Education and the position of women in the pre-democratic era

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Women and the law

The laws of the country also did not protect women because what happened in the family was private and the state did not intervene. Family violence, the abuse of women, oppression and exploitation in rural areas were referred to community courts, which weref mostly constituted of men. Judgment was not fair and it usually favoured men. Community courts also perpetuated men’s power and authority as a dominant group. This oppression is supported by Lord Denning (in Van Zyl, 1998:2) who writes, “No matter how you may dispute and argue, you cannot alter the fact that women are quite different from men, the principal task in the life of women is to bear and rear children, the men are temperamentally the more aggressive and the women are the more submissive, it is he who takes the initiative and she who responds…” Engagement in political activities has traditionally been considered as a man’s business.

Literacy, empowerment and development

The family is regarded as the most important component in human life. It is here where values, norms and standards of expected behaviour are set. A happy, orderly, motivating family is likely to produce children who are self-confident, full of courage, initiators and willing to reach greater heights. The same applies to a family with literate mothers; they can provide good hygiene for children by reducing the contamination of food with germs and other diseases such as cholera, which are a threat to human life. Literate mothers will be able to participate in their children’s education hence, Freire (1989: viii) points out that literacy must relate directly to the lives people live and set it alongside their practical 51 experience. The ability to provide a firm and literate environment at home serves as a foundation for later years in school.

The role of the researcher and the participants in qualitative research

In qualitative research, the researcher becomes an integral part of the research process and has to develop an ethic of trustworthiness. Qualitative research is, according to Haverkamp (2005: 246) relational. This means that the researcher has to establish ethical principles and standards by forming a good relationship with the participants. Ethics in research represent a thoughtful and courageous commitment to create trustworthy human relationships with participants. These considerations require that the researcher recognises the ethical dimensions of participants by understanding factors such as context, culture and rapport.

Selection of participants

Tuckman (1978:226) asserts that the researcher has the role of defining a population and to select a representative group from this population to serve as respondents. In this study, the researcher involved ABET co-ordinators, ABET educators and learners who are in the ABET literacy programmes, and learners who have already completed the literacy programme. Purposive sampling was used which enabled the researcher to choose cases which abound in data for thorough investigation as asserted by Heppner 60 and Heppner (2004:177)who says that purposive sampling provide the researcher with copious information about issues of pivotal importance to the direction of the research. Out of the total of five centres of Nsami circuit which are offering literacy programmes, two centres which had the highest enrolment on adult learners who are and who completed the literacy programmes were purposefully selected.

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The research instruments for gathering data

The main purpose of qualitative research is to provide evidence to make evident the characteristics of an experience (Polkinghorne, 2005:141). A qualitative researcher has a role to choose the data gathering technique that will provide qualitative data that will be in the form of descriptions that increase an understanding of human life as lived. The Qualitative research method has three types of data collection strategies, which are: • Interviews: These are either individual or focus group interviews, which are openended in nature; interviews produce first hand accounts of the experience. • Direct observation: Henning (2004:85) asserts that direct observation means that the observer performs some of the everyday actions on site and also observes what participants do and say. The researcher becomes part of the action for some time in order to gather as much information as he/she can.

TABLE OF CONTENTS :

  • CHAPTER ONE OVERVIEW AND RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY
    • 1. Introduction
    • 1.1 Literacy and development
    • 1.2 Background to the problem
    • 1.3 Problem statement
    • 1.4 Aims and objectives
    • 1.5 Research questions
    • 1.6 The significance of the study
    • 1.7 Research design and methodology
    • 1.8 Sample and sampling techniques
    • 1.9 Data gathering instruments
      • 1.9.1 Focus group interview
      • 1.9.2 Individual interviews
      • 1.9.3 Open ended Questionnaires
    • 1.10 Delimitation of the study
    • 1.11 Definition of terms
    • 1.12 Summary
  • CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW
    • 2.1 Introduction
    • 2.2 Education and literacy
    • 2.3 Education and the position of women in the pre-democratic era
    • 2.4 Culture and the transmission of gender roles
    • 2.5 Contribution of colonialism and apartheid to high illiteracy rate among 30 black women in Africa
    • 2.6 Inequality and the education system
    • 2.7 Poverty and socio-economic conditions of rural women
    • 2.8 Religion
    • 2.8.1 African traditional religion and beliefs
    • 2.8.2 Christianity and missionary schools
    • 2.9 Women and the law
    • 2.10 Socio–economic and political changes and the need for 47 a literate female population in South Africa
    • 2.11 Literacy, empowerment and development
    • 2.12 Summary
  • CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DESIGN
    • 3.1 Introduction
    • 3.2 The research methodology
    • 3.3 The research design
    • 3.4 The role of the researcher and the participants
    • 3.5 Selection of participants
    • 3.6 The research instruments for gathering data
      • 3.6.1 Individual interviews
      • 3.6.2 The focus group interviews
      • 3.6.3 Planning the focus group interview
      • 3.6.4 Questionnaires
        • 3.6.4.1 Types of questionnaires
      • 3.6.4.2 Advantages of using open–ended questionnaires
    • 3.7 Reliability and validity of the research
    • 3.8 Data capturing and editing
    • 3.9 Summary
  • CHAPTER FOUR FINDINGS FROM DATA ANALYSIS AND DICUSSIONS
  • CHAPTER FIVE SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

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EMPOWERMENT OF RURAL WOMEN OF MOPANI THROUGH ADULT LITERACY PROGRAMMES

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