Pacific and Pasifika Theses

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The theses listed in this collection were all completed at Massey University in a range of different departments and institutes. They have been included in this collection if the topic is strongly related to Pasifika/the Pacific.

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1993 - 199912000 - 20101

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Rural women

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    Participation of women in development, with particular emphasis on people participation in the Fiji pine forestry sector : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of Master of Philosophy ... Development Studies, Massey University
    (Massey University, 1993) Fellmann, Felix
    The study examines the degree and authenticity of women's and men's participation at four levels of the development arena: The development organisations of Development Assistance Countries (DAC), the New Zealand Development Cooperation Division of the Ministry of External Relations and Trade (MERT), the Fiji Pine Limited and the two participating case study villages of the Fiji Pine project; Vakabull and Tau. The thesis starts with the premise that the degree of participation depends on the question: who controls the central institutions of a given society? For the development organisations of the Development Assistance Countries, strongly positive, significant correlations were seen between the independent variable of the Proportion of Women Parliamentarians and the dependent variables of the UNDP Gender Index, Proportion of GNP spent on Development cooperation and the Proportion of Development Budget spent on Women in Development. These results present strong evidence that a high proportion of women power-holders are influential in improving development solidarity and gender equality at the policy level. Compared to most Development Assistance countries, nominal women's representation in the Ministry of External Relations and Trade of New Zealand's Development Cooperation Division was above average with an increasing number of women in mid-hierarchy positions. Overall, the study of the Development Cooperation Division found a low level of gender awareness and a high variability of conceptual understanding of participation among the survey participants. Within the organisation of Fiji Pine Limited significant inequality was found in regard to women's access to training. Furthermore, as was the case with the Development Cooperation Division, the degree of gender awareness was low and the conceptual understanding of participation highly variable among the survey participants. The village case study found that for women, patriarchy is most strongly pronounced during adolescent, early marriage and the reproduction phase, and that patriarchal control reduced with age. Women were found to participate to a low degree, and in a passive mode in project implementation. While women had access to most of the project's inputs and benefits, they practically never had control over them. Overall, the men and women of Vakabull and Tau villages were participating in a passive mode which was characterised by minimal information flow, little project related knowledge, little project co-responsibility and inadequate conflict solving structures. The study found that women could be more actively involved in the tree nurseries, tree planting and tree weeding in the area of independent contractors. The second avenue for active women's participation was professional women extension workers, forestry managers and project administrators. Overall, the thesis confirmed the view that the degree of participation in development is a function of the importance of the roles played by gender in their society's central institutions.
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    Adult literacy and women's empowerment : exploring the contribution of a non-formal adult literacy programme to women's empowerment in Aileu, Timor Leste : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University, Albany, Manawatu [i.e. Manawatu], New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2010) Kotsapas, Alicia
    While the majority of studies concerning education in Timor Leste have focused on formal schooling, this thesis seeks to explore the contribution of non-formal adult literacy programmes (NFALP) to rural women’s empowerment in Aileu, Timor Leste by examining the challenges that rural women face in their daily lives, whether their participation in the NFALP and literacy acquisition has assisted them with overcoming these challenges and brought benefits to their lives, and if this has led to their empowerment. The study adopts a gender perspective and focuses on the individual voices of rural adult women in considering how NFALPs are impacting on rural women’s lives, and provides a space for their voice, one which has been marginalised in the literature so far, to be heard. The study examines three important empowerment frameworks presented by Rowlands (1995), Kabeer (1999) and Stromquist (1993) which are relevant to research concerning women and education. The study employs a qualitative feminist methodology in seeking an in-depth understanding of the reality and lived experience of rural women participating in the programme through semi-structured interviews with literacy programme participants and key informants during a period of fieldwork in Timor Leste The research findings reveal that the motivation behind women’s participation in a NFALP is directly related to addressing their practical gender needs, rather than their strategic gender needs, which revolve around reproductive tasks and unpaid productive work. The study found that NFALP offers rural women who missed out on formal schooling another opportunity to achieve an education, however, yet the heavy burden of women’s traditional reproductive roles severely restricts their ability to regularly attend NFALP. Finally, the research found that rural women did experience empowerment through their participation in the NFALP, the most common empowerment dimension experienced being the personal (Rowlands, 1995) or psychological dimension (Stromquist, 1993) of empowerment.