African Women and the Law

This case study relates to the Women and Law in Southern Africa – Zambia (WLSA – Zambia), an NGO with its headquarters in Lusaka. This organisation is engaged in fighting strenuously and successfully against discrimination, inequalities and gender violence, mainly resulting from the persistence of customary laws and its practices which sometimes jeopardises women and delays their empowerment and emancipation. Since in Zambia, as well as in many other African countries, land is still the primary source of wealth and livelihood, WLSA-Zambia and its members have been highlighting the significant legal, social and political problems caused by of gender inequalities in accessing land. Accordingly, they demand remedial legal reforms, develop citizens’ legal awareness and support women’s struggle to secure land rights. By presenting individual experiences and different viewpoints, and adopting a wealth of qualitative methodologies, my research work is a contribution, in anthropological perspective, to a better understanding of the multiple ways in which gender and law can interact.