In the Shadow of the Law

What adjudication and mediation options are available to women in Zimbabwe with regard to family-related issues? Are women able to use and effectively access these options? What effects have changes in the law had on women's access to the state's systems of justice? How do customary law and general law work in practice? Are informal mediation and adjudication processes like those used by the family or the church, more accessible and more likely to be relied upon either voluntarily or involuntarily by women than the state's justice offerings? How could the formal justice delivery system be changed to make it more user-friendly, especially for women? These are some of the questions addressed by this latest WLSA Zimbabwe research which examines women's access to justice delivery in the sphere of civil law. In the WLSA tradition, the Zimbabwean team set out to investigate justice delivery in Zimbabwe, with the focus on the reality of women's daily lives. The team of researchers examined justice delivery in every sphere - from the home, the village, the community and the district, right up to the magistrate's courts, the higher courts and the Supreme Court.Stewart, Julie is the author of 'In the Shadow of the Law' with ISBN 9781779150011 and ISBN 1779150016.