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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The 'Women's Question' in Kwena Family Disputes
Author:Griffiths, AnneISNI
Year:1990
Periodical:Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law
Issue:30-31
Pages:223-254
Language:English
Geographic term:Botswana
Subjects:Kwena
customary law
family law
women
Law, Legal Issues, and Human Rights
Cultural Roles
Marital Relations and Nuptiality
External link:https://doi.org/10.1080/07329113.1990.10756429
Abstract:This article deals with the specific problems women in Botswana face in utilizing the legal system of the country. These problems are discussed in the context of two disputes concerning divorce and division of property among the Kwena, one of the dominant Tswana 'merafe' (tribes) in Botswana. These disputes are part of research findings from fieldwork among the Kwena in Molepolole in 1982 and 1984. While both disputes were subject to the same legal process involving divorce in the High Court and division of property in the Chief's 'kgotla' (the basic social unit), and although virtually identical sorts of property were at issue, the application of norms in these disputes was quite different. One woman was denied any share of the property, the other received a substantial share. In neither dispute did the woman receive a share equal to that of the man, as a result of the local ideas concerning the nature of family property. In order to explain the difference between the decisions in the two cases the author concentrates on the parties' cultural background and life-cycle patterns. In one case, the norms associated with the life-cycle pattern of the older generation were emphasized; in the other case, it was the norms appropriate to the life-cycle pattern associated with the younger generation which governed the dispute. Bibliogr., notes, ref.
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