Evaluation of the Southern and Eastern Africa Regional Centre for ...

any elective body, whether - Parliament, various commissions, Supreme court, etc.,can be of the same gender. The implications are that women should be at least onethird,whereas currently only 10 per cent, i.e. 22 out of 224 seats in Parliament, forexample, are women. The Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA, involvinggraduates), has held a number of activities, including a court case, whose verdict isbeing awaited. FIDA also held a one day workshop to sensitise all political parties togender legislative and policy framework. Centre graduates, such as Ruth Aura andothers, have been integral to the process.Case Two: Legal actionAnother area of impact concerns the deliberations involved in court judgements, andlegal assistance in Zimbabwe. Again, analysing responses from the survey andinterviews makes apparent what was identified earlier as the ‘gaps’ in current legalpractice, and the need for a ‘gender lens’. An experienced labour court judge sharedsome insights into the impact of the course in her work (see box below). When oneconsiders that the judge makes up to 20 judgements on average by the month’s ends–albeit on a diverse range of issues not always gender related- the impact is apparentfor gender sensitive deliberations.‘The impact of the course has been massive. I can now [she was a judge before and after theMaster’s] link my work to the course and come up with a proper judgement in which a womanspeaks up. It helps to understand the background and context of clients. A legal mind would notnormally see the link between the offence and the complaint. My observation is that the hierarchyare all men. One case involved a women who was a security guard. There was a work policy thatwoman do not do night shifts. But she was told to do so and she said that due to advances of aman, which she refused, she was charged with misconduct. But I saw that there were shadows[over this appearance of misconduct] of sexual harassment.’Mrs. Betty Chidziva (Labour Court Judge).A former magistrate who had many years’ experience and had since become a DPhilstudent following her Master’s degree at the Centre, confirmed the shift in approachthat underpins such examples. When a magistrate, she would do things repetitivelyand in a mechanical fashion, and never asked why a women did a certain thing. Shegenerally did not go into factors that had shaped women’s experiences and preferredbefore the course to merely apply sentencing options. These ‘gaps’ were revealedfollowing the course.Lawyers in civil society legal aid provision also expressed the shift in approach andhow issues were being framed before andafter the Masters. Some reflected uponwomen’s perceptions of courts and thelegal process as in itself ‘terrifying’. Sincethe course she claimed it is easier to relateto women’s issues, to understand theircontext, cultural factors and relationshipsand how option may influence each. Anexample of how this had improvedinterpretation of the law is seen in the boxadjacent.‘A client came to see me. She was in apolygamous marriage. The husband hadsold their house, without consulting her,or, giving her anything from sale. He puther out in another house. He then wantedto sell that one as well- but she had notbenefited previously and he had not beenthe care-giver for their children. Shespoke with him and he agreed to give hermoney from sale. Getting women’sexperiences and exploring this and theirconcerns and fears, was what I got fromthis course. The women didn’t want adivorce but just wanted a fair share. It isoften not about law but experiences. Shegot fair compensation’.Portia Mabasa (Legal Officer, WLSA)31