House Approves Resolution on Rights of Married Women in Lesotho

On July 16, the House approved, by voice vote, a resolution (H. Res. 294) commending the Kingdom of Lesotho for the enactment of a law to improve the status of married women and ensure their access to property rights. The House Foreign Affairs Committee approved the resolution on June 26 (see The Source, 6/29/07).

Sponsored by Rep. Diane Watson (D-CA), the resolution makes a number of findings, including:

Lesotho is a low-income country with a gross national income per capita of $960 and 50 percent of the population lives below the poverty line;
the government of Lesotho has demonstrated a strong commitment to ruling justly, investing in people, ensuring economic freedom, and controlling corruption;
historically, a married woman in Lesotho was considered a legal minor during the lifetime of her husband, was severely restricted in economic activities, was unable to enter into legally binding contracts without her husband’s consent, and had no standing in civil court;
for years women’s groups, nongovernmental organizations, the Federation of Women Lawyers, officials of the government of Lesotho, and others in Lesotho have pushed for passage of legislation strengthening the rights of married women; and
the Legal Capacity of Married Persons Act was passed by the Parliament of Lesotho and enacted into law in November 2006.H. Res. 294 applauds the Kingdom of Lesotho for enacting the Legal Capacity of Married Persons Act and encourages the government to continue its commitment to, and pursuance of, gender equity.
Rep. Diane Watson (D-CA) said, “There is still progress that needs to be made on gender equity in Lesotho. According to the State Department, ‘a woman married under customary law has no standing in civil court. Under the country’s dual legal system, marriages which occur under customary law must be legalized in the civil system to have legal standing.’ But I believe the efforts of the government of Lesotho are showing real progress in the area of promoting equal rights for women, and I believe it’s our responsibility to acknowledge the efforts of those people seeking to empower individuals from all walks of society. As right and overdue as it might be to make these changes, that does not make them easy changes in a society that has done things a certain way for so long a time. Hence, if we wish to see more political leaders around the world stand up and make the effort to change their societies for the better, we should be making as much of an effort here to support those efforts.”

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) stated, “It is important to realize that gender inequality in Lesotho, and throughout Africa, is not just an issue of human rights. This is a development issue and an issue of national security. Over half of the population lives below the poverty level. Yet a government cannot responsibly expect to lift its people out of poverty while legally excluding half of the most productive segment of society from the economy…When a man dies, who is left to provide for his family? His wife. But if a wife and a mother cannot secure even basic inheritance rights and has no standing in civil court, then how is she to provide for the next generation? The traditional safety net provided by the extended family has been eroded, and coping mechanisms have been exhausted by the HIV pandemic.”