Congratulations to Professors Charles G. Ngwena and Rebecca J. Cook, for analyzing and rewriting an historical decision by the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe in the new book Frontiers of Gender Equality: Transnational Legal Perspectives, edited by Rebecca Cook and recently published by the University of Pennsylvania Press. This chapter appears in Part III, “Looking Back to Move Forward,” one of the two chapters that relate directly to reproductive and sexual health law. We are pleased to circulate the authors’ abstract of this Mapingure decision analysis and re-write and the book’s entire Table of Contents, with links to abstracts of every chapter (including chapter 16, which also concerns women’s right to health).

Charles G. Ngwena and Rebecca J. Cook, “Restoring Mai Mapingure’s Equal Citizenship,” chapter 20 in Frontiers of Gender Equality: Transnational Legal Perspectives, ed. Rebecca J. Cook, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023)  Introduction online. Publisher links: North and South America, Rest of the World.

This chapter rewrites the judgment of the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe in Mildred Mapingure v. Minister of Home Affairs et al. The authors, writing as judges, identify the gendered harms of Zimbabwe’s Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1977 and its application to Mai Mapingure, a Zimbabwean woman denied an abortion to which she was legally entitled under the Act after being raped. Its criminal restrictions and procedures stereotype women as lacking agency. Its application is distorted by the gender biases of state officials, including doctors, policemen and judges. The Supreme Court blames Mai Mapingure, a poor woman, for not hiring a lawyer to negotiate the criminal justice system to access abortion services and fails to address the structural discrimination.

The rewritten judgment explains how the 2013 Constitution’s transformative vision requires the restoration of women’s equal citizenship in all sectors, including the health sector. This judgment acknowledges the social subordination of pregnant women, and reasons that the discrimination is intersectional, with gender, pregnant status and poverty causally implicated. She is denied equal exercise of her rights to personal security, freedom from cruel treatment, conscience and health care in violation of Zimbabwe’s 2013 Constitution. The authors order remedies to restore Mai Mapingure’s dignity and substantive equality. They award compensation for the rearing and educating her minor child. The 1977 Act is declared invalid. The state is ordered to investigate abuses against pregnant women, publish guidance to ensure transparent and dignified access to abortion care, and develop a national plan to transform the discriminatory health institutions and practices. Affirmative measures include gender-sensitive training, guidance for providers and the establishment of accountability mechanisms. This judgment aims to transform the circumstances causing violations through gender-specific remedies that acknowledge women’s agency and equal citizenship. The rewritten decision shows how the application of substantive equality under Zimbabwe’s newest Constitution is necessary to remedy structural subordination of pregnant women in the health sector.

Keywords: Abortion, abortion law, Zimbabwe, constitutional law, rights, rewriting judgment, women’s rights, reproductive rights, comparative law, gender equality
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FRONTIERS OF GENDER EQUALITY:
TRANSNATIONAL LEGAL PERSPECTIVES
ed. Rebecca J. Cook
(University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023)

Foreword by Cecilia Medina Quiroga

Introduction: Many Paths to Gender Equality Full text online.
by Rebecca J. Cook .

Part I. UNDERSTANDING GENDER INEQUALITY AND EQUALITY

1. Faces of Gender Inequality
by Sophia Moreau. Abstract online.

2. Challenging the Frontiers of Gender Equality: Women at Work
by Sandra Fredman. Abstract online.

3. A Prioritarian Account of Gender Equality
by Shreya Atrey. Abstract online.

4. Queer Rights Talk: The Rhetoric of Equality Rights for LGBTQ+ Peoples
by Daniel Del Gobbo. Abstract online.

5. CEDAW Reservations and Contested Equality Claims
by Siobhán Mullally. Abstract online.

6. Gender Equality and the Sustainable Development Goals:
Discursive Practices in Uncertain Times
by Marieme S. Lo. Abstract online.

Part II. ADVANCING GENDER EQUALITY THROUGH HUMAN RIGHTS TREATIES

International Treaties
7. Fifty Years On: The Curious Case of Intersectional Discrimination
in the ICCPR, with a Postscript, by Shreya Atrey. Abstract online.

8. Like Birds of a Feather? ICESCR and Women’s Socioeconomic Equality
by Meghan Campbell. Abstract online.

9. Gender Equality Untethered? CEDAW’s Contribution to Intersectionality
by Loveday Hodson. Abstract online.

Regional Treaties
10. Gender Equality in the European Court of Human Rights
by Stéphanie Hennette Vauchez Abstract online

11. Gender Equality within the Framework of the European Social Charter
by Karin Lukas and Colm Ó Cinnéide. Abstract online.

12. Transformative Gender Equality in the Inter-American System of Human Rights
by Verónica Undurraga. Abstract online.

13. African Gender Equalities,
by Fareda Banda. Abstract online.

14. Advancing Gender Equality through the Arab Charter on Human Rights
by Mervat Rishmawi. Abstract online.  Executive Summary in English.
Panel discussion held Oct 9, 2023.

Part III. LOOKING BACK TO MOVE FORWARD
15. Breathing Life into Equality: The Vishaka Case
by Naina Kapur. Abstract online.

16. Gender Equality in Health Care:
Reenvisioning CEDAW General Recommendation 24
by Joanna N. Erdman and Mariana Prandini Assis.
Portuguese translation of article. Abstract online in English.

17. Equality for Indigenous Women: McIvor v. Canada
by Cheryl Suzack. Abstract online.

18. Gender Equality and the Scope of Religious Freedom in S.A.S. v. France
by Ilias Trispiotis. Abstract online.

19. Institutional Dimensions of Gender Equality: The Maria da Penha Case
by Marta Rodriguez de Assis Machado and Mariana Mota Prado.
Portuguese translation. Abstract online in English.

20. Restoring Mai Mapingure’s Equal Citizenship
by Charles G. Ngwena and Rebecca J. Cook. Abstract online.

Conclusion. Taking Stock of Gender Equality
by Francisca Pou Giménez. Abstract online.

Table of Cases
Table of Legislation, Treaties, and Other Relevant Instruments
Notes
Index
Contributors
Acknowledgments

FRONTIERS OF GENDER EQUALITY: TRANSNATIONAL LEGAL PERSPECTIVES, Ed. Rebecca J. Cook, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023) Purchase options: North and South America, Rest of the World.
Introduction online.
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Contributed by: The International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program, reprohealth*law at utoronto.ca.   See Program website for our Publications,  Research resources, and Reprohealthlaw Commentaries Series.  TO JOIN THE REPROHEALTHLAW BLOG: enter your email address in the upper right corner of this blog, then check your email to confirm the subscription.

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