Rights Education As a Means of Economic Empowerment For Women in Sub-Saharan Africa

Janet M. Sawaya

Georgetown University Law Center; Class of 1996

Rights education programs which incorporate the development of critical social awareness, technical knowledge, and planning action to implement change, can be the most effective way to help women develop capabilities to confront subjugating laws and culture. These programs can transform the thinking of women, traditional rulers, opinion leaders and whole communities to improve women?s economic status without disrupting cultural traditions. The environment of sub-Saharan Africa is changing: international covenants are being adopted, democracy is emerging; and economic systems are being restructured. The changes present an ideal climate for an improvement in women's rights and economic status.

Part I describes the current economic status of women in sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on the imbalance between men and women and the negative impact of the Economic Structural Adjustment Programs on the status of women. Part II explains why women's legal rights organizations have not focused on economic rights such as those guaranteed by international law. Part III defines rights education as the process of acquiring critical awareness about rights and the law, the ability to assert rights, and the capacity to mobilize for change. Rights education, this note argues, is the best way to achieve change. Part IV examines the law and culture of Zimbabwe and explains how rights education projects have contributed to change.

Vol. II, No. 2, p. 329 (1995)

 

Revised July 17, 2003 (MD)