Suchergebnisse

Migration can be a hazardous venture, particularly if carried out clandestinely. Evidence indicates that foreigners working without formal authorisation, i.e. 'irregular migrant workers', are in a particularly vulnerable position primarily because of their irregular immigration status. They are more likely to be subjected to exploitative and unsafe employment practices in terms of benefits and conditions. This study examines the protection available to this category of migrant workers in South Africa, particularly their right of access to work-related social protection. South Africa is a major migrant-receiving country in Southern Africa because of its relatively stronger economy and political stability. However, the employment of foreign nationals without work permits, or foreigners working contrary to visa requirements, raises a series of policy issues. These issues, against the background of fairness and equity discourses pertaining to socio-economic entitlements, become exacerbated. This study examines the adequacy of domestic, constitutional and legislative frameworks that offer work-related social protection to foreign workers in South Africa. In the context of international, continental, and regional instruments that provide similar protection to irregular migrants, it could be argued that South Africa's restrictive legislative framework compromises equality in the right of access to social protection for some migrants. Although effective migration management depends on careful juxtaposition of myriad policies, emerging evidence suggests conflicting interplay between key South African policies intended to manage the rights of workers specifically and labour migration in the country generally. Critical analysis of relevant national immigration, labour, and social security laws indicates inconsistency with international human rights principles concerning the equality of opportunity or treatment of irregular migrants vis-àvis regular migrants and nationals regarding social protection. Yet, inequalities in the actual processes or opportunities (means) embedded in these policies disentitle many vulnerable foreign workers from important constitutionally entrenched fundamental rights because their presence and/or employment violates existing immigration laws. The study concludes by recommending policy interventions that may help remedy these problems.

This book investigates the life experiences of youth in South Africa, considering whether contemporary youth have benefitted from the socioeconomic reconstruction of post-apartheid society.

Student protests against apartheid drove transformative change in South Africa, and the subsequent new constitution promised positive change for the nation's youth across a range of sectors. Adopting a sociological perspective, this book uses primary and secondary data sources to illustrate the myriad ways post-apartheid socioeconomic developments have impacted the life experiences of the country's youth across areas including health, education, family life, economic activity, technology, substance use, and politics. The book considers the historical legacy of colonialism, racism and immigration in shaping the context in which youth experiences in the country have evolved. The book argues that in 1976 South Africa's youth became the conscience of the nation when they brought the apartheid regime to its knees during the Soweto uprising. What happens to them now will continue to define the nation's future.

This book will be of interest to researchers across the social sciences, most especially in the fields of Sociology, Demography, Development Studies, and Psychology.

AbstractThe termination of unwanted pregnancies is a growing health-related issue around the world. This study used the 2017 Ghana Maternal Health Survey to examine the factors associated with the prevalence of induced abortion in Ghana. The study sample included 18,116 women of reproductive age who had a pregnancy in the 5 years preceding the survey. A multivariate logistic regression technique was applied. The prevalence of induced abortion was higher among women aged 25–34 years, those who had secondary-level education, those living in urban areas and in the Ashanti region, those of Akan ethnicity and those belonging to non-Catholic Christian denominations. Moreover, the prevalence was higher among single women, those who had no children, those who started sexual intercourse before the age of 18, those who were currently using a contraceptive, those exposed to media and those who knew about the legality of abortion. The multivariate analysis found that education, place and region of residence, marital status, ethnicity, current contraceptive use, religion, age at sexual debut, media exposure and knowledge about abortion legality were all significant predictors of induced abortion among women in Ghana. The study findings support a call for action to strengthen family planning services and educational programmes on induced abortion in Ghana to reach the target groups identified.

This article presents extensive description of survey data on the political participation of 913 male and female undergraduate students at the University of Ghana. Multi-stage and other sampling procedures were employed to collect the data that took place between 2016 and 2017. Data were analysed using frequencies, percentages and cross-tabulations for each gender separately. The findings revealed that females reported discussing politics more frequently with others than their male counterparts, in addition, ethnicity significantly associated with political discussion and religion significantly associated with political involvement for females. However, males expressed interest and involvement in political activities at both national and student levels more frequently than their female counterparts. The findings support much of the observations in the political behavior literature. Despite the gender imbalance, respondents were partial to engagement in student politics than national politics. It is, therefore, advisable that political parties focus their recruitment efforts on university campuses.

AbstractThis study aimed to identify the social and demographic correlates of the trend in age at first marriage among women in Malawi, using Malawi Demographic and Health Survey data collected between 1992 and 2016. Employing Cox Proportional Hazard modelling, the results showed that the mean age at first marriage during the 18-year period remained constant at 17.4 years. Furthermore, across all the surveys, younger women married at an early age compared with their older counterparts. The results further showed that having no education, residing in the Northern region, working, belonging to the middle and rich wealth index categories, and belonging to Tumbuka, Lomwe, Yao, Ngoni and Amanganja/Anyanja ethnicities increased the risk of early marriage. The findings suggest that policies such as promoting access to education for women and enforcing the law that restricts the legal age at which a woman can marry (18 years) should be maintained and enforced in Malawi.