Historic divorce law spurs women's fight for property

In a country where women are largely treated as dependents of men, a ruling by Zimbabwe's Supreme Court in June that entitles married couples to an equal share of their property upon divorce was hailed as historic by women's rights advocates.Photo: AP

When Smangele Tshuma got divorced after five years of marriage, her in-laws forced her out of the home that she had been living in with her husband in southwestern Zimbabwe and took the three donkeys she had bought with money from selling blankets.

Like most marriages in the country's rural areas, Tshuma's had been a customary, unregistered union in which everything she brought to the marriage was considered her husband's property, the mother of two said. In a country where women are largely treated as dependents of men, a ruling by Zimbabwe's Supreme Court in June that entitles married couples to an equal share of their property upon divorce was hailed as historic by women's rights advocates.