WUNRN
Child-Widows
Silenced and Unheard: Human Rights Sufferers in
Monica Elias Magoke-Mhoja
About
the Book
It is commonly assumed that widows are adult women, hence, there has
been a lack of research on violations of child-widows’ inheritance rights. This book explores the circumstances under
which the girl-child encounters early marriage and is then widowed under a plural
legal system; and searches for solutions.
It examines legal pluralism in
There are
various configured factors contributing to child marriage namely: traditional
and religious justification; the value of having children; the lack of value in
education for girls as well as economic and social reasons. Child-widowhood is one of the worst
repercussions of child marriage in a variety of situations and contexts due to
their age, gender and immaturity. The
book reveals that most customary laws of inheritance and customs discriminate
against child-widows. They face profound violations of their human rights in
coping with widowhood problems. Access
to courts is difficult, so their problems are mainly solved at clan level.
Ironically, customary norms such as the care of widows have been manipulated;
widows are often with no inheritance.
The consequences include impoverishment, violence, the lack of
education, the risk of HIV infection and death of child widows.
The book identified features for and against the favourable realisation of gender equality for child-widows through the local norms and practices. Although there are significant obstacles, local norms are still central in facilitating or constraining people’s abilities to claim or exercise whatever rights are available to them. Thus, the book suggests possibilities of mediating customary norms through the international human rights law, using the principles of gender equality and non-discrimination. The prerequisites for this include political will and legislative framework.
About
the Author
Dr.
Monica Magoke-Mhoja is an Advocate of High Court of Tanzania and currently
engaged in Consultancy work in international human rights law, legal pluralism,
gender and development. She is also a part-time researcher and
Coordinator of Africa Programs with the Dignity Alert & Research Forum
(DARF). She is married to James Mhoja
and they have four children.
She
holds a PhD in Human Rights Law from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland –
As
the Director of WLAC, she actively led WLAC to participate in a number of
Coalitions and contributed in advocacy of law reform such as the Sexual Offence
(Special Provisions) Act, 1998, the Land Act, 1999 and initiated the advocacy
for the inheritance reform as the then Chairperson of Women in Law and
Development in Africa (WiLDAF) - Tanzania. She also facilitated the
establishment of a number of Paralegal Centres in the regions.
She was also the first coordinator of Social Watch Programme in Tanzania and CEDAW Task Force. In addition, she is a member of Tanganyika
Law Society, Tanzania Women Lawyers Association (TAWLA) and AWID-CANADA.
She
had been a board member to a number of institutions nationally and
internationally; she is currently a board member of World-Vision Tanzania,
ACODE–Uganda and FORWARD - London -UK. In recognition of her staunch human rights
activism, the American Bar Association (Litigation Section) awarded her the
2003 International Human Rights Award.
Monica has published widely on women’s rights issues.
================================================================
To contact the list administrator, or to leave the list, send an email to: wunrn_listserve-request@lists.wunrn.com.
Thank you.