Book title: Women and custom in Namibia
Subtitle: Cultural practice versus gender equality?
Editor: Oliver C Ruppel
Contributers: Anton Bösl; Veronica de Klerk; Lotta Ambunda; Stephanie de Klerk; Prisca N. Anyolo; Manfred O. Hinz; Tousy Namiseb; Kato van Niekerk; Oliver C. Ruppel; Kingo Mchombu; Itah Kandjii-Murangi; Wilmary Visser; Katharina Ruppel-Schlichting; Julie Stewart
Publisher: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung; Macmillan Education Namibia
Windhoek, Namibia 2008
ISBN 9789991609386 / ISBN 978-99916-0-938-6
Softcover, 17x24 cm, 228 pages
Women and custom in Namibia brings together various articles that shed light from different angles on the relationship between customary law and practice, and the concept of human rights and gender equality. The insights into customs that are of specific relevance for the role and status accorded to women ñ such as polygyny, lobola, and rules of inheritance ñ and which are still a living reality in many traditional communities in Namibia, provide the basis for legal and socio-economic considerations. These legal considerations address the gap between customary and statutory law in Namibia, recent relevant developments in the process of law reform, and judicial reflections on women and custom in Namibia.
The presentation of various research findings reflects that education and the promotion of women's rights still has to be put very high on the agenda in order to actually achieve the constitutionally guaranteed equality between women and men. For this purpose, the publication gives a short introduction into the existing legal framework in terms of women and custom in Namibia. The publication of these articles intends to promote a discourse and offer inspiration to the various stakeholders in the legal fraternity, academia, government, traditional authorities, civil society, and the enlightened citizen at large, to promote and secure the protection of women's rights and gender equality, and - wherever possible - preserve valuable cultural practices at the same time.
Anton Bösl:
Promoting women's rights and gender equality in Namibia
Veronica de Klerk:
Women's action for development: 15 years of experience with customary practice in rural Namibia
Lotta Ambunda and Stephanie de Klerk:
Women and Custom in Namibia: A research overview
Prisca N. Anyolo:
Polygyny in Ovambadja: A female perspective
Manfred O. Hinz:
Strengthening women's rights: the need to address the gap between customary and statutory law in Namibia
Tousy Namiseb:
Women and law reform in Namibia - recent developments
Kato van Niekerk:
Some judicial reflections on women and custom in Namibia
Oliver C. Ruppel, Kingo Mchombu and Itah Kandjii-Murangi:
Surveying the implications of violence against women: a perspective from academia
Wilmary Visser and Katharina Ruppel-Schlichting:
Women and custom in Namibia - the legal setting.
Julie Stewart:
Intersecting grounds of (dis) advantage: the socio-economic position of women subject to customary law - a Southern African perspective.