ABSTRACT
Malawi is a signatory to various international and regional instruments advocating for women’s rights. However, the patriarchal nature of customary marriage laws, as well as the poverty most rural women live in, works against the realisation of such rights. In order to address these challenges, the Malawi government has, among other strategies, reformed its laws to recognise the principle of equality in all marriages. This chapter therefore contextualises poverty, and critically analyses the legal strategies currently being used to promote equal access to, and positive outcomes from, justice processes for rural women who are governed by customary marriage laws in Malawi. It is argued that the ability of Malawi’s substantive laws to enable rural married women to enjoy their rights within, and at the dissolution of, a marriage forms the yardstick with which to gauge access to justice.
