Gender-related legal reform and access to economic resources in Eastern Africa

About

Countries

Data & Research

Learning

News

Projects & Operations

Publications

Topics

Home > Data & Research > Document Search > Report Details

Gender-related legal reform and access to economic resources in Eastern Africa, Volume 1

Author:	Gopal, Gita;	Collection Title:	World Bank discussion paper ; no. WDP 405
Country:	Kenya; Uganda; Ethiopia; Tanzania; Eritrea; Zimbabwe;	Date Stored:	2002/09/19
Document Date:	1999/08/31	Document Type:	Publication
ISBN:	ISBN 0-8213-4566-4	Language:	English
Major Sector:	(Historic)Multisector	Region:	Africa
Report Number:	WDP405	Sub Sectors:	(Historic)Non-sector specific
SubTopics:	Environmental Economics & Policies; Health Monitoring & Evaluation; Legal Products; Anthropology; Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems	Volume No:	1

Summary: Given that previous efforts to ensure greater equity in personal laws have not been fully successful in eastern African countries, any new legal initiatives must not repeat the mistakes of the past where law merely remains on the books as a legitimizing tool that reinforces or supports gender discrimination, instead of actively protecting and guarding the interests of both men and women. This report attempts to draw out some possible lessons from past experiences to inform new efforts at legal reform in these countries-Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. It examines the laws related to allocation of economic resources within households in the broader historical, social, and cultural context, and examines the effectiveness of these laws in challenging gender relationships. Chapter 2 describes the legal framework governing personal relationships in Ethiopia. Chapter 3 examines land issues, mainly in Kenya and Ethiopia, and the gender-based impact of the new land-tenure systems on African households. Together, these chapters are intended to demonstrate the legal system's failure to improve gender relationships within the household and the failure to ensure greater equity in allocating resources. Chapter 4 builds on the preceding two chapters to crystallize lessons emerging from these experiences. Chapter 5 describes some emerging approaches to legal reform; and Chapter 6 deliberates on the implications of these approaches to legal reform.


Official Documents Official, scanned versions of documents (may include signatures, etc.)
File Type		Description	File Size (mb)

	PDF 60 pages	Official version*	4.2 (approx.)
	Text	Text version**

* The official version is derived from scanning the final, paper copy of the document and is the official,
archived version including all signatures, charts, etc.

** The text version is the OCR text of the final scanned version and is not an accurate representation of the final text.
It is provided solely to benefit users with slow connectivity.

Permanent URL for this page: http://go.worldbank.org/QDKHBY27N0