When statutory and customary laws affecting women conflict, which legal system take precedence?
Within any country, a complicated collection of international laws, constitutional protections, customary laws and practices, statutory provisions, regulations and other forms of subsidiary law, judicial decisions and government policies may comprise the legal terrain that structures women’s rights. Where those laws conflict, it is not always clear which legal system takes precedence. For example, in some countries, despite legal guarantees of women’s equal rights in the Constitution and other legislation, “marital powers” award husbands full legal power over their spouses and over all family property, denying women the right to administer property, sign contracts or obtain credit and, ultimately, the right to economic independence. Similarly, where constitutional and statutory law defer to customary law, it may be difficult or impossible for women to inherit or divorce. Gains made on one front may be undermined by existing rules in another, or limited in effect because of contradictor
