Rose or thorn? : a black South African woman's account of working in a male-dominated environment
- Tabudi, Sizile Aurelia Thulisile
- Authors: Tabudi, Sizile Aurelia Thulisile
- Date: 2010-10-26T07:19:52Z
- Subjects: Leadership in women , Black women , Sex role in the work environment , Women executives , Sex discrimination in employment
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:6940 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/3450
- Description: D.Phil. , The major part of what is known about women in leadership positions, and the challenges they are facing, is based on studies conducted in first-world countries. There clearly is a gap in the literature in terms of studies that focus on female leaders in Africa. Much has still to be said about the role that cultural practices and prejudices play in hampering the growth and progress of these women. This authentic study of a South African Zulu female manager provides a unique insight into the way she negotiated the challenges of climbing the corporate ladder in a male-dominated environment. Its postmodernist approach challenges the writer to use herself as a research subject while applying the principle of reflexivity in stepping back and analysing lived experiences from a researcher‟s perspective. In opening up her innermost feelings to the world, the researcher reveals who she really is, and how she, as a Zulu woman, wife, mother, and manager, negotiated her way between her own traditional culture and the Western corporate world. This creates real challenges to the researcher, as she has to keep sliding between being the subject and being the researcher at the same time. This narrative of "self" is recreated through interviewing people who had been part of the researcher‟s life during the period which was the focus of the study as well as the researcher recalling significant events. The research focuses on the challenges of being a minority leader in a South African workplace. The resistance to a black female as their superior by black males is highlighted, as is the manner in which these cultural prejudices result in discrimination against women by members of their own culture. The research also illuminates the impact of legislation aimed at transforming the local workplace and the leadership fraternity in a post-apartheid South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Tabudi, Sizile Aurelia Thulisile
- Date: 2010-10-26T07:19:52Z
- Subjects: Leadership in women , Black women , Sex role in the work environment , Women executives , Sex discrimination in employment
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:6940 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/3450
- Description: D.Phil. , The major part of what is known about women in leadership positions, and the challenges they are facing, is based on studies conducted in first-world countries. There clearly is a gap in the literature in terms of studies that focus on female leaders in Africa. Much has still to be said about the role that cultural practices and prejudices play in hampering the growth and progress of these women. This authentic study of a South African Zulu female manager provides a unique insight into the way she negotiated the challenges of climbing the corporate ladder in a male-dominated environment. Its postmodernist approach challenges the writer to use herself as a research subject while applying the principle of reflexivity in stepping back and analysing lived experiences from a researcher‟s perspective. In opening up her innermost feelings to the world, the researcher reveals who she really is, and how she, as a Zulu woman, wife, mother, and manager, negotiated her way between her own traditional culture and the Western corporate world. This creates real challenges to the researcher, as she has to keep sliding between being the subject and being the researcher at the same time. This narrative of "self" is recreated through interviewing people who had been part of the researcher‟s life during the period which was the focus of the study as well as the researcher recalling significant events. The research focuses on the challenges of being a minority leader in a South African workplace. The resistance to a black female as their superior by black males is highlighted, as is the manner in which these cultural prejudices result in discrimination against women by members of their own culture. The research also illuminates the impact of legislation aimed at transforming the local workplace and the leadership fraternity in a post-apartheid South Africa.
- Full Text:
Gender, poverty and recreation in Lenasia : an agenda for change
- Authors: Adam, Zuleykia
- Date: 2010-11-09T07:21:25Z
- Subjects: East Indian women , Black women , Sex discrimination , Sex role , Leisure and recreation , Poverty , Lenasia (South Africa)
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:6980 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/3487
- Description: M.A. , This research report seeks to examine and analyse the role of recreation and leisure in improving the quality of life of women. The critical areas of poverty alleviation and the engendering of self sufficiency and empowerment through appropriate and goal directed programming and strategies will be investigated. Gender relations and hegemonies that govern women's choices will be critically explored with the assumption that women's participation and enjoyment of leisure are dependent on economic capacity and decision making freedom. The underlying aim of recreation is seen to provide an avenue for women to address these inequalities, find means to alleviate poverty, and learn skills for personal growth and enhancement of quality of life. The perceptions that women have of their leisure needs and the constraints to realising those needs are reflective of the amount of, freedom of choice that women are able to exercise. The relationship between freedom to experience leisure and social and ideological constraints to other social aspects of women's lives are important considerations. This research argues that lack of participation in recreational activities is indicative of a range of inequalities experienced by women. Data for this research has been collected from questionnaires and focus groups and contextualised within a feminist framework with a view to effect change in the understanding of recreation's role in the empowerment of women and the establishment of programmes that address inequalities and social problems.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Adam, Zuleykia
- Date: 2010-11-09T07:21:25Z
- Subjects: East Indian women , Black women , Sex discrimination , Sex role , Leisure and recreation , Poverty , Lenasia (South Africa)
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:6980 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/3487
- Description: M.A. , This research report seeks to examine and analyse the role of recreation and leisure in improving the quality of life of women. The critical areas of poverty alleviation and the engendering of self sufficiency and empowerment through appropriate and goal directed programming and strategies will be investigated. Gender relations and hegemonies that govern women's choices will be critically explored with the assumption that women's participation and enjoyment of leisure are dependent on economic capacity and decision making freedom. The underlying aim of recreation is seen to provide an avenue for women to address these inequalities, find means to alleviate poverty, and learn skills for personal growth and enhancement of quality of life. The perceptions that women have of their leisure needs and the constraints to realising those needs are reflective of the amount of, freedom of choice that women are able to exercise. The relationship between freedom to experience leisure and social and ideological constraints to other social aspects of women's lives are important considerations. This research argues that lack of participation in recreational activities is indicative of a range of inequalities experienced by women. Data for this research has been collected from questionnaires and focus groups and contextualised within a feminist framework with a view to effect change in the understanding of recreation's role in the empowerment of women and the establishment of programmes that address inequalities and social problems.
- Full Text:
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