Customary Law Seen As Blocking Women's Progress

Fikre Debela
9/26/08

Gender inequality is an issue that is frequently heard of but seems so hard to fix. We hear about men getting higher pay or women being expected to be stay at home mothers. In America we hear about protest and read about the discrimination. However, what happens when there is a tradition or a culture that intertwines having women feel inferior or be discriminated against? In southern Africa, a country called Namibia is facing this issue.
The Customary law and the Roman-Dutch law are both acknowledge by the legal system of Namibia. The problem is that the customary law takes in the traditional practices of different ethnic groups in Namibia. Some of the practices are causing not only gender inequality but for women to be subject to violence. According to UNAIDS 2000, some traditional practices in Namibia allows for a women to be beaten as a sign of love. Van Niekerk, a high court judge, stated “as long as women are subjected to all sorts of inequalities, the potential of the human family to create a peaceful and prosperous world will not be realized.” Unfortunately, women are being subjected to inequality, which involves traditions of domestic violence.
I feel this is a very hard issue to fix. When people can’t see the line between domestic violence and their culture it becomes very difficult. Protecting these women has become an issue discussed by a few groups. Hopefully, these groups will be able to seek out these traditional practices and be able to help these women. Inequality is shown in many ways however, in this way it becomes very hard to control.
www.newsera.com/na/page.php?id+9397