaweni yaseMadadeni, lezi zihlanganisa isikompilo, izinga lesisekelo semfundo, iminyaka esihlalwe endaweni nolimi olukhulunywayo.
Investigating the role and effectiveness of intervention strategies employed by six organisations dealing with intimate partner violence in Lesotho.
(2020) Matela, Lebohang Irene.; Muthuki, Janet Muthoni.
Intimate partner violence ((IPV) has become an epidemic with ever-rising statistics of women battered and murdered by their intimate partners. Although IPV is on the rise globally, it is a heightened problem in the poorest countries, especially in the poor neighbourhoods of those countries. Persistently rising statistics on IPV against women in African societies is a clear indication of the status of women in those societies. The low social status of women makes them prone to violence in society and in intimate spaces. IPV paralyses all members of society and affects individual functioning and well-being. Even though IPV has been studied thoroughly in many countries, the literature review has indicated that not much has been done in Lesotho to study IPV, especially with a focus on its socio-cultural context and identifying strategies used by organisations dealing with battered women. Most importantly, there is a lack of investigation and documentation of the effectiveness of strategies implemented to address IPV. Using a qualitative approach, this study teased out the socio-cultural determinants of IPV from the perspectives of both the perpetrators and the survivors of IPV, although the focus was on women. Data demonstrates that the cultural understanding of women influences their relations with men. The study also highlights how the issue of discourse, such as Sesotho proverbs, has contributed to perpetuate violence against women and promote women’s complacency in the situation. The study reveals how survivors use strategies to overcome violence and how access to information plays a critical role in women taking charge of their lives in the midst of their ordeals. It also discusses psychosocial support as vital for the well-being of survivors of IPV and argues for psychosocial support that has an empowerment model with microfinancing for survivors. This research argues for the Confrontation approach to IPV using three prevention strategies simultaneously to address it, namely, primary, secondary and tertiary prevention strategies.
An investigation into the effects of local television soap operas on romantic relationships among University of KwaZulu-Natal’s undergraduate students on the Pietermaritzburg campus.
(2018) Mahlatsi, Palesa Agnes.; Muthuki, Janet Muthoni.
Despite their popularity, few studies have thoroughly investigated the content of local romantic soap operas and their effects on viewers. This study was conducted to address this gap. This study initially explored the effects of local television soap operas on romantic relationships amongst UKZN undergraduate students on the Pietermaritzburg campus. Of particular interest was the way in which university students engaged with soap operas and how they perceived their gender roles within romantic relationships in relation to intimate relationships portrayed in soap operas. The study was positioned within a qualitative research paradigm conducted at UKZN Pietermaritzburg residences. This allowed for the examination, description and interpretation of the data developed throughout the focus groups and indepth interviews. Convenience, purposive and snowballing procedures were adopted to select participants. A total of 30 undergraduate students participated in this study. Ten indepth interviews and three focus groups of 6 to 8 participants were held. The focus group discussions and interviews were recorded and transcribed word-for-word. The data was analysed using a critical thematic analysis to formulate dominant themes within the data. Findings from this study indicated that soap operas have a huge effect on students’ romantic relationships. Further findings were that although soap operas are informative, they can also be over-exaggerated in their portrayal of events. Participants indicated that this is however not entirely bad, as they use the watching of soap operas for relaxation and “escaping” their lives. They also argued that they learn from characters’ experiences and use these lessons when faced with similar situations. Students interviewed stated that a character’s ability to move on, personality characteristics, their earning capacity, physical beauty and relational skills were found to be key influencing factors on the choice of a romantic partner in soap operas. Nonetheless, study participants complained about the portrayal of women in soap operas, describing them as being misrepresented and undermined. Participants indicated that sexual activities on soap operas are over-exaggerated. In short, participants in the study felt that they never get what they expect in relationships when they have based their expectations on soap opera portrayals of relationships. They also pointed out that traditional gender roles and transactional relationships are very popular in soap opera portrayals, and this might unintentionally encourage the viewers to follow similar behaviours. To conclude, the participants indicated that all the themes that emerged from the data have an influence in their relationships.