Revisiting the Continued Relevance of Adultery Damages in Light of the International Women’s Day Commemorations by Lincoln Majogo.

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The reservation of the 8th of March every year to commemorate Women’s International Day remains relevant in celebrating achievements by women and the continued pursuit of gender equity and equality. This day isn’t just about celebrating women for television purposes or for social media mileage. This day has everything to do with reflecting on current socio-economic issues still affecting women and creating solutions to solve these existing problems.

As l was pondering on this very important day, my mind couldn’t resist reflecting on adultery damages in light of the ongoing Women's Day celebrations. My natural inclination is that today creates a special occasion to reignite the discussion on the continued relevance of adultery damages in Zimbabwe in light of the vast evidence that the delict perpetuates damaging stereotypes against mostly women. 

Adultery occurs when a third party knowingly has sexual intercourse with a married spouse in a monogamous civil marriage. The innocent spouse assumes a right to sue the third party for adultery damages. In other words, the guilty spouse is shielded from this lawsuit by the innocent spouse. Women married under customary law have no right to sue for adultery damages because by its very nature customary law is potentially polygamous. Although this is the law, most cases if not all in Zimbabwe involving adultery damages have been instituted by married women against other women(third parties). It is within this context that I believe that the current legal framework regulating adultery damages is unfair, especially to women.

l cannot fathom why the “cheating husband” for example is exempted from being sued by their spouse whilst the third party attracts full civil liability for the extra-marital affair. This has resulted in the reasoning that the third party is guilty because ‘she induced the married man to cheat on his wife’. This thinking simply portrays women as natural adulterers and men as weak people who have no control over their sexual desires thus they are innocently tricked into cheating on their spouses. It is these stereotypes that are worth interrogating on this special day in order to assess how this day can also be used as a tool to lobby for laws that promote equal treatment before the law. By no means am l condoning adultery but if it's a punishment for breach of a marriage contract, both parties who indulge in this extra-marital affair should be punished or we abolish it!

Based on the foregoing, it is clear that while we celebrate International Women’s day, there is still a lot to be done to protect women from discriminatory laws that perpetuate damaging stereotypes against their personalities. I end by saying Happy International Womens Day!

 

About the author

Lincoln is a registered legal practitioner, notary public, and conveyancer currently practicing in Zimbabwe. He writes in his personal capacity.

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