Engendering Legal and Institutional Reforms to Ensure Access to Reproductive Justice for Women in Zimbabwe: A Case Study of the Mapingure Case

Abstract

In many African communities, gender inequality remains the norm as women continue to live at the periphery of society. Women in Africa have continued to bear the greatest burden of sexual and reproductive ill-health. Women's access to reproductive justice is often restricted by the systems, institutions and legal frameworks that (should) facilitate reproductive justice. Thus reproductive justice should be viewed holistically, taking into account cultural, institutional and political barriers and the social environment in which women live. Using the decision in Mapingure as a case study, this article argues that attempts at legal reforms towards access to reproductive justice for women must put women at the centre and address structural and institutional inadequacies that perpetuate gender inequality. The Mapingure case illustrates that the mere existence of positive laws and institutions to enforce these laws is not a guarantee for women to secure access to justice in general and reproductive justice in particular. The article concludes that realising access to justice for women goes beyond creating an enabling legal environment but also modifying socio-cultural behaviour and attitudes that spread patriarchal and primordial hegemonic tendencies.