Neto, Ângela Pacheco2025-01-172025-01-172024Neto, Ângela Pacheco. (2024). A feminist ontology to data commercialisation: Evaluating women's access to information and privacy within the medico-legal sphere in South Africa [Master’s dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg].WireDSpace.https://hdl.handle.net/10539/43534https://hdl.handle.net/10539/43534Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Laws (Commercial and Business Law) by Coursework and Research Report School of Law University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2024With the dawn of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, rapid exchanges of data have intensified. Technologies like biometric monitoring, female-oriented technologies, and artificial intelligence bring with them a host of legal issues related to consent, access, privacy, and liability. Vulnerable populations or groups must be given particular attention as standard data practices serve to reinforce existing inequalities. For this reason, female-directed and female- generated health data is specifically considered herein. By employing a data feminism lens, it becomes apparent that the current South African regulatory framework has been legislatively misapproached with regards to the medico-legal sphere in South Africa. The methodology herein draws on critical review methods, thematic analysis, and legal discourse analysis, ultimately utilising the general principles of research inherent in the socio-legal sciences. A responsive and flexible health data law that incorporates intersectional narratives is advanced. This holistic response must account for the two-faced coin of female access to information and privacy in order to address historical structures of power inequityen© 2025 University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.Biometric monitoringFemtechFemale-oriented technologyArtificial intelligenceConsentUCTDSDG-5: Gender equalityDissertationUniversity of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg