3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Language and labour markets in South Africa(2018) Zwane, Ubusiso KagisoThis report investigates the relationship between language proficiency, formal and informal employment and earnings within the employment types. Using a sample of working age African men in the first wave of the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) to determine whether language proficiency is associated with the probability of finding employment, the study finds that English language proficiency does not have a significant association on the probability, but that African home language proficiency has a significant association with the probability of formal employment. While the study finds that African men who are English proficient are likely to earn more than those who are not, this relationship does not hold when analysis is restricted to the formal and informal labour markets. This is likely because of selection effects, that are not controlled for in this study. The contribution of this research is expanding the understanding of the role language plays in labour markets to include how it may affect the kind of employment that one may find.Item Living in and out the closet: an exploration of lesbian identity in the workplace(2016) Destanovic, JustineIn 1996 South Africa was the first country in the world to protect sexual minorities from discrimination in its Constitution. The benefits of a liberal constitution cannot go unacknowledged, however, negotiating lesbian identity within the work context is still a challenge due to the pervasive stigma attached to homosexuality, as well as the remnants of South Africa’s stormy, oppressive political history. Lesbian woman in South Africa grow up in a society which remains predominantly patriarchal and conservatively religious and where the heterosexual assumption, the idea that one is ‘straight’ unless otherwise stated, is continually confirmed and perpetuated in a variety of contexts, including the occupational environment. It is within this setting that lesbian women woman must attempt to negotiate and continually, in varying degrees, and not always by choice, take part in the coming out process in different social spaces. In interviews with seven self-identified lesbian women, the dynamic process of coming out within the occupational environment, was explored in relation to and within relevant cultural, historical, familial and social contexts. All participants had disclosed their sexual identity within the work place, in varying degrees. Key aims of the research were exploring the negotiation of lesbian identity in various occupational contexts as well as identifying strategies used to negotiate the work environment and lesbian identityItem Women’s empowerment and gender mainstreaming in post-apartheid South Africa: an analysis of governmental policy frameworks and practices(2016) Malinga, BongekileDuring the apartheid era, black women were forced into the rural areas to live off the land, without opportunities and choices to allow them to build decent lives for themselves. After many decades of apartheid, South Africa finally became a democratic country in 1994. Following the establishment of democracy in 1994, the South African society experienced quite a number of changes on the economic, social, and political level. Amongst those changes was the rectification of the constitution which recognized all citizens (men and women, black and white) as equal. Numerous acts were put in place to promote equality in all spheres of life. However, to this day, poverty and inequality remain evident on many black women in the country. Microfinance is embraced by many development organizations, states and agencies around the world as the main and efficient form of women’s empowerment. South Africa is also one of the states which have joined the bandwagon, with its Department of Trade and Industry (dti) having various microfinance programmes aimed at empowering women. However, with all the programmes, there seems to be no changes in the situations of black women, especially rural poor women in the country as illustrated by statistics. This paper, therefore, attempts to find out the reason behind the low status of women in post-apartheid South Africa by reviewing critical literature on empowerment and microfinance as an empowerment strategy to understand their impact on women’s lives. The study also analyse the dti’s policy documents on empowerment as one of the state’s institutions which promotes women’s empowerment through microfinance. Furthermore, this study argues that the current women’s empowerment strategy (microfinance) is not for the benefit of poor black women, but for that of the institutions offering these programmes. This argument is supported by an analysis conducted on dti’s women’s empowerment strategic documents and programmes, which was used as a case study for this paper. This study suggests that changes in the designing and implementation of the policies are required.Item Intra organisational perceptions of affirmative action(2014-09-03) Leopeng, Selwalephuthi PeterRecent developments in South Africa and the impending changes in the workplace, have placed new challenges and demands on managers of both big and small organisations. One of these challenges is the introduction and implementation of successful Affirmative Action (AA) programme. However, preparatory to this, it is important to gain an understanding of the perceptions of employees concerning AA because the way perceptions of employees may influence the manner in which such programmes are implemented in companies. The Employment Equity Act No. 55 (Republic of South Africa, 1998) makes it clear that every designated employer must, in order to achieve employment equity, implement AA measures. A survey method was used in this study, and opinions were sought from 209 supervisors and junior managers at Eskom Head Office, Megawatt Park. The results were analysed quantitatively in order to gain an insight into their perceptions of issues concerning AA. The results reveal that there are differences of opinion about AA amongst the junior and middle management employees. The differences are mainly racially based. There is no common understanding of AA and this leads to a dysfunctional effort in the implementation of this change. As resistance to change is a natural behavior of organisations and its members, naturally AA can be expected to be resisted by most employees. The present study suggests ways to overcome this problem and identifies the need for intervention to be undertaken concerning changing perceptions before AA can be understood and successfully implemented .Item Is affirmative action in education defensible?(2014-05-20) Mabaso, AbrahamThis study investigates the defensibility of affirmative action in education. The struggle against apartheid society and apartheid education has also been a struggle to build a democratic society and a democratic way of learning. For South Africa, the children's education should be compatible with the ideals of democratic society. In order to rectify the racist discrimination and insensitivity of the apartheid regime we need to promote the ideal of complex equality. This report argues that affirmative action is not a defensible strategy for the pursuit in education as part of the process of consolidating democracy in South Africa. The notion of equality is best understood in terms of Michael Walzer’s concept of complex equality (as against simple equality). The concept of complex equality can be used to explicate the inadequacies of affirmative action. An account of education is developed which emphasizes complex equality. The application of affirmative action in education presupposes a shallow understanding of education. The pursuit of democracy through education is best promoted through a notion of complex equality because it takes into consideration the plurality of South African society.