This thesis aims to shed light on issues related to women’s rights to access and benefit from land in matrilineal communities in rural, northern Mozambique. It portrays the environment in which organisations working with implementation of land rights operate as well as proposes conclusions on the core obstacles to their work. A qualitative study was conducted and forms the basis of the study and is complemented with previous research on this topic. Women in rural, matrilineal communities in northern Mozambique are not equal with their male counterparts and they hold a lower social position despite the alleged matrilineal structure. However, they appear to be less marginalised than women in southern, patrilineal Mozambique, which suggests that the matrilineal structure does have a positive effect on the lives of the rural women. Furthermore, this study shows that the obstacles when implementing women’s land rights can be summarised as: (i) strong patriarchal attitudes, (ii) an insufficient level of education that excludes women from decision-making and (iii) a too narrow understanding of the gender-power relations.

Magister Legum - LLM / This research aimed to undertake an investigation into the question of whether after divorce, in the matrilineal customary law marriage in Malawi, women's rights are severely violated. The study showed causes of divorce, how proceedings are done, how issues of property are handled, how the issue of custody of children and maintenance are also handled. All this was weighed against the constitutional provisions and international law. / South Africa

No description available.

<p>On the assumption that the Bill of Rights in the Malawi Constitution has brought change in the enjoyment of rights by women married under customary family laws, this research study examines its impact on African customary family laws that are discriminatory against women in Malawi. The main focus is on customary family laws governing marriage, divorce, children after divorce, and inheritance in both patrilineal and matrilineal systems of marriages. The extent to which this has been reflected in practice is assessed in the light of women&rsquo / s rights law reforms and courts&rsquo / adjudication of customary family law issues.</p>

This research aimed to undertake an investigation into the question of whether after divorce, in the matrilineal customary law marriage in Malawi, women's rights are severely violated. The study showed causes of divorce, how proceedings are done, how issues of property are handled, how the issue of custody of children and maintenance are also handled. All this was weighed against the constitutional provisions and international law.

<p>On the assumption that the Bill of Rights in the Malawi Constitution has brought change in the enjoyment of rights by women married under customary family laws, this research study examines its impact on African customary family laws that are discriminatory against women in Malawi. The main focus is on customary family laws governing marriage, divorce, children after divorce, and inheritance in both patrilineal and matrilineal systems of marriages. The extent to which this has been reflected in practice is assessed in the light of women&rsquo / s rights law reforms and courts&rsquo / adjudication of customary family law issues.</p>

Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1978. / Bibliography: leaves 176-185. / Microfiche. / vi, 185 leaves, bound maps 29 cm

This research aimed to undertake an investigation into the question of whether after divorce, in the matrilineal customary law marriage in Malawi, women's rights are severely violated. The study showed causes of divorce, how proceedings are done, how issues of property are handled, how the issue of custody of children and maintenance are also handled. All this was weighed against the constitutional provisions and international law.

L’évolution humaine n’est pas seulement génétique, elle est aussi culturelle, et les processus culturels et génétiques interagissent entre eux. Plus particulièrement, le système de parenté, en déterminant quand, où et avec qui les individus se reproduisent et élèvent leurs enfants, est un facteur clé de l’évolution génétique des populations humaines. Cependant la grande majorité des études de génétique des populations humaines ignorent l’existence de ces structures sociales. L’objectif de cette thèse est de remédier à ce manque en explorant par une approche pluridisciplinaire et quantitative l’influence des systèmes de parenté sur la diversité génétique de 12 populations d’Asie du Sud-Est présentant des règles de filiation patrilinéaire, matrilinéaire et cognatique associées à des règles de résidence patrilocale, matrilocale et multilocale. Nous avons tout d’abord mis en évidence que les systèmes de parenté se répercutent sur les variables ethno-démographiques d’importance pour l’évolution génétique des populations, et notamment sur les migrations maritales sexe-spécifiques. En particulier nous avons observé que les systèmes patrilinéaires et matrilinéaires ne sont pas symétriques. Il existe une plus grande flexibilité de la règle de résidence chez les populations patrilinéaires par rapport aux populations matrilinéaires. Cette différence a pour conséquence des taux de migrations d’hommes similaires entre les systèmes de parenté alors que les taux de migrations de femmes sont plus élevés chez les populations patrilinéaires que matrilinéaires. En outre, nous avons montré que les populations matrilinéaires et cognatiques avec résidence matrilocale prédominante ont une endogamie de village plus élevée que les populations patrilinéaires. Les raisons ethnologiques de ces observations sont discutées, particulièrement en lien avec l’hypothèse du « puzzle matrilinéaire ». Puis, nous avons exploré l’impact de ces différences ethno-démographiques entre populations suivant des systèmes de parenté différents sur leur diversité génétique uniparentale. Nous avons pu observer l’effet de la plus grande flexibilité de la règle de résidence chez les populations patrilinéaires : en effet, la diversité du chromosome Y suit le patron de migration des hommes, et est similaire entre les systèmes de parenté alors que celle de l’ADN mitochondrial suit le patron de migration de femmes et est plus élevée chez les populations patrilinéaires que matrilinéaires. Enfin, nous nous sommes intéressés à l’effet des systèmes de parenté sur la diversité autosomale et plus spécifiquement sur la consanguinité. Nous avons montré que le taux de consanguinité est plus élevé dans les populations matrilinéaires et cognatiques que dans les populations patrilinéaires, ce qui s’explique par la différence d’endogamie de village entre les systèmes de parenté.Pris ensemble, ces résultats montrent qu’il est nécessaire de prendre en compte le système de parenté comme une combinaison de règles (de filiation, de résidence et d’alliance) qui se croisent et interagissent, et dont l’effet sur la diversité génétique ne peut être appréhendé que par une analyse quantitative des variables ethno-démographiques pertinentes. / In humans, evolution is not only biological but also cultural. In addition, biological and cultural processes interact with each other. Kinship system is particularly interesting for population geneticists since it conditions when, where and with whom men and women reproduce and raise their children. It is therefore a key factor in the genetic evolution of human populations. However, most studies in human population genetics do not take into account the influence of social structures. The aim of this Phd thesis was to deepen our understanding of the influence of kinship system on genetic diversity. We undertook a pluridisciplinary and quantitative approach by collecting genetic and ethno-demographic data from 12 Southeast Asian populations exhibiting a wide variety of descent (matrilineal, patrilineal, or cognatic) and residence (matrilocal, patrilocal, or multilocal) rules.We first showed that kinship systems influence ethno-demographic variables that impacts the evolution of genetic diversity, notably sex-specific migrations. We found that patrilineal and matrilineal systems are not the symmetric opposite of each other. There was a higher residence rule flexibility in patrilineal populations compared to matrilineal populations. In consequence, male migration rates were similar between kinship systems whereas female migration rates were higher in patrilineal populations compared to matrilineal populations. In addition, we showed that matrilineal populations and cognatic populations with predominant matrilocal residence had a higher village endogamy compared to patrilineal populations. The ethnological reasons for these observations were discussed, in particular in the light of the matrilineal puzzle hypothesis. We then tested to which extent such ethno-demographic differences between populations following different kinship systems impact their uniparental genetic diversity. We could detect the impact of the higher residence rule flexibility in patrilineal populations: indeed, Y chromosome diversity followed the male migration pattern, and was similar between kinship systems, whereas mitochondrial DNA diversity followed the female migration pattern, and was higher in patrilineal populations compared to matrilineal populations. Finally, we focused on the influence of kinship systems on autosomal diversity, more specifically on inbreeding levels. We demonstrated that, due to larger village endogamy, inbreeding level was higher in matrilineal and cognatic populations compared to patrilineal populations Together these results showed that the kinship system has to be considered as the combination of a set of crossing and interacting rules (descent, residence and alliance), whose effects on genetic diversity can be disentangled only by going beyond categorizations and performing a quantitative assessment of relevant ethno-demographic variables.

Doctor Legum - LLD / South Africa