• Login
    View Item 
    •   ResearchSpace Home
    • College of Humanities
    • School of Social Sciences
    • Gender Studies
    • Masters Degrees (Gender Studies)
    • View Item
    •   ResearchSpace Home
    • College of Humanities
    • School of Social Sciences
    • Gender Studies
    • Masters Degrees (Gender Studies)
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    We are so poor : an investigation into the lives of ten women living in an informal area in the Durban Functional Region with particular reference to the role of domestic fuels.

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    Thesis. (2.264Mb)
    Date
    1992
    Author
    Annecke, Wendy Jill.
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    This dissertation explores the texture of women's lives in an urban informal area, with the particular aim of highlighting their use of domestic energies in the absence of their access to electricity. The investigation into domestic fuel usage is situated within the context of other basic needs: shelter, water and food and the acquisition of these. Each is separately explored. The domestic fuel sources used by the women were primarily paraffin and candles. The dissertation argues that there is no simple equation between household income and fuel purchase but that the acquisition of food and fuel are mutually dependent and contingent upon a complex set of variables which include the perceived physical and emotional well-being of the woman and her household. Furthermore the dissertation argues that given the extent of informal settlements and poverty nationally, candles and paraffin are likely to continue to be extensively used in the future. despite their disadvantages and the desirability of electricity. The dissertation submits that the reasons for this pertain to the accessibility and relative affordability of paraffin to households whose buying power is constrained as much by the form in which their income is derived as by its inadequacy. These arguments are elucidated through case studies of ten women who live in non-electrified homes in Canaan. The women concerned monitored their consumption of and expenditure on water, food, and fuel for a month, and met once a week as a group while they were doing so. Finally the dissertation suggests that national energy planners should take into account the manner in which women perceive and manage their housekeeping roles, particularly cooking, as well as the form in which household income is derived in order to determine strategies and energy policies which would would be women-friendly and support the needs of the extensive numbers of impoverished households in South Africa.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10413/6324
    Collections
    • Masters Degrees (Gender Studies) [62]

    DSpace software copyright © 2002-2013  Duraspace
    Contact Us | Send Feedback
    Theme by 
    @mire NV
     

     

    Browse

    All of ResearchSpaceCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsAdvisorsTypeThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsAdvisorsType

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    DSpace software copyright © 2002-2013  Duraspace
    Contact Us | Send Feedback
    Theme by 
    @mire NV