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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Legal Dualism and the Rights of Women: Thoughts for Law Reform in Lesotho |
Author: | Fanana, N.A.M. |
Year: | 2001 |
Periodical: | Lesotho Law Journal: A Journal of Law and Development (ISSN 0255-6472) |
Volume: | 14 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 119-150 |
Language: | English |
Notes: | biblio. refs. |
Geographic terms: | Lesotho Southern Africa |
Subjects: | women's rights legal pluralism private law customary law Law, Legal Issues, and Human Rights law Domestic relations Marital property marriage law |
Abstract: | In Lesotho neither the customary law nor the received common law is perfect for the protection and promotion of women's rights. Each system subjugates women in its own way. Amongst the discriminatory rules within family law which affect the personal and material development of women are laws pertaining to the marital and general status of women and property relationships in a family setting. Property relationships are generally discriminatory for women and skewed in respect of unmarried persons. Customary law gives no clear and unqualified principle to protect the property rights of single women. Lesotho's legal systems need holistic and systematic reform to uphold gender equality. The perpetual minority status of all married women must be abolished. At the same time the privileges deriving from non-legal norms which Sotho women enjoy under marriage, and procreation rights that are fully protected under custom or customary law, should be legislated upon as part of the rights of women in Lesotho. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract] |