Legal Assistance Centre-Namibia

GENDER RESEARCH & ADVOCACY PROJECT

OBJECTIVE
The Gender Research & Advocacy Project seeks to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women through legal research, law reform and related advocacy work.

GOALS
The following are the key goals of the project:

To conduct research aimed at assessing the effectiveness of existing laws in serving the needs of women and men and making proposals for new laws where necessary

To encourage and facilitate law reform

To increase public involvement in the law reform process

To raise public awareness of new and existing laws and the underlying issues they address

To provide training materials and training of trainers for key service providers involved in the implementation of gender-related laws

To ensure that gender concerns are incorporated into programmes aimed at good governance and improved social welfare

QUICK FACTS
Five key statistics about women in Namibia:

There were 1184 reported rapes and attempted rapes in Namibia in 2005, which is equal to approximately 60 reported rapes for every 100 000 people in Namibia. A recent study found that the vast majority of rapes in Namibia – at least 67% – involve persons known to the victim. Most shockingly, about one-fourth (25%) of the rapes in the large sample examined for the study involved family members, spouses or intimate partners (including past partners).

Percentage of ever-partnered women who report they have experienced physical and/or sexual violence: 36%

Percentage of Namibian men who agreed that wife-beating is justifiable for one or more reasons: 44%

Percentage of women who use contraceptives, 1997-2005: 44%

Total Fertility rate: 4.1 children born per woman

- statistical data from UN, 2004. United Nations Namibia, Common Country Assessment 2004., UNICEF, 2007. Country Statistics. Windhoek: UNICEF.,
Government of the Republic of Namibia, 2003. Namibaia 2001 Population and Housing Census, Central Bureau of Statistics. Windhoek.

POLITICAL CONTEXT
It has been noted time and time again that the Namibian Constitution provides a strong backdrop for sexual equality. But the Constitutional guarantees of sexual equality do not work automatically. For purposes of continuity and clarity, all laws in force at the date of independence remain in force until they are explicitly repealed or amended by Parliament, or declared unconstitutional by a competent court.
Likewise, Namibia is frequently applauded for being a signatory to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, with no reservations – a wholehearted degree of commitment which is rare amongst the countries of the world.

But the provision of the Constitution which makes these conventions part of our domestic law remains untested. This leaves the provisions of the Namibian Constitution and the UN Conventions largely statements of aspiration, rather than principles which govern the daily lives of Namibians in any practical sense. Law reform on gender issues is vital in bridging the gap between principles and reality.

DEVELOPMENTS
The 18 years since independence have seen a number of significant legal developments for women. Affirmative action provisions in the Local Authorities Act have resulted in strong representation for women at the local level, and the Affirmative Action (Employment) Act is seeking to improve the representation of women in the formal workforce.

Labour legislation, including both the Labour Act and the Social Security Act, have addressed gender issues such as maternity protection and sexual harassment. There is a new legal framework for violence against women and children which includes the Combating of Rape Act, the Combating of Domestic Violence Act and amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act designed to protect vulnerable witnesses.

Family law reforms have been more limited -- the Married Persons Equality Act dealing with certain aspects of inequality between husbands and wives, the Communal Land Reform Act which provides for secure land tenure for widows and the Maintenance Act which is intended to advance women’s economic independence through a more workable system for obtaining child maintenance.