Masters Dissertation

This essay finds its departure in the preparatory work in the Muhimana case1zeroing on the interaction with respective witnesses who subsequently testified in the case. The accused, Muhimana committed exclusive and disproportionate crimes against women and girls in Kibuye during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. As the prosecutor rightly put it, his ‘hallmark’ was rape and […]

This research seeks to analyse the laws governing land under permit and its impact on women’s rights to land. This includes access, control and ownership of that land under the Fast Track Land Resettlement Programme (FTLRP) but specifically looking at women who are on A1 (small scale) farms. This research further seeks to analyse the […]

This study explores the reasons behind what has made “rite to passage” initiation schools so resilient despite the fact that some of its practices have been outlawed. The writer felt prompted to investigate the law that applies to and ought to protect adolescent initiates. The most serious questions the research poses are (1) what happens […]

Many people in Zimbabwe, especially women, earn their living through informal crossborder trading. Many fail to see the developmental role informal cross-border trading plays and so when the laws, or lack thereof, restrict and negatively affect informal cross-border traders, nothing is seen to be done to assist women involved in the trade who depend on […]

The writer of this dissertation explores why Zimbabwe is a girl child traffickers’ paradise. Adopting several gender-focused methodologies, guided overall by the Human Rights based Approach, she collects, analyses and presents data (including relevant law, literature and evidence from key informants in relevant State departments and NGOs) which reveal that Zimbabwe scores high in the […]

This dissertation examines in detail the so far ill-fated journey of Uganda’s ambitious Domestic Relations Bill (“DRB”). Generally, the Bill seeks to improve and harmonise, to some extent, domestic relations between men and women under various marriage and ‘quasi-marriage’ regimes which subsist in civil, customary and Islamic law. Using several interwoven methodologies, especially the Women’s […]

Although the Zimbabwe government has, with the help of the NGO community, begun to issue some gender sensitive primary school textbooks, it still lacks the resources to replace completely those which reinforce gender stereotypes which discriminate against girls. The insidious influence of these pernicious stereotypes on the minds of young impressionable children, especially girls, cannot […]

Zambia is bound by several regional and international Human Rights Instruments to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women in its educational   institutions. This dissertation explores how the ZPTC’s failure to engender its curriculum and entire training and teaching climate has hardened and perpetuated the strong patriarchal values of this male-dominated institution. As a […]