Paths are Made by Walking. Human Rights Intersecting Plural Legalities and Gendered Realities

by Hellum, Anne; Stewart, Julie; Ali, Shaheen; Tsanga, Amy

• ISBN13: 9781779220622
• ISBN10: 1779220626
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-05-29
• Publisher: African Books Collective

Summary

This book addresses a current dilemma in the operationalization of human rights norms at state, regional and international levels, namely the apparent failure to deliver the projected human rights benefits and protections to individuals on the ground. The chapters are drawn from Africa, Europe and Asia and constitute a compilation of micro-level studies which marry gendered understanding about people's local experiences, problems and practices in a continuous dialogue with evolving human rights principles. In sum they constitute a concerted effort to build a responsive human rights approach from below and within. Through this compilation, the book offers a body of knowledge to be brought to the table where international, regional and national law and its bearing on women's lives is negotiated. It can be used by actors around the world who seek to define their problems in the language of human rights.

Table of Contents

Paths are made by walking: introductory thoughts
Who cares? Implications of caring and caring arrangements
Families and feminism: Caring for mum and dad	p. 3
Kar contracts in Norway. Agreements made by men concerning women's work, ownership and lives	p. 31
Working with custom. Promoting children's rights to livelihood by making de facto guardians responsible	p. 59
Women's burden: Women, HIV/AIDS and home-based care in Zimbabwe	p. 78
Livelihood, land and water: Engendering property relations
Human rights encountering gendered land and water uses. Family gardens and the right to water in Mhondoro communal land	p. 105
Making gender visible in law: Kwena women's access to power and resources	p. 139
Following God's constitution. The gender dimensions in the Ogiek claim to Mau forest complex	p. 164
Rural women's access to landed property. Unearthing the realities within an East African setting	p. 202
Women's work, perceived contribution and access to land in India	p. 236
Engendering the human rights protection of property rights: Women's local land use in Tanzania	p. 262
The legal and political accommodation of women and girls' bodies
I can't go to school today	p. 291
Where is the toilet? Getting down to basics in accessing women's rights	p. 316
From human development to human rights. A southern African perspective on women and teenage girls' right to reproductive choice	p. 334
New fellow citizens - challenges and possibilities: Implementing human rights among immigrants, the case of female circumcision in Norway	p. 362
At the crossroads between human rights, constitutions, laws, culture and religion
Interpretative strategies for women's human rights in a plural legal framework. Exploring judicial and state responses to Hudood laws in Pakistan	p. 381
The widows' and female child's portion. The twisted path to partial equality for widows and daughters under customary law in Zimbabwe	p. 407
Reconceptualizing the role of legal information dissemination in the context of legal pluralism in African settings	p. 437
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