Introduction

Gender in Customary and Indigenous Law and Proceedings

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl.2534

Keywords:

gender, customary law, legal pluralism

Abstract

This special issue marks the first publication of a long-term international project on gender in customary and indigenous law and proceedings. Emerging from observations of the silence around customary law and differing perceptions of gender inequality in sub-Sahara African legal academia, the project brings together comparative socio-legal research from Africa, Europe and beyond. The contributions examine how colonial legacies, legal pluralism and globalisation shape gendered experiences in areas such as inheritance, land rights, marriage, judicial training, and access to justice. Highlighting women’s agency within plural legal systems, the issue provides new theoretical and empirical insights into the intersections of gender, customary law, and state law.

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Author Biographies

Ulrike Schultz, FernUniversität in Hagen

Ulrike Schultz, qualified as a lawyer, is a Senior Academic at FernUniversität in Hagen, Germany (the German distance-teaching university). Former Head of the Law Faculty's Teaching and Learning Unit specialised in media work; teaching gender and law at the law faculty; communication trainer for lawyers and the judiciary. She has set up and organised several further education programmes, such as Law Related Education, Women and Law, Legal Skills Training, and Virtual International Gender Studies. Board member of the German Sektion für Rechtssoziologie, of the RCSL and of the IISL in Onati. Chair of the RCSL Working Group on Legal Professions. Head of the "Women/Gender in the Legal Profession" Group. Member of the International Advisory Board of the International Journal of the Legal Profession, co-editor of the German Handbook for Equal Opportunities Work, editor of (hand-)books on Women and Law, Images of Women, Women and the Demographic Change, Women´s Rights in Europe, Women in the World´s Legal Professions, Gender and Judging (together with Gisela Shaw) etc.

Maria Rita Bartolomei, University of Messina

Maria Rita Bartolomei. PhD, Legal anthropologist and sociologist. Counselor. ASN 2018/2020 - SC 14/C3, Fascia 2. Adjunct professor University of Messina, Italy. Contact details: Via Toscanini 45, 63066 Grottammare AP. Email: mariaritabartolomei61@gmail.com / mabartolomei@unime.it / mariaritabartolomei@pec.it

References

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Araújo, S., 2025. Law as Imagination: Feminist Rethinkings of Legal Pluralism. Oñati Socio-Legal Series [online], 25(6-this issue). Available at: https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl.2210

Bartolomei, M.R., 2025. African Women and the Law: Justice Systems, Legal Professions and Land Rights in Zambia. Oñati Socio-Legal Series [online], 25(6-this issue). Available at: https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl.2200 DOI: https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl.2200

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Okezie, M.C.E., 2025. The Interplay Between Customary Law on Inheritance in Southern Cameroons and the Human Rights Principle of Gender Non-Discrimination. Oñati Socio-Legal Series [online], 25(6-this issue). Available at: https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl.2419 DOI: https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl.2419

Pedroso, J., et al., 2025. Mutations of Customary Law and State Law in the South of Mozambique: Paths of Hybridisation on Gender and Family Matters. Oñati Socio-Legal Series [online], 25(6-this issue). Available at: https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl.1972 DOI: https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl/1972

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Published

01-12-2025

How to Cite

Schultz, U., Bartolomei, M. R. and Araújo, S. (2025) “Introduction: Gender in Customary and Indigenous Law and Proceedings”, Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 15(6), pp. 1884–1896. doi: 10.35295/osls.iisl.2534.