Running a Case

By incentivizing the law and by incorporating women into the daily work of regulation brokers and law enforcement personnel encouraged women to “run cases.” Chapter 8 details the practice of “running a case” and the specific capabilities it engendered. First, to “run a case,” women had to risk estrangement, not only from intimate partners and in-laws but also from agnatic kin. Second, they had to confront and work with law enforcement: courageously demonstrating their organized connections, overcoming insults and neglect, and resolutely pursuing rights despite delays. Third, they had to learn to do the state’s work: either completing case-processing duties or finding a way to acquire a semblance of rights outside formal legal procedure.