relations protection of the family, education, prevention of domestic violence, and marriage.3 ▪ Chapter 4—the bill of rights—addresses women’s rights in the areas of criminal justice, reproductive rights, equality and nondiscrimination, labour rights, maternity leave, and health care.4 ▪ Chapter 6 requires certain quotas be met for the National Assembly. ▪ Chapter 8 requires that gender be taken into account for judicial appointments. These provisions are discussed more fully in the following sections that compare Zimbabwe’s Constitution to those of Botswana, Kenya, and South Africa. 4. The 1966 Constitution of Botswana 4.1 Background The Constitution of Botswana came into effect in 1966, and since then its main provisions have remained virtually unchanged. It is considerably shorter than the other constitutions reviewed in this report: 50 pages compared to roughly 200 pages. Not surprisingly, its genderequity provisions are limited; the Constitution does not even use the terms woman, women, girl, female, or gender. Botswana’s bill of rights is no different. Specific provisions protecting the rights of women are very limited, or nonexistent. Unlike other African nations, there are also no built-in quotas or other methods of guaranteeing women’s participation in government. 4.2 Bill of Rights The Botswanan bill of rights provides for fundamental rights and freedoms of life, liberty, security of the person and protection of the law regardless of sex.5 Although one’s sex cannot be used to deny a person the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms, that right is not extended to all areas of the law.6 Most notably, Botswana exempts “personal law” from the constitutional restraints imposed on discriminatory laws. In other words, laws that have a direct effect on women’s rights in the areas of “adoption, marriage, divorce, burial, devolution of property on death”7 can have a discriminatory effect and still not violate the Constitution. So unlike the Constitution of Zimbabwe, Botswana’s Constitution does not include any provisions wholly dedicated to the rights of women and gender equality (other than providing 3 4 5 6 7 Id., Ch. 2, §§ 13(3),14(2), 24(2)(d), 25(a), 26, 27(a), 27(b). Id., Ch. 4 , §§ 48(2)(d), 52(b), 56(2), 65(6), 65(7), 76(1). Botswana Constitution, Ch. 2, § 3(a). Id., Ch. 2, § 3(a). See id., Ch. 2, § 15(4)(c). 4