Masters Dissertation

This research, carried out by a legal aid lawyer with the government’s Legal Aid Directorate, seeks to highlight the various challenges which are faced by indigent women as they access justice through the legal aid system. The main focus is on the Legal Aid Directorate as the main legal services provider since it is the […]

This dissertation explores the evidence collection process for rape cases involving minors below the age of 12 years. The research was inspired by calls from advocacy groups which include women’s organizations to enforce mandatory sentences against sex offenders. Their argument is that mandatory sentences will act as a deterrent to future sex crimes and reduce […]

The writer of this dissertation asserts that concerted national campaigns to improve the reproductive and sexual health of Malawi’s women have failed to achieve their goal. This is because, in breach of binding regional and international HR instruments, these campaigns have excluded the participation of husbands who have a duty to share the protection and […]

This study notes that the sexual abuse in the guise of harmful cultural practices that girls experience during mandatory puberty initiation camps and ceremonies in the rural areas of Thyolo District of Malawi leads to their dropping out of school. Since these camps groom them for pre-marital sex and early marriage, the girls emerge feeling […]

This is a study involving intersex people and their lived realities in Tanzania. The study involved 18 interviews which targeted an intersex person, parents, a religious leader, governmental and non-governmental organisations. Respondents were classified according to their roles in the community and positions within their institutions. This paper aims at highlighting some of the impact […]

The writer of this dissertation, a lawyer, studies the abuse of the rights of women who work in some of the largest floriculture farms in Naivasha, Kenya, a country which is the world’s second largest flower producer. Employing a combination of women-centred methodologies (especially the Women’s Law Approach), he collects and analyses data from various […]

Guided overall by the Women Law’s Approach, the writer of this dissertation, a Zambian police officer, uses a combination of methodologies and data collection methods to explain how the Zambian Police, who are supposed to protect rape victims, often do not act in their best interests and actually cause them harm, leading, sometimes, to their […]

The concept of community multipurpose telecentres is used by most developing countries, including Zambia, as a strategy to respond to the perpetual lack of access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the totally neglected or underserved rural communities which are home to a great majority of women. Access to and usage of ICT facilities […]

The question posed by the lawyer who writes this dissertation on women’s access to justice is: How does Zimbabwe enhance the quality of justice administered by its informal local/traditional/customary Law Courts, whilst simultaneously taking heed of universally acknowledged human rights principles, including gender equality (which are more readily associated with the more formal of its […]

Squatters, especially poor illiterate women, are particularly vulnerable to breaches of their human socio-economic rights to access land, clean water, food and shelter. This dissertation explores how the Kenyan State’s persistent neglect of squatter settlements exacerbates the harmful effects of the breaches of these crucial rights, especially the right to own land, which are protected […]