3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Women's empowerment: a discourse analysis of the coca-cola 5by20 global initiative(2017) Mupavayenda, MercyWomen's 'empowerment' has in the past few years become a central focus and major theme on the global development agenda. As a result of a causal link established between women's 'empowerment', gender equality, and economic growth by dominant development institutions (World Bank 2011; IMF 2013; IFC 2013) women have been framed as the answer to end world poverty (World Bank 2011) (UN Women, 2011). This huge claim has caused high contestation among development scholars and feminists who have argued that the development discourse and campaigns emanating from these institutions are deliberately designed to feminise poverty and feminise responsibility thereby creating a double burden for women (Chant & Sweetman 2012). The emerging partnerships between dominant developments institutions and multi-national corporations (MNCs) have further brought about a complex dimension to women's' empowerment'. These institutions argue that investing in women is common sense or 'smart economics'. However, feminists and other development critics suggest 'empowerment' campaigns mask the exploitative relationships private corporations and international banks have with the global South which seek to keep the system intact, turns girls and women into consumers while expanding market penetration and diffusing blame for poverty (Hengveld, 2015). This study takes a critical social science and feminist research paradigm approach, and employs a discourse analysis in order to analyse the Coca- Cola 5by20 global women's empowerment initiative. The study relies on a documentary analysis and uses documents collected mainly from the Coca-Cola website and other relevant institutional websites and research repositories. Findings show that the initiative is conceptualised around the gendered work carried out by women in the developing world. The concept of womanhood (strong, resilient, long suffering mother figure/ matriarch) employed in the empowerment development discourse exaggerates women's capabilities and has its roots in colonial and racist depictions of the 'masculinised black woman who possesses sub-human strength' (hooks, 1990). This concept of womanhood is overburdening to women, and ignores/entrenches the social order which keeps women 'powerless' to trump structural causes of poverty. The contribution of this research lies in that it offers an insight in the use of older women's bodies by the development discourse. It also interrogates the meaning and implication of the UN formalising Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a way of doing development thereby privileging markets as unproblematic spaces and a solution to promote gender equality.Item Amicus curiae participation, gender equality and the South African Constitutional Court(2014-08-14) Spies, AmandaThis study is interested in questions of law and social change, with a particular focus on how litigation can be used strategically to change the law to benefit women. Given law’s patriarchal nature, feminist litigators have often asked questions about whether, and how the law can be used to reflect women’s experience and to improve women’s lives. In this sense, the feminist project in law considers how feminist theory and methodology can be used in constructing legal arguments that seek the improvement of women’s rights and gender equality. The focal point of this study is amicus curiae participation and how this participation is employed by means of feminist litigation strategy so that it enhances rights-claiming and advances gender equality for women within the court system. I examine the way in which amicus curiae participation promotes litigation from a feminist and gendered viewpoint and validates the employment of feminist method to create effective arguments. The main body of the dissertation is dedicated to a case analysis of the Constitutional Court’s core gender jurisprudence and the amici curiae that have participated in these matters. The case discussions are divided into three categories: violence against women, women as part of cultural communities, and specific areas of vulnerability including prostitution and domestic partnerships (between heterosexual couples). The purpose of this analysis is to establish whether the amici curiae that have participated in these matters were able to influence judicial decisions, and how the amici used litigation to communicate a feminist and gendered viewpoint. The study concludes that, whether the relevant amici curiae participation had a direct or indirect impact on judicial decisions or not, its importance lies in engaging the law from a feminist and gendered viewpoint to create awareness of gender inequality, how this inequality is entrenched in the legal system and how it might be remedied.Item Making the international trade regime work for gender equality(2010-03-17T05:59:20Z) Mengesha, Emezat HailuNo abstract provided