Swaziland

[Page 1423]A small, landlocked kingdom in Southern Africa, between Mozambique and South Africa, Swaziland has a population of 1.18 million. It is a developing economy, based on manufacturing, agriculture, and service industries. About 75 percent of the population lives on subsistence farming, and 60 percent makes less than $1.25 a day. Women head one-third of Swazi households. The population is 60 percent Christian, 30 percent indigenous religions, and 10 percent Muslim.

Swaziland's national adult human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevalence is more than 40 percent (nearly 50 percent among young women). Together with Botswana and Lesotho, Swaziland is intimately tied to South Africa's mining economy; these four countries show the highest HIV prevalence in the world. The National Emergency Response Council on human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) in 2004 estimated that over 60,000 children have lost parents, giving rise to child-headed households-more than 15,000 without a living adult, and with children as young as 8 years old caring for their siblings. The growing effect of HIV/AIDS on families, and young women particularly, has continued to grow.

On a positive note, Swaziland holds the second-lowest rate of teenage births worldwide (closely followed by industrialized countries such as Switzerland and the Netherlands) and has recently approved (in April 2009) free primary education in public schools for all children. The literacy rate for women between 15 and 24 years of age is 89 percent (87 percent for men). Regarding political representation, only 11 women were in Parliament in 2004 (as opposed to three in 1995).

Recent amendments to the Constitution of Swaziland provide equal legal rights to men and women and grant married women several rights, such as to own property, to hold a passport, to open a bank account, or to ask for a bank loan. Women previously could only do that with their husband's permission, as they were legally considered minors. Nevertheless, Swazi women are for the most part under the permanent guardianship of their husband, with no independent right to manage property or to keep custody of children that commonly belong to the father. Part of the problem is that married women do not own land; instead, they obtain usufruct rights through marriage in Swaziland, as in several African countries. Thus, a dual system allows the coexistence of customary law and civil laws, greatly undermining gender equality-especially in cases of violence against women or marital abuse. Customary law largely determines rural people's lives-those of women in particular-which is an enormous challenge for social transformation toward gender equity.