ABSTRACT
In rural areas of the south, land is of fundamental importance. It provides opportunities for shelter, subsistence and commercial activity and for status, dignity and a sense of belonging and of self-worth. Shona women in rural Zimbabwe are among those millions of African women who cannot in practice enjoy independent rights to land. Zimbabwe has a pluralist legal system, comprising the general law and 'customary law'. Zimbabwe has ratified all the major international human rights instruments. The Government of Zimbabwe can make a major contribution to the desired changes of customary law institutions. The need perceived by many Zimbabwean women is for independent access to land. The government has undertaken extensive commitments to gender equality in its legislative programme. The transformational potential of the legislative programme is not to be discounted in the quest for greater gender equality as far as land rights are concerned.
