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African Women in Law is the first empirical study to offer a comprehensive and contextually rich portrait of African women in the legal profession across sectors.
It challenges dominant, Western-centric narratives about gender and the legal profession.
Introduces original frameworks that will reshape how African women in law are studied.
Reviews & Endorsements
Professor Sylvia Tamale
Former Law Dean and Feminist Law Professor
Jarpa Dawuni offers a deeply researched exploration of the experiences of African women in the legal profession, creating a rich contextual knowledge base—the first of its kind. Her feminist insights and comprehensive survey make this book an invaluable resource for aspiring legal professionals. It is also a practical tool for policymakers advocating for gender justice, while remaining accessible to the general reader.
Professor Margaret L. Satterthwaite
Professor of Law, New York University School of Law; UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers
Drawing on postcolonial feminism, intersectionality, and her own theory of matri-legal feminism, Professor Dawuni introduces theoretical innovations rooted in the diverse and nuanced lived experiences of women in law. Employing terms such as “gender-norm conformists” and “gender-norm disruptors,” and introducing concepts like female “workhorses” and male “race-horses,” the book explores strategies for surviving, navigating, and challenging gendered power structures. These contributions significantly advance the study of women in law—both across African contexts and globally. This book is poised to serve as a key reference for research on African women in law for years to come.
Justice Albie Sachs
Former Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa
The author takes readers on a journey from Africa’s precolonial justice systems and women’s roles in law, through various domestic contexts, to the global stage where African women continue to influence law, justice, and good governance. Written with zeal and compassion and supported by robust empirical, qualitative, and quantitative data, this work offers a dignified, scholarly, and long-overdue account of the rich and distinctive contributions African women have made to the bar, the bench, and the legal academy.
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