Tensions between customary law and human rights – whether contained in a country's constitution or in international human rights instruments – are an established fact. This tension is accentuated in countries whose constitutions protect inherently conflicting rights, such as the rights to gender equality, dignity, and security of the person, on the one hand, and the right to participate in one's culture of choice and customary law rights, on the other hand. Several constitutions on the Continent now carry these kinds of provisions.

The main approaches to resolving these conflicts in Southern Africa are legislative and judicial interventions to which we refer as dominant interventions. However, it seems that preoccupation with these interventions has for a long time diverted the attention of women’s rights scholars and activists both from 1) their limitations and 2) the needs to search for, and recognize, alternative approaches identified by studies on the rights of women in the region. Specific reference is made in this chapter to the approach identified with Women and Law in Southern Africa Research Project (WLSA) of engaging with customary law to protect the rights of women. We have labeled this approach the “old pathways.” This label is intended to underscore the point that, although the WLSA approach goes as far back as 1988, it has not featured prominently in current strategies and interventions for protecting women’s rights in the region in the same way that the dominant interventions have.