Harmful Cultural Practices that Violate Women’s Rights in African Polities and Why They have Persisted
Authors: Simuziya Nsama Jonathan 
Published: July 2023

Purpose – This study aims to examine why harmful cultural practices or human rights violations seem to have persisted in African polities despite the existence of relevant national, regional, and international standard practices on human rights.

Design/Method of Enquiry – The study adopted qualitative and quantitative research approaches. Qualitative methods were conducted through interviews involving 3 focus groups, 7 university professors, and 1 senior government official from the Ministry of Gender Equality. Other data sources were drawn from secondary information gathered from academic journals, books, and online publications. Quantitative data was used mainly for graphical illustrations as well as to justify the use of statistical information. The 3 countries under study (Namibia, Ethiopia, and Zambia) were selected because of their distinct historical trajectories. For instance, Ethiopia was never colonised by Western powers. Namibia was colonised by Germany and later, by the South African apartheid regime, while Zambia was colonised by Britain. In terms of population size, Ethiopia has around 123 million people; Namibia only has about 2.6 million people while Zambia has around 20 million people. These differences, i.e., the unique political histories and quirky demographic spread helped to gauge whether these dissimilarities provide any statistical significance on the overall study findings.

Findings – The study finds that there is a complex relationship between laws governing human rights and traditional norms. However, this tension – far from being destructive – can in fact be beneficial to both universalists and culturalists by potentially generating new ideas that fortify global and local efforts to bring human rights to brighter existence. Crucially, the study notes that by snubbing the opposing views from traditionalists, the universalists -unwittingly- forecloses a vital imperative of knowledge exchange that could illuminate and bring about real transformation on the human rights discourse. The study reveals that sensitisation and constructive engagement with traditional actors is key to the attainment of universal human rights. Furthermore, the study discovers that there is no statistical significance on the net comparable results among the 3 countries studied. The study concludes that change or reform is best attained when such change is driven from within a given constellation.

Originality/Value – The juxtaposes examined in this study helps the reader to see human rights in contextual terms. It is ironic, for instance, that vices such as gun culture, gangsterism, raping of women, abductions, aggravated robberies, and drug abuse seem to be a common feature in Western inclined (African) urban areas where universal human rights are preached and embraced, yet such heinous activities are virtually alien in traditional settings where the supposed ‘harmful cultural norms’ are practiced. Thanks to urban criminal activities – they have reinforced and legitimised the dyed-in-the-wool trademark defiance stance of traditionalists. So, by exposing this gap in human rights comprehension, this study helps the reader to grasp human rights with greater definition and drives Plato’s point home on the dynamism of knowledge: that knowledge is an intersection of truth and belief, where knowledge cannot be claimed if something is true but not believed or believed but not true.