Enhancing the Status of Women Through Law

A study of how family law and related legislation affect the status of women in selected African states. The book situates its analysis in the context of post-independence efforts by African governments to address the inequalities faced by women, including fewer opportunities, lower status, and less respect for their dignity than enjoyed by men. The author argues that family law has been a major instrument both holding women back and, when reformed, offering a path to equality, but that most African governments have been slow to grasp its significance. Written by Justice R. J. A. Mwaikasu, a long-serving Judge of the High Court of Tanzania and former Chairman of the Law Reform Commission of Tanzania, the book contributes to an ongoing continental debate on the legal status of African women.