Investing in Africa’s Africa Future

COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, THEOLOGY, HUMANITIES AND EDUCATION

STUDENT NAME: PRECIOUS T KATIVU

STUDENT ID No.: 181256

COURSE TITLE: RESEARCH METHODS AND STATISTICS FOR SOCIAL

. WORK HSW214

LECTURER: MR TARONDWA

ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS: RESEARCH PROPOSAL ON THE EFFECTS OF

FEMINISM IN ZIMBABWE PARTICULARY THE DOMA PEOPLE
Writing research Proposal

1. Background to the study.

The purpose of this research is to document and describe an exploration and appraisal of

the implementation of a brief-term. The study adopted a qualitative approach, making use

of a multiple, case-based design in which archival case-based data served as the basis for

extracting thematically selective case narratives. No one can deny that the topic of

feminism is a thrilling one. Millions of people around the world support this movement.

Still, there are loads of those who criticize the movement and express the concern of its

scopes. The issue is discussed severely, as it has not only positive effects. Feminism is a

historical, political and social movement of women who spoke for political, economic,

social, and personal equality between sexes. Only because of feminism, women can vote,

go outside not accompanied with men, visit bars and cafes without a convoy of men,

study at schools and universities, wear whatever they want and work wherever they want.

2. Statement of the problem.

High illiteracy levels

Girls drop out to assist in domestic work and later on not able to secure formal

employment. This leads to Limited access to formal employment-

The impact of the HIV/AIDS

Women’s experience as care givers and when they are sick themselves both pose

challenges to engage in meaningful income generation.

Women’s limited power

to make decisions affects their ability to engage in meaningful activities to move out of

poverty

Burden of Triple roles

Production and Reproductive roles consume a lot of time. Women work long hours with

no or little monetary gains. domestic responsibilities

Limited access/control to/over resources;

land, water credit facilities Credit(GOM 2008; 9.7% women able to access loans

compared to 14% men)

Land

In matrilineal women regarded as owners of land but control with men. In patrilineal,

women do not own and can not control land, only access it through husband. Situation

becomes difficult in widowhood

Exposed to domestic violence

Domestic violence, 1 in 3 of those women interviewed in a Malawi Demographic Health

Survey 2004 indicated to have experienced physical violence in the home.

Domestic violence lowers women’s self-esteem and may erode their mental health and

limits their ability to move out of poverty.

Cultural factors
 Entrenched patriarchal values and systems that put men ahead of womenShould show the

ideal situation, real situation and consequences. Subjected to harmful cultural practice

like genital mutilation. Forced early marriages

3. Significance of the study.

Inequality between the genders is a phenomenon that goes back at least 4,000 years (Lerner

1986). Patriarchy refers to a set of institutional structures like property rights access to positions

of power, relationship to sources of income that are based on the belief that men and women are

dichotomous and unequal categories. The United Nations Human Development Report 2004

estimated that when both paid employment and unpaid household tasks are accounted for on

average women work more than men. In rural areas of selected developing countries women

performed an average of 20% more work than men, or 120% of men's total work, an additional

102 minutes per day. In the OECD countries surveyed, on average women performed 5% more

work than men or 105% of men's total work an additional 20 minutes per day. OECD countries

surveyed Canada, Denmark, Hungary, Israel, and The Netherlands. According to UN Women,

"Women perform 66 percent of the world's work, produce 50 percent of the food, but earn 10

percent of the income and own 1 percent of the property." The question that feminists ask

therefore is: How does this distinction between male and female, and the attribution of different

qualities to each, serve to organize our institutions the family, law, the occupational structure,

religious institutions, the division between public and private and to perpetuate inequality

between the sexes. Analysing the situations and lives of women in the society , the feminist

perspective defines gender as a source of inequality group conflict and social problem.
4. Purpose of the study/ aim of the study.

This study seeks to explore and to place women’s lives and experiences at the center of

study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and

oppression; and the relationships between power and gender as they intersect with other

identities and social locations such as race, sexual orientation, socio-economic class, and

disability. It aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. It examines women's and

men's social roles, experiences, interests, chores, and feminist politics in a variety of

fields, such as anthropology and sociology, communication, media studies,

psychoanalysis, home economics, literature, education, and philosophy. For many

decades, women of the Zambezi Valley have been excluded in the development realm as

compared to their male counterparts. As a result most women suffer from inferiority

complex, which continues to make them invisible in the public sphere and subjugated to

their male counterparts. This has excelled the unequal access and distribution of

resources, domination of women in private domain, created a limited political

representation of women and a tolerance for male violence against women.

5. Objectives.

1. To assess the knowledge level among participants about gender stereotypes, how did they

occur, and are they still relevant?

2. To make recommendations to improve self ephicacy in women

3. To analyse the correlation between culture, women and impact of feminism on

heterosexual relationships.

4. To investigate the impact of patriarchy on women and on their families

6. Research question or hypothesis.

1. What aspects of woman inequality do we encounter in modern society?

2. What do modern manifestations of feminism bring, positive effects or social destruction?

3. Can the stents of feminism be divided into correct and incorrect?

4. Does feminism encourage both men and women to fulfill non-traditional roles in the

family, work, and society?

5. What would society be like without gender stereotypes? Would you like to live in such a

society? Why?

6. Do people start calling themselves feminists because it’s fashionable?

7. Definition of key terms/ operational definitions.

Feminist theory was established as a new sociological perspective in the 1970s largely

because of the growing presence of women in the discipline and the strengths of women

in the movement M Lendermann and Jul Niebrugge (2004). Rosemarie Tong (2013)

propounds that ‘feminist theory is not one but many theories or perspective and that each

feminist theory or perspective attempts to describe women’s oppression to explain its

causes and consequences.  feminism means that women and men should have the same

rights, duties and opportunities. Or as the aphorism goes, feminism is “the radical notion

that women are human beings. There are situations where the radical notions of feminism

are hard to apply for example in Africa they have their own cultural beliefs which tend to

differ with the feminist perspective as they say women must be loyal to their husbands

8. Methodology
 Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used for this review. Whilst

quantitative methods allow for the gathering and analysis of quantifiable data, such as

enrolment rates, other data does not easily lend itself to quantification. For example, data

on perceptions, attitudes and barriers relating to girls’ education, which may underlie

enrolment patterns, may be more effectively collected and analyzed utilizing qualitative

methods. Qualitative methodologies allow for reflexive research, the continuous analysis

of data and refinement of data gathering tools and techniques. Furthermore, qualitative

methodologies allow for the expression, in their own voices, of the interests, needs and

concerns of individuals and groups of people, in this instance, girls, parents, communities

and school personnel adding both depth and breadth to an understanding of the issues.

The collection of such qualitative data allows for the identification of both the practical

and strategic needs that policies and programs should address

9. Instruments for data collection.

Since it is a mixed approach research my data collection methods are interviews and

survey questionnaires. Interviews are used to understand experiences of the participant in

this case interviews will be essential in understanding what types of motivational drives

ensure maximum performance of the employees. As a researcher by listening to the

employee’s experiences this will allow creation of new knowledge about how feminist

views the patriarchal society as an obstacle to reach their goal so as culture specifically in

conservative Zimbabwe in Binga the Doma people. I will also seek for permission to my

participants to allow me use a voice recorder in a bid to capture their information. For

participants who are not comfortable to have their voices recorded I will use a note pad
 and a pen to note down verbatim their views. Another method of data collection is the

survey questionnaires which will allow me as a researcher to find out the extent to which

motivation is related to performance. One advantage of using questionnaires is that they

allow the researcher to cover a large ground using a sample size of a high magnitude.

Thus allowing researcher to find out more information and knowledge.

10. Research procedure

My research area at the north east of Zimbabwe in Binga which is 385 km from Harare. I am

mainly going to select the doma people as participants in my research. As a means of accessing

my participants I may have to ask for permission to carry out my research from the district chief.

The next step after getting permission from the relevant authorities I will then move on to carry

out my study. I intend to carry out more of a mixed approach to the research that is using both

quantitative and qualitative methods so that I cover much ground and make sure I get as much

information from the large body of community and also have an in-depth understanding of the

views of the Doma people particularly with how women are viewed in the society.

11. Data analysis

In data analysis, first of all I will have to transcribe the information captured on audio from the

interviewed participants into written form and do a narrative analysis. Narrative analysis aims to

identify the kinds of stories told about the researched phenomenon on feminism effects and

reparations and the kinds of story representing the phenomenon in culture and society. In this

case narrative analysis will allow me the researcher to analyses the experiences that the
participants bring up to the understanding of the correlation between gender and race. The

quantitative data gathered from questionnaires analyzed using the interpretive data analysis

method. This method will allow me the researcher to explain what is on the collective

community’s minds in a fair, non-biased manner. After doing the data analysis and interpretation

I will then do the presentation of the report that includes the research findings.

12. Ethical considerations

Throughout the data collection process, great care was taken to ensure that confidentiality

and individual privacy of the participants were upheld. All participants were not

identified by their or other people’s names and it was not a requirement to disclose any

information on their private lives or to give specific examples on issues discussed. In

order to gain the consent of the participants, the researchers first explained the objectives

of the meetings and entertained questions to clear any suspicions. Furthermore, people

who had sensitive information that they could not share in public were asked to write

down such information. This was more with issues relating to child abuse especially

involving girls and OVCs. Some pupils who were known to have been abused or lived in

more vulnerable circumstances had private, one to one interviews with researchers to

avoid stigmatisation. With regards to questionnaires, officers were free to seek

clarifications and reminded not to write their personal details on the questionnaire. every

society, women are guardians, creators and consumers of culture, but they still face

barriers that prevent them from playing an equal role in the cultural sphere

References
Journal of Women in Culture and Society. 2012-08-22. Retrieved 2019-03-22.

M Lendermann and Niebrugge (2004). Social Problems and Inequality (Solving Social

Problems) (Kindle Locations 324-330). Ashgate. Kindle Edition. .

"Section 28: Gender, Work Burden, and Time Allocation", United Nations Human Development
Report 2004

Smith, Dorothy (1987). The Everyday World as Problematic: A Feminist Sociology.

Northeastern University Press.

Russell Arlie Hochschild The Second Shift and The Time Bind: Oxford University Press Stable
URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23693692

Jirira, O. "Gender, Politics, and Democracy." Southern African Feminist Review 1 (1995).