Towards a Conducive Environment for Women HRDs 43 Peggy Mapfumo-Tavagadza is a human rights lawyer at Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights. Mapfumo-Tavagadza’s greatest satisfaction from her work comes in the form of a cow named “lawyer” in tribute to her work – which is testimony to her dedication to helping downtrodden rural people to stand up to institutionalised impunity. She is based in Mutare and travels extensively to raise constitutional awareness among grassroots communities in urban and rural Manicaland. So vigorous has Mapfumo-Tavagadza been in helping villagers fight institutionalised impunity that one of her Honde Valley clients – a victim of police assault – used part of her compensation to buy a cow she called “lawyer” as a tribute to her. Mapfumo-Tavagadza is aware that human rights work, despite the dangers involved, is no ticket to riches. “The desire to make a change and promote human dignity motivates me a lot. When you get to a police station and you see your client soaked in blood and human waste, you just can’t stand and do nothing. At that same station within earshot you hear someone screaming in pain, the least you can do is to do something. l have a strong support system in ZLHR, an institution that is just passionate about using the law to make a difference in people’s lives.” Sarudzayi Njerere is a human rights lawyer and women’s rights advocate. Njerere, who started her career as a public prosecutor in 1997, is a crusader of women’s rights and her name is synonymous with landmark women’s emancipation cases. Her work challenging customary laws and practices, as well as a guardianship system rooted in patriarchy, has left a lasting mark in the struggle for women to be regarded as equal citizens with full rights. In 2010 the Supreme Court passed a groundbreaking ruling allowing women to obtain passports for their children in the absence of the child’s father after she challenged sections of the Guardianship of Minors Act. The Act recognised only the father of children born in wedlock as the natural guardian of such children who exercise this right in “consultation” with the mother. The Supreme Court agreed with Njerere that the law was discriminatory against women. Thanks to her efforts, Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede can no longer force married women to change their surnames as a condition for acquiring birth certificates for their children, after she sought a court order barring the practice. Currently, she is among human rights defenders campaigning for the amendment of the Termination of Pregnancy Act so that abortion can become every woman’s option. Sheila Jarvis: The story of human rights defenders in Zimbabwe will never be complete without mention of Sheila Jarvis. She has been involved in electoral issues, defence of human rights defenders, institutional reform and anti-impunity campaigns, as well as vigorous lobbying for the rule of law and a democratic Constitution. “The new Constitution is an excellent document, except that transitional provisions added by politicians defer all hope of headway on democracy and other vital rights for another decade, at least.” Jarvis has been successfully involved in some of the most significant legal challenges on electoral issues as a lawyer and campaigner for peaceful and credible elections. Her dedication to social justice has also seen her fighting for children’s rights. Between 2005 and 2008 she was instrumental in keeping schools open when the government arrested some school authorities and was moving to close some private learning institutions over a fees’ row. Jarvis is a forceful human rights defender who aggressively combines litigation, advocacy and street protests to keep the spark against tyranny alight. In 2008 she was one of the human rights defenders who risked life and limb to conduct street marches and distribute leaflets demanding the release of Jestina Mukoko, who had been kidnapped and held incommunicado at the time. Mukoko was released after the march. Yet Jarvis refuses to take the credit for the works she does with so much