My paper deals with the topic of legal pluralism in Africa and women’s access to
law, in the context of research carried out in Botswana, southern Africa, over a
number of years (1982-1989). This research was situated in the western region of
the country known as Kweneng district, in a village, Molepolole which was
estimated to be 20,000 in 1980 (see Botswana 1983), and which has grown until it
was reputed in 1992 to have overtaken the Ngwato capital of Serowe as one of the
largest villages in Africa.1
Molepolole, which functions as the central village or
headquarters for the Bakwena, who are one of the oldest of the Tswana merafe
(‘tribes’ or ‘polities’), also serves as a regional headquarters for central and local
government. The research focused on family relations and in particular on sexual
relationships between women and men. It examined the status of such relationships
and how marital or non-marital status affected women’s claims on their partners for
compensation for pregnancy, maintenance and rights to property in both social and
legal terms.
It is from this perspective that my paper raises issues about (1) the role of the urban
setting, (2) the gendered environment within which women have to operate
(whether urban or rural), and (3) the nature of legal pluralism which moves beyond
a definition of pluralism in terms of ‘common’ or ‘customary’ law.