Gender equality in employment in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region
type: CreativeWork
description: The primary objective of this dissertation is to explore the ways in which gender discrimination in employment is being combated in the Southern African ~ Development Community (SADC) · region. My original intention was to simply examine what measures were being taken in the SADC to attain gender equality at work, and analyse these in light of the various models of equality and feminist theories relevant to the labour market. However, after my initial research it became clear that this approach was unlikely to yield the expected dividends. This was so for a variety of reasons. First, the varying levels of development in the region preclude the divulgence of any hard and fast rules regarding the position of women in 'the labour market'. Second, the 'labour market' is by no means a homogenous entity in Southern Africa, making generalisations more dangerous than ever. Third, it is difficult to accurately gauge the real impact of measures being taken at the regional level on practices and policies in member states. It appears that, even where policy and legislative changes have been made, there is little or no evidence to show that the position of women in the workplace has actually improved. Most importantly, however, was the nature of equality and feminist theories themselves, which has led to the formation of the overwhelming recurring hypothesis underlying this dissertation, namely that equality is as much about the limits of the law as its potential. It was thus necessary to move away from my initial approach, which was predicated on a rather formal conception of the juridical, rights-based notion of equality, towards a much more contextual approach to the subject matter. This approach is borne of the understanding that equality for women in the Southern African labour market will not be attained in universities or parliaments alone. Rather, it is in the application of principles arising out of equality discourse to a specific context that any model purporting to a…
abstract: The primary objective of this dissertation is to explore the ways in which gender discrimination in employment is being combated in the Southern African ~ Development Community (SADC) · region. My original intention was to simply examine what measures were being taken in the SADC to attain gender equality at work, and analyse these in light of the various models of equality and feminist theories relevant to the labour market. However, after my initial research it became clear that this approach was unlikely to yield the expected dividends. This was so for a variety of reasons. First, the varying levels of development in the region preclude the divulgence of any hard and fast rules regarding the position of women in 'the labour market'. Second, the 'labour market' is by no means a homogenous entity in Southern Africa, making generalisations more dangerous than ever. Third, it is difficult to accurately gauge the real impact of measures being taken at the regional level on practices and policies in member states. It appears that, even where policy and legislative changes have been made, there is little or no evidence to show that the position of women in the workplace has actually improved. Most importantly, however, was the nature of equality and feminist theories themselves, which has led to the formation of the overwhelming recurring hypothesis underlying this dissertation, namely that equality is as much about the limits of the law as its potential. It was thus necessary to move away from my initial approach, which was predicated on a rather formal conception of the juridical, rights-based notion of equality, towards a much more contextual approach to the subject matter. This approach is borne of the understanding that equality for women in the Southern African labour market will not be attained in universities or parliaments alone. Rather, it is in the application of principles arising out of equality discourse to a specific context that any model purporting to a…
author: Leslie, Graham Andrew
keywords: Law
date published: 2002
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:42Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Centre for Socio-Legal Research

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/38345