Masters Dissertation

Four years after the passing of Malawi’s Prevention of Domestic Violence Act, 2006 (the ‘PDVA’), the writer of this dissertation, a Magistrate, sets out to evaluate the quality and extent to which counselling is offered as a remedy to victims of DV (mostly women) and/or its perpetrators, their intimate (and mostly male) partners. By utilising […]

Despite the fact that Zimbabwe has been in possession of a school re-entry policy for almost two decades now, adolescent pregnancy has continued to feature in statistics as one of the leading causes of girls dropping out of school. Such a trend, if left unchecked, hampers female empowerment and the sustainable development of the nation. […]

In Lesotho there is an alarming and disturbing practice among „customary heirs‟ who, instead of caring for the deceased‟s widows and daughters, routinely dispossess them causing their destitution and homelessness. Sadly, widows and daughters are without hope because the law and their families fail to assist them. This widespread, rampant abuse continues to take place […]

This research investigates the discrimination that growing numbers of women who cohabit with male partners in Zimbabwe face in relation to breaches of their property rights upon the dissolution of such unions when the courts leave them with little or nothing at all. This occurs primarily because Zimbabwe does not recognise cohabitation (or ‘just living […]

In this study, the researcher, a Senior Gender Officer within the Economic Empowerment Division at the Ministry of Gender and Youth, Sports and Recreation, interrogates the state’s support for Small Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs) regarding women’s access to credit in Lesotho. It is based on a case study of a group of women mohair […]

Conducted by a public prosecutor, this ground-breaking research critically analyses the extent to which the Zimbabwe Public Police (ZRP) meets the local and international standards governing the treatment of the small population of unconvicted women suspects detained in the holding cells of several police stations situated in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital city. Originally built for men, […]

This dissertation seeks to realise equality for female inmates in the Zimbabwean prison system by urging the state to establish the women’s open prison it has kept on hold for 15 years after extending the benefit of an equivalent facility (Connemara Male Open Prison) to deserving male prisoners. Key to the researcher’s insights and findings […]

Since time immemorial, women have provided care in the private domestic space of society. While such care has remained outside economically realized and rewarded labour, it is this very care that crucially supports and makes national economic activity and growth possible. Even though women have become more economically active, there has not been a commensurate […]

Inspired by her child bride mother who married at 15, the researcher (born into a family of 13, 10 girls and 3 boys) uses this research to explore the negative impact of illegal child marriages on women’s participation in the public sphere in Zimbabwe. The abuse, oppression and denial of education which accompany child marriage […]