Gender Equity Unit
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Hames, Mary (Taylor & Francis, 2007)[more][less]
Abstract: Despite the proliferation of policies ostensibly protecting all persons’ rights, and mounting critical academic debate and scholarship on sexuality and sexual orientation, sexual orientation in the academy remains a site of deep contestation. The first section of this paper discusses the national legal framework as a basis from which the state’s new social engineering uses liberal human rights as tools for the democratic transformation of society. In the second section, by focusing on the University of the Western Cape, my critique examines the persisting evidence of prejudice and homophobia in South African society alongside seemingly progressive policymaking and intellectual debate. I consider the centrality of national law and policymaking in the restructuring of the higher education environment and assess the extent to which the new education, labour, and other national policies and legislative measures substantively change the climate and culture of higher education institutions. In developing this critique, I map out some of the everyday struggles which may often be marginalised by an over-emphasis on national and institutional policymaking for change. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10566/614 Files in this item: 1
HamesSexualIdentity2007.pdf (232.3Kb) -
Hames, Mary (Jacana Media, 2008)[more][less]
Abstract: Introduction: South Africa is a country that warrants specific interest in the exploration of the significance of the liberal rights that have been assigned to homosexuals in the context of its quest towards citizenship and equality for all. There are several indicators that make this country unique with regard to the recognition of sexual orientation. Firstly, it is the only country on the African continent that ensconced the right to sexual orientation in its constitution; secondly, through protracted litigation homosexuals were afforded other significant rights, amongst them, the right to adopt; the right to a deceased partner’s pension benefits; the right to immigration of foreign partners; the recognition of children born to same-sex couples by way of donor insemination; the right to non-discrimination in employment; the decriminalization of sodomy between consenting adult men; full custody of children in instances of divorce; becoming joint, legal parents of adopted children and most recently the right to enter into a civil partnership. The right to marry offers the promise of more substantive equality and inclusive citizenship. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10566/611 Files in this item: 1
HamesLesbiansCivilUnionAct2008.pdf (74.26Kb) -
Hames, Mary (Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, 2010)[more][less]
Abstract: This article takes a critical look at the research methodologies regarding gender-based violence and HIV and AIDS in South Africa over the last two decades. Gender has become the operative term in these research projects and there has been a conflation or collapse of gender with the feminist perspectives analysis. The immediate question is whether the studies on gender and masculinities have de-politiced feminist research and methodologies or whether it has enhanced the work of feminists. This is undoubtedly a loaded argument that has been on the minds of feminists and those who claim to support feminist theory and praxis. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10566/544 Files in this item: 1
HamesGender-BasedViolence2010.pdf (122.6Kb)