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Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and

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welcome to Stephane. Never told your protection of I Heart Radio.

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Welcome everyone to today. He's

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addition of women around the world.

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I don't know, because it's gonna change every time.

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You know it is because I'm not gonna remember what

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I said before. But

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I'm sure you know there's no way to go back, and

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I will never I will never go back. Only

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four. But today we are

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talking about the first woman to be appointed

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judge to the High Court of Botswana, Unity

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Dow. Unity Dow is no changer

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to paving the way for many women in Southern Africa.

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She is known as the humans rights and women's right activists

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and has been a prominent politician in Botswana

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for many years. Unity I was born

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in a small village near Gabra run A, Botswana,

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on April ninety nine. Though

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her parents were not highly educated, her father

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was a very big proponent and furthering the children's

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education and encouraging his children to

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do the same right as In fact, he and

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another teacher were a big influence

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on her continuing her education in schooling

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and she went on to study law at the University

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of Botswana and Swaziland, becoming the only

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woman studying law at that time, and

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then went on to the University of Edinburgh in

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Scotland to continue her education

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and after obtaining her law degree, she worked as a lawyer

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at a human rights organization in her home village at Machudi.

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In nineteen ninety one, she helped open a private

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primary school, Bayo Bob School in Gabarone,

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and that school is still currently operating. She

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then continued on working as a

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colonel prosecutor defense attorney, but she

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soon embarked on another case in

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which she was the plaintiff herself. She

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had married an American citizen, Peter Dow,

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and found that under the citizenship law,

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her children are not considered citizens of Botswana

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due to their father's lineage, because

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under the law any child could not be sidered

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a citizen unless their father was

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a citizen, and this included children

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who were born quote out of wedlock.

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She went through a five year legal journey to change

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this not only for herself but for all the women

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in Botswana. She stated during

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her trial quote, Suddenly I was being unpatriotic

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by bringing this case. I was being uncultural.

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I was influenced by my foreign training.

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I was not behaving like a normal nice

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wife. She talked about how she often

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would just cry over this journey trying

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to make this change because she just could not understand

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how the system would

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go after women in such a way when they

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are the matriarch and should be able

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to have their children to be a part of

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this citizenship and lineage as well. It was we were

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actually a really interesting case um and she

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was able to win the case, changing the law

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and breaking down the patriarchal system in which

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laws were formed and how to bring equal rights

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for the Massawana women as well as the men.

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And she talked about how not only

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was this law changed, but they actually hired

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her and many other people to research the

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level of misogyny in their laws and

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in their constitution and whether it was unconstitutional

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or not. So it was really really interesting to see the

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effect she had. But she also was an advocate

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for bringing awareness of the A'S and HIV epidemic

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in Southern Africa, and she created

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the A's Action Trust and with Max

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XX, wrote the book called Saturday Is

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for Funerals, which details the two

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stories and trauma of different families

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affected by the disease and then also

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how the community leaders, scientists, educators

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and medical professionals responded to

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help stop the epidemic. And by the way.

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She is a novelist with many books under

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her belt, most of which speaking to the issues of ginger

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quality or inequality, and issues

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and poverty within her country. She also

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started the Women in Law in Southern Africa

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w l s A, which is now spread through seven

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countries Botswana, Lusu, to

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Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland,

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Zambia and Zimbabwe. The

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w l s A is a non governmental

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organization that conducts research for women's

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human rights. As they say they

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quote aimed to help build a world with fear

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asymmetries, where no one is excluded on

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the grounds of sex, race, ethnicity or region,

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and where each individual can enjoy her his

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rights as a citizen and as

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a High Court justice now has been instrumental

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in fighting for the rights of the citizens. She is

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well known for her ruling in one of the longest

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and one of the most expensive cases in Botswana,

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the roy Sasana and others versus the

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Government of Botswana or the

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Central Collegoty Gang Reserve or

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c kg R, which led to the sand Or

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Bostwara people to be able to return to their ancestral

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lands after the government had sought to forcibly

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removed them. She stated the case was quote

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ultimately about people demanding dignity

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and respect. It is a people saying, in essence,

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our way of life may be different, but it is

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worthy of respect. We may be changing

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and getting closer to your way of life, but

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give us a chance to decide what we want to carry

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with us into the future, which I thought

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was a really powerful statement. And in

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regards to what helps her make her ruling,

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she stated, quote, it all comes to hard facts

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before the court, is a law that applies at

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the end of it all, it is the facts properly

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brought before me that count. And as a friend

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always says you're a slave to the Constitution,

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you are no slave demand. She served

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as the High Court judge for eleven years, moving

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on to starting her first firm

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giving opportunities for women practicing law. DW.

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Malakayla Attorneys,

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Sorry if I mispronounced that. She

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also worked with the lgbt Q organization

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l E G A b I b O during

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this time to be able to register

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as an organization which would allow for it

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to be granted funds, which at

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one point was seen as unconstitutional,

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but Dow worked to sue the government gaining

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grounds for lgbt Q plus rights.

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So in fourteen that was nominated

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as a special Elected Member of Parliament

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or they're also called simple as e MP

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and confirmed and appointed as

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Assistant Minister of Education. Then was appointed

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by President Comma as Minister of Education

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and Skills Development. In twenty eighteen, under

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a new administration, she was appointed as

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Minister of infrastruct Sure in Housing

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Development or later known as Minister of Internal

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Affairs and Cooperation, and reconfirmed

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in twenty nineteen. However, in twenty

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twenty she has since announced her retirement.

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But it is clear she has had a long lasting

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impact in our country where she still resides,

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receiving awards like Legion of Honor

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William Brennan, Human Rights Award from Rutgers

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and the Vanguard Women Leadership Award. It's

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obvious she has left her mark as an advocate

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and a fighter and is known as a nonconformist

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who has opened up a pathway for women to continue

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to fight for justice and equality. Yeah,

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she was so fascinating for me to

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read about and just about how many things that

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she was able to do and pushed through

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and the forces is not her only cases that

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she did, but these are some of the bigger ones

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that really helped her stand out. And

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even her own case leading the way to have

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them revamp their laws and

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talk about what is sexist and what is

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misogynistic has been a big part, especially

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with her putting her own

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mental health on the line and trying to get this

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done for her children and how important it is to have

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our children be proud of being citizens

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of Botswana as well as the U. So

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it's really beautiful to see and it's amazing

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how hard she fought to get to this point.

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Yeah, and that's a theme we've seen in a

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lot of episodes around female First or

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that we're going to continue to see as we do this series

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of Women around the World is women

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who do put so much

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of themselves on the line to

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help create a better future, the future they want

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for younger generations that they want to see. And

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it's really inspiring and I'm glad we're getting to spotlight

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it in this series. I'm glad

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we're getting to talk about women who perhaps

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you had not heard of listeners, and

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I'm always a big proponent, you know me. I'm

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a language nerd, so I love the idea of like going

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through the Constitution and finding out like

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all the misogynistic language,

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right, I love it. So

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that brings us to the end of this installment

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of women around the world. If there are women that we should

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spotlight, that you want to suggest to us, uh,

8:00

please do. Our

8:02

email is Stuff Media mom Stuff

8:04

at iHeart meia dot com. You can find us on Instagram

8:06

at stuff I've Never Told You, are on Twitter app mom Stuff

8:08

Podcast. Thanks as always to our super producer

8:10

Christina, Thank you and

8:13

thanks to you for listening Stuff I Never Told

8:15

You the prediction to I Heart Radio for more podcast for my

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