What Women Want: The Truth About Inheritance Rights

While we in the United States are currently debating the estate tax in the upcoming presidential election, laws regarding property and inheritance are also under scrutiny right now in most African countries where women have little or no rights regarding such issues. Despite the fact that many of the continent's constitutions recognize that both sexes should be treated equally, most countries also employ customary (tribal) law, which is more gender biased, for issues such as marriage or land therefore depriving females of fair treatment in these matters. While I first believed it was considerate and even wise that governments have attempted to make a legal policy incorporating different ethnicities' customs and traditions, I have realized that in certain cases this combination of law is causing harm to women as many cultures do not consider them equals. Therefore, it is my opinion that governments must find a different way to blend societal mores and constitutional policies so that they are not contradictory and females receive the inheritance rights they deserve.

It is encouraging to note that some nations, whose federal or statutory laws say that both sexes must be treated the same, have actually gone so far as to create legislation enforcing these rules. For example, in Botswana (the orange-colored country just above South Africa on the map) marriages must be registered, men may not marry more than one wife, and "men who are married under statutory law do not have marital power over their wives[...]a man may not sell or mortgage property without his wife agreeing in writing, and she must be there when he does this," according to the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE). However, this does not apply to men married under customary law, which is further discussed below. Similarly, in Ethiopia the Family Code says that girls cannot marry before they are 18, all marriages must be registered, husband and wife must make joint decisions about property and women living with men without being married still have rights. In this case, statutory law overrides customary law, but the situation is unfortunately reversed when it comes to inheritance. Furthermore, Ghana, which is generally a progressive country in terms of inheritance rights, has specifically covered the passing-down of estates in its constitution. Article 22 states that "spouses shall have equal access to property jointly acquired during marriage[...a] spouse shall not be deprived of a reasonable provision out of the estate of a spouse whether or not the spouse died having made a will." I believe that more countries should copy Ghana's document, which does not make an exception for customary law, unlike the previous examples of Botswana and Ethiopia. Moreover, the legal administration of customs and traditions may be used for any issue in South Africa as long as it does not go against the Bill of Rights, but many local judges follow cultural mores regardless of whether or not they comply with the constitution.

Besides creating legislation, most of these African countries and others have also signed and/or ratified international agreements on women's rights. The most important agreements are the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, which all generally say in total or in part that women should be treated the same as men, that both should have the same rights in marriage and inheritance, and that everyone should have proper housing. Although many governments have signed on to these agreements, I have found throughout my research that there still remains a significant difference between written code and what is actually happening. The main reason for this disconnect is that despite the equality provided in the constitutional or federal law, "land use, housing, and the transfer of land and housing between generations is regulated by customary law, which largely excludes women from property ownership and inheritance," says the Human Rights Brief (HRB). These issues are very deeply embedded in the culture and therefore difficult for legislation, international agreements or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to change. As previously stated, several governments allow customary law to rule in certain cases, such as in Botswana where a man married under customary rather than statutory law does not have to adhere to legislation requiring his wife to have the same rights. Botswana has even created the Customary Courts Act, which directs courts to apply "the customary law of that tribe or tribal community so far as it is not incompatible with the provisions of any written law or contrary to morality, humanity, or natural justice." I find this damaging for women because male tribal leaders who generally find in favor of men, regardless of constitutions or agreements, often lead customary courts. Furthermore, in summarizing the country's Administration of Estates Act, the HRB writes, "every person belonging to an ethnic group, which essentially applies to every native citizen of Botswana, will have their property devolved according to the customs and practices of their particular ethnic group." Therefore, although Botswana (and many other African countries with similar situations) have agreed to make males and females equal, the practice of customary law renders the notion of complete equality useless. This is further shown in Zambia, which also passed the Local Courts Act that puts local and traditional courts in control of all customary and even some statutory law. I think it is obvious that as long as customary law has authority over the issues of marriage and inheritance, women will continue to lack power over their own economic security.

In theory, combining statutory and customary law is a good idea. It eases tension between the people and their government, creates a sense of mutual understanding and does not support or promote government oppression. History has shown that a government will not succeed and its actions will perhaps result in bloodshed or revolution if it does not recognize the culture, needs and wants of its governed. For these reasons, the dual system of law in many African countries is created with good conscience. But unfortunately in reality, legitimizing the old tribal rule by national government is allowing harmful acts of gender bias, and because of this women are suffering from a lack of rights and several other related problems as illustrated in the picture above. Additional stories of widowed women can be found at Human Rights Watch that give personal accounts of a life of homelessness, beatings, forced intercourse with social outcasts and shame resulting from the lack of inheritance rights.

To end this contradiction of law, it is my belief governments must enact new policies. First, customary law must not be allowed jurisdiction over marriages, land or inheritance, though it may still exist for other purposes. Second, governments should honor and recognize all marriages whether they are statutory or customary as one and the same. Women must have the same marital power as men, and be left most of the entitlement to the estate should her spouse die. Moreover, boys and girls ought to inherit the same amount of their parent's property, regardless of whether their parents wed or not, and everyone, including judges, government officials, and females in particular must be educated about women's rights. While I understand it is not easy to change the customs or traditions of a society, governments have begun and must continue recognizing the equality of females. With the adherence to international agreements and changes to this contradictory dual system of law, I am confident African countries can eventually succeed in establishing inheritance rights for women and more equality in the future.

A Common Cause: Online Exploration Regarding the African Condition

Though my past entries have been written with the intent to inform and promote discussion on topics pertaining to women in Africa, this week's entry is instead a collection of respectable Web sites and blogs I have found helpful for enhancing my own research and for providing quality links of interest to my readers. Using the criteria set forth by Webby and IMSA, I evaluated twenty sites that are not only about African women, but also about the continent's general news, gender issues around the world, human rights and international humanitarian organizations. The links can be found in my Linkroll to the right, as well as below where I've evaluated each Web site or blog.

The first three of my selection deal exclusively with female issues in Africa. Gender and Women's Studies for Africa's Transformation is a suitable site for those looking for in-depth backgrounds on African feminist thinkers and a vast amount of related scholarly essays, though some links lead to blank pages and there is little to no interactivity; an important criterion of Webby. On the other hand, Feminist Africa encourages interactivity as the online journal "provides a forum for progressive, cutting-edge gender research and dialogue focused on the continent" and asks for reader responses and contributions to past and future issues. The journal also offers a strong selection of information in each online issue, however with its severe lack of visuals or graphics it is boring to the eye. Lastly, the Association of African Women Scholars suffers from a need for updated material in the AAWS page that describes the organization (for example, the newsletter is from 1998!) but otherwise information is neatly arranged in categories such as health and human rights, women, literature and youth that each supply a multitude of easy-to-access resources.

A few online African news sources I found useful are the Sub-Saharan Informer, (its main page shown to the right), Pambazuka News and All Africa. Strong in content, the Sub-Saharan Informer presents the reader with several articles on a variety of topics, however the design is unappealing with miniature summaries of each report covering the main page and there are very little pictures to supplement them. The few images that do exist are weak and too small, which is similar to Pambazuka News, a Web site with zero visuals though it also has good content with stories on every subject a person could think of; from elections and governance, to LGBTI, environment, corruption and technology just to name a few. All Africa gets high marks in functionality for its convenient links to other sites, but because it has advertisements surrounding every side of the page, the appearance is cluttered and it is hard to distinguish between which links lead to ads or articles.

Additional sources of news may be found in online magazines or blogs, such as Africa Renewal, a magazine that "provides up-to-date information and analysis of the major economic and development challenges facing Africa today" though it is created by the United Nations' Department of Public Information and therefore includes public relations pieces such as press and news releases, media advisories and links to other UN programs. The visual design, structure and navigation are wonderful but there is nothing that engages the reader to interact with the site. When gathering research through blogs, one must employ a critical eye as many blogs have an agenda or may appear as a news site at first glance. Africa News does just this, as it can be easily mistaken for a news page. It does not disclose information about the blogger, which is an important criterion of IMSA, although it does offer a link to almost every African country for more information and is actively posting current articles. In contrast, the PoliGazette, which writes about current events in Africa, makes it very clear who the blogger and editorial staff is, but could benefit from more frequent posts. Two very academic blogs are ODI Blog and Concerned Africa Scholars. The ODI Blog (Overseas Development Institute) is made up of extremely in-depth and knowledgeable posts with topics ranging from health, economics and international aid, and although it is meant to be scholarly, it would be helpful to the reader to include more images and graphics to make the reports less daunting and to enhance understanding of the concepts. Quite the opposite and enjoyable for its visually supportive design as well as its up-to-date collection of research, Concerned Africa Scholars is frustrating when links do not lead to the whole story, but rather a small section. A small criticism, because readers can eventually find the complete report by then scrolling down and clicking "read more", but the blog would be more easily navigable and appealing if links went directly to the entire story the first time.

Facts and statistics may be useful for some looking for more direct and succinct information. In those cases, recent census statistics (in areas such as population, women and men in families, health, education, work and political decision making) for different continents and countries can be found at WIDNET (Women in Development Network). Besides being a valuable source for numbers, the site is very functional but it lacks in appearance and interactivity. Africa Development Indicators (ADI) is another similar resource created by the World Bank that has more than one-thousand indicators on fifty-three African countries. The indicators focus more on developmental goals, for example infrastructure, disease and agriculture rather than census information. A good amount of information can be downloaded, but other important documents cannot be accessed online and must be purchased, which is unfortunate. To find summaries of African charters and systems, explore the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa Web site. While the site is not appreciated for its aesthetics (it is not attractively designed and some pages are left blank) it has easy-to-follow explanations of legal issues surrounding the African Union, the rights of the child and much more.

The last six of my selections are sites of international humanitarian funds, organizations or non-profits. UNIFEM (United Nations Developing Fund for Women) and Women Watch (United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality) both have beautiful presented pages, (though the latter may be a bit wordy,) and both are rich in content and demand the visitors interactivity. Nevertheless, UNIFEM's fact sheets are complicated and not "reader friendly" as they should be to invite people's interest to the cause, and Women Watch could be improved by cleaning up the page so it isn't quite as busy. USAID: Sub-Saharan Africa gives a good overview of the United States foreign assistance with links to budget, initiatives, success stories, FAQs, related documents and recent updates in a visually pleasing and easily navigable format, but it doesn't provide a very transparent budget analysis. A budget for each country is accessible, though there is no study of what is or is not working and what should be done monetarily to improve the programs in the future -- something many taxpayers like to see. The Carter Center, a non-profit founded by Nobel Peace Prize winner and former President Jimmy Carter that promotes peace and health around the world, has an interactive-encouraging Web site that is also well designed and easy for the visitor to follow. It is hard to critique this site, though a small complaint is that otherwise "hard" information such as the analysis of the Carter Center's projects and budgets appears to be written as a public relations piece with more fluff and photos than a more sincere, concise and informative report. It was also difficult to find fault in Camfed's Web site (Campaign for Female Education) which is creative and unique with its quick introductory video for those who are new to the organization. Many sites do not make use of videos, which can be extremely user-friendly and an interesting medium to discuss information. If anything, Camfed's Web page could include a stronger news and press release section with more frequent updates that catch reader and media attention -- an important factor for many non-profits. On the other hand, it is easy to critique the loud orange and black color scheme of CARE which is a bit jarring, and contributes to an overall feeling of disorder when combined with the multiple links. The picture shown above, to the left, is nice when is separated from the rest of the halloween-looking page. But to it's credit, CARE's Web site insists that you become involved by giving upfront options on how to donate or spread the word, and suggests that you engage in the organization's blog.