divorce — Online Journal — Columbia Undergraduate Law Review

Current Events | Upholding CEDAW: The Fight for Gender Equality in Kenyan Marriage Law

Over the last decade, Kenya has implemented new legislation to ensure legal equality between men and women in marriage. However, there is still a lack of equality between spouses, particularly in reference to matrimonial property and custody. This stands in conflict with Kenya’s obligations as a ratifying party to the 1981 Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which requires that member states ensure that men and women be treated equally during, after, and outside of marriage. In order to comply with the standards of international human rights law laid out in CEDAW, Kenya must revise its 2013 Matrimonial Act and the 2014 Marriage Act and amend the 2016 Legal Aid Act to guarantee women legal equality.

Genevieve CabadasNovember 3, 2021Kenya, women’s rights, international human rights law, Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, marriage rights, family law, gender equality, property rights, Maputo Protocol, divorce

Click Here to Divorce: Online Dispute Resolution for Family Disputes?

Despite this rapidly changing age of technology, the legal system still remains inefficient, expensive, and bureaucratic, presenting troublesome difficulties when one must quickly resolve a family dispute. As demonstrated by a family dispute case from the Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (HiiL), “Dora tried to hire a lawyer, but she was turned down … because she could only spend 500 dollars on assistance. On a court website with 131 forms ... a social worker helped her to identify the five she needed. The key form had 33 boxes she could tick…”[1]

Arkadiy SaakyanSeptember 5, 2018online dispute resolution, divorce, minimum contacts, Winfield Collection, Ltd. v. McCauley, Apple Inc. v. Protection Domain, technologyComment