ABSTRACT
This study aimed at discussing Customary Law and Women’s Rights in
Anglophone Cameroon. This is because in Anglophone Cameroon like
anywhere else in the world, women are being discriminated by men. This
because most societies have adopted patriarchal laws which tend to be
discriminatory against women. This discrimination is a costly constraint and
tend to be a barrier to their economic growth. Cameroon being a country of law,
both the Customary and Statutory rules play a greater role in eradicating this
discrimination. The study is based in Cameroon in general and Anglophone
regions in particular.

CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.1. BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Like most sub-Saharan African states, Cameroon’s contemporary legal
landscape has been influenced by colonialism. The colonial occupation of
Cameroon by the Germans, later by the British and the French during the
Second World War led to the imposition of western legal models in the territory,
which hitherto had known only a fragmentary system of norms, based on native
laws and customs. After independence, Cameroon incorporated into its
developing body of municipal law a series of human rights instruments
including Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHM) 1948, the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) 1966, the
International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
1966, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against
Women (CEDAW) 1979, the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights
1981 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989. Upon ratification,
these international treaties and covenants are incorporated directly into the body
of municipal law and have direct effects.
The existence of a plurality of rules in the legal system poses theoretical and
practical problems. One of the most persistent and perhaps intractable problem
is the difficulty of unifying the legal process. Further, a need arises to reconcile
the differences existing between customary law and received law (including
human rights). A unification of laws campaign is underway, which culminated
in the promulgation of a unitary penal code 1967, labour code 1992 and a
criminal procedure code (as amended), the successes registered in reconciling
2
some of the values of received English law with those off the French law are
compromised by the difficulties involved in reconciling customary law with
statutory law (and human rights)
The lukewarm attitude demonstrated in relation to customary law is partly
informed by the difficulties involved in reconciling the values of customary law
with those of human rights. Customary law is imbued with discriminatory
structure, it is patriarchal in nature and perceived as a way of looking at the
world from the vantage position of men in traditional African and mostly nonwestern societies.
In this light, it is frequently looked upon as discriminatory towards women,
primitive and agrarian on conception, unsuitable for the demands of the
capitalist economy1
.
As the work embodies the right of women in Anglophone regions of Cameroon,
it will fall on the concept of equality, the right to own property(land), in cases of
acquering foreign nationality, in marriage and also in cases of inheritage where
most homes are patriarchal in natur. It may be observed that equality as a
susbstantive concept permits Cameroonian Law. Indeed, the preamble of the
1996 Constitution and the Land Registration Ordinance of 1974, make reference
to equality as the basis of access to land. Basically, the concept of equality
which focuses on the idea that people should be treated the same regardless of
sex, class, religion, race, language, origin or other idiosyncratic basis has
become a serious concern in Cameroon where access to property has over the
years been tilted in favour of men to the disadvantage of women2.

The discrimination which often subjugates women in Cameroon by limiting
their rights over resources including matrimonial property on divorce has to be
examined within the spirit of Convention on the Elimination of all forms of
Discrimination Against Women, this treaty established a regime that insists on a
general and independent protection of women against discrimination in all
circumstances. It particularly protects the right to access and landed property on
a non-discriminatory basis during and after marriage but has witnessed
interesting swings in Cameroon especially in the cases of Achu v. Achu3
and
Zamcho Florence Lum v. Chibikom Peter Fru4
. Besides women who are
generally regarded as a wulnerable group need special attention from the
government and community at large in all circumstances in order to bring their
status into compliance with the country’s own legal obligation. This analysis is
situated within the context of a gendered approach which demonstrates that
apart from biological differences that between men and women , women are
generally regarded as the vulnerable category of persons who are discriminated.
Also, section 27 of Southern Cameroon High Court Law 1955 provided for the
recognition of and enforcement of only customary law which is not repugnant to
natural justice, equity and conscience or incompatible either directly or by
implication, with any existing law.
.