[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 19067-19069]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




COMMENDING THE KINGDOM OF LESOTHO FOR ENACTMENT OF A LAW TO IMPROVE THE 
                        STATUS OF MARRIED WOMEN

  Ms. WATSON. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to 
the resolution (H. Res. 294) commending the Kingdom of Lesotho, on the 
occasion of International Women's Day, for the enactment of a law to 
improve the status of married women and ensure the access of married 
women to property rights, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 294

       Whereas the Kingdom of Lesotho is a parliamentary 
     constitutional monarchy that has been an independent country 
     since 1966;
       Whereas Lesotho is a low-income country with a gross 
     national income per capita of $960 and 50 percent of the 
     population lives below the poverty line;
       Whereas, in Lesotho, the HIV prevalence is estimated at 23 
     percent for the total adult population and 56 percent for 
     pregnant women between the ages of 25 and 29, and the current 
     average life expectancy at birth is estimated to be 34.4 
     years;
       Whereas the Kingdom of Lesotho, referred to by some as the 
     ``Kingdom in the Sky'', was a strong public supporter of the 
     end of apartheid in South Africa, and the Government of 
     Lesotho granted political asylum to a number of refugees from 
     South Africa during the apartheid era;
       Whereas the Government of Lesotho has demonstrated a strong 
     commitment to ruling justly, investing in people, ensuring 
     economic freedom, and controlling corruption;
       Whereas the Government of Lesotho has been named eligible 
     by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) for a Compact 
     of financial assistance that, as currently proposed, would 
     strongly focus on improving and safeguarding the health of 
     the people of Lesotho, in addition to supporting projects for 
     sustainable water resource management and private sector 
     development;
       Whereas, historically, a married woman in Lesotho was 
     considered a legal minor during the lifetime of her husband, 
     was severely restricted in economic activities, was unable to 
     enter into legally binding contracts without her husband's 
     consent, and had no standing in civil court;
       Whereas legislation elevating the legal status of married 
     women and providing property and inheritance rights to women 
     in Lesotho was introduced as early as 1992;
       Whereas for years women's groups, nongovernmental 
     organizations, the Federation of Women Lawyers, officials of 
     the Government of Lesotho, and others in Lesotho have pushed 
     for passage of legislation strengthening rights of married 
     women;
       Whereas in a letter to the Government of Lesotho in 
     September 2006, the chief executive officer of the MCC stated 
     that gender inequality is a constraint on economic growth and 
     poverty reduction and is related to the high prevalence of 
     HIV/AIDS, and that inattention to issues of gender inequality 
     could undermine the potential impact of the Compact proposed 
     to be entered into between the MCC and the Government of 
     Lesotho;
       Whereas the MCC's advocacy of gender equity played a 
     supportive role in the enactment of the Legal Capacity of 
     Married Persons Act in the Kingdom of Lesotho, which 
     effectively eliminated ``de jure'' discrimination against 
     women in the customary law system;
       Whereas the Legal Capacity of Married Persons Act was 
     passed by the Parliament of Lesotho and enacted into law in 
     November 2006;
       Whereas the MCC has already provided assistance to further 
     full and meaningful implementation of the new law; and
       Whereas the MCC has promulgated and is currently 
     implementing a new gender policy to integrate gender into all 
     phases of the development and implementation of the Compact 
     between the MCC and the Government of Lesotho: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved,  That the House of Representatives--
       (1) applauds the enactment of the Legal Capacity of Married 
     Persons Act by the Kingdom of Lesotho;
       (2) lauds the Kingdom of Lesotho for demonstrating its 
     commitment to improve gender equity;
       (3) encourages the Kingdom of Lesotho to continue its 
     effort to ensure gender equity; and
       (4) commends the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) for 
     developing and implementing policies to advance gender equity 
     in the Kingdom of Lesotho and other countries

[[Page 19068]]

     eligible for financial assistance from the MCC.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Watson) and the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-
Lehtinen) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California.


                             General Leave

  Ms. WATSON. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. WATSON. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this 
resolution, and I yield myself as much time as I may consume.
  H. Res. 294, as amended, commends the government of Lesotho for 
changing its laws to effectively eliminate legal discrimination against 
women in Lesotho's legal system.
  In many parts of the world, women's rights are extremely limited, or 
barely exist, compared to the rights of men. While women and girls 
constitute 51 percent of the world's population and make up 70 percent 
of all agricultural workers, they continue to suffer more from poverty, 
chronic hunger, HIV/AIDS, and lack of access to education. Women often 
constitute the highest percentage of those dispossessed of their land, 
disadvantaged by customary law and traditions which privilege men. 
Women are often subject to discriminatory laws that restrict their 
civil, economic and property rights.
  Until the passage of this law in Lesotho, women were defined as legal 
in Lesotho after marriage. Lesotho women had no rights to enter into 
economic transactions without the consent of their husbands. They could 
not purchase or inherit property and had no standing in the courts.
  Customary law in Lesotho ensured that property belonged to the 
husband, or was entrusted to a male relative. In many instances, after 
the death of a parent or spouse, or in the event of a divorce or after 
an out-of-court settlement, many married women got nothing other than 
their personal effects.
  In November of 2006, His Majesty King Letsie III and the government 
of Lesotho took a major step towards correcting this grave injustice 
against women citizens by enacting the Legal Capacity of Married 
Persons Act, giving Lesotho women many of the rights they have long 
been denied.
  If faithfully implemented, the Legal Capacity of Married Persons Act 
will be an important vehicle for gender equality in Lesotho. It will 
certainly go a long way towards reducing the risk of women, 
particularly widows, divorcees and their children from falling into 
extreme poverty, which will increase their risk of exposure to the HIV/
AIDS pandemic which has devastated the country's poorest population.
  In a country where nearly 25 percent of adults are infected with HIV/
AIDS and the life expectancy of women is 44 years, this new law is 
crucial to removing barriers to access to HIV prevention, treatment, 
care and support services for women and girls.
  There is still progress that needs to be made on gender equity in 
Lesotho. According to the State Department, ``a woman married under 
customary law has no standing in civil court. Under the country's dual 
legal system, marriages which occur under customary law must be 
legalized in the civil system to have legal standing.''
  But I believe the efforts of the government of Lesotho are showing 
real progress in the area of promoting equal rights for women, and I 
believe it's our responsibility to acknowledge the efforts of those 
people seeking to empower individuals from all walks of society. As 
right and overdue as it might be to make these changes, that does not 
make them easy changes in a society that has done things a certain way 
for so long a time. Hence, if we wish to see more political leaders 
around the world stand up and make the effort to change their societies 
for the better, we should be making as much of an effort here to 
support those efforts.
  The actions of the Lesotho government, to guarantee equity for women 
under the law, will serve as an important model for other African 
Nations in addressing their national health and poverty challenges, and 
I look forward to the replication of this law across the continent of 
Africa.
  And that is why this resolution also acknowledges another factor in 
making this change to empower the women of Lesotho.

                              {time}  1530

  It was through the work of the Millennium Challenge Corporation that 
we were able to encourage the best instincts of Lesotho's political 
leadership to make these changes into law. It is instructive to pay 
attention to how the MCC's leadership convinced Lesotho to make these 
changes.
  They did not demand a change as a quid pro quo for MCC assistance. 
Instead, they appealed to the Lesotho Government's sense of reason, by 
convincing them that any assistance provided by the United States for 
economic development would be only half as effective if half of 
Lesotho's population was excluded from the formal economy.
  I know we have had some concerns here in Congress about the MCC and 
its effectiveness, and I think it's important for us to look very 
carefully at the MCC and our entire U.S. foreign assistance delivery 
system, because I fear there has been a dreadful lack of effective 
leadership over this avowed pillar of U.S. foreign policy.
  But I think there are a great deal of positive lessons to draw from 
the success of the MCC, and I hope we can support the MCC as it works 
to strengthen and expand its efforts.
  I think the MCC's concept and directions are promising, and I hope 
the MCC's future efforts will bring more opportunities to introduce 
resolutions such as this one, and I am really proud to have presented 
this resolution, because that was one of the locations that I was asked 
to go to as an ambassador. Instead, I went to Micronesia, so I am 
really, really interested in how they make progress, and particularly 
how they empower their women. I urge all my colleagues to do the same 
and support this resolution.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I would like to thank my colleague from California, Ambassador 
Watson, for introducing this important resolution, House Resolution 
294, which commends the Kingdom of Lesotho for enacting a law to 
improve the legal status of married women.
  Historically, a married woman in this African country was considered 
a minor under the law, and, as such, was unable to enter into contracts 
without her husband's consent and was severely restricted in economic 
activities and had no legal standing in the courts. This was the case, 
despite that women have traditionally borne a disproportionate share of 
responsibility for the health, the welfare, and the education of the 
family in Lesotho.
  They are in the fields, in the markets, in the classrooms, and in the 
clinics. They run the home and provide the food, care and education 
essential for the survival of their families. Women serve as the 
backbone of society in Lesotho. Yet under the law, they have been 
considered only half a person.
  Obviously, this was a grave social injustice that required remedy. I 
commend those in the government and in civil society who began pressing 
for greater gender equality in Lesotho as early as 1992.
  But it is important to realize that gender inequality in Lesotho, and 
throughout Africa, is not just an issue of human rights. This is a 
development issue and an issue of national security.
  Over half of the population lives below the poverty level. Yet a 
government cannot responsibly expect to lift its people out of poverty 
while legally excluding half of the most productive segment of society 
from the economy.
  Further, at 29 percent, Lesotho has one of the highest HIV prevalence 
rates

[[Page 19069]]

in the world. Life expectancy already has plummeted to 36 years, and 
prevalence rates are expected to climb to a staggering 36 percent in 
the next 15 years.
  The HIV pandemic is obliterating a generation of the most productive 
people in Africa. In South Africa, for example, factory managers 
routinely complain that they have to hire two people to fill a single 
position due to absentee rates related to HIV.
  When a man dies, who is left to provide for his family? His wife. But 
if a wife and a mother cannot secure even basic inheritance rights and 
has no standing in civil court, then how is she to provide for the next 
generation? The traditional safety net provided by the extended family 
has been eroded, and coping mechanisms have been exhausted by the HIV 
pandemic.
  Women whose husbands have died are suspected to carry the virus 
themselves and are often shunned by their extended families and 
communities. Thus, high death rates associated with HIV/AIDS and gender 
inequalities are leaving behind a generation of impoverished, 
disaffected youth who are susceptible to criminal activities and 
radical acts.
  In recognition of the links between gender inequality, poverty and 
HIV/AIDS, the Millennium Challenge Corporation made gender issues a 
high priority in its negotiations with Lesotho.
  In a letter to the Government of Lesotho, the CEO of MCC asserted 
that the potential impact of a development compact between Lesotho and 
the MCC focusing on public health and sustainable water and private 
sector development would be undermined if the issues of gender 
inequality were not addressed.
  Shortly thereafter, the Parliament passed the Legal Capacity of 
Married Persons Act, which has significantly enhanced the legal 
standing of women in Lesotho. To its credit, the MCC has provided 
assistance to support meaningful implementation of the act.
  I strongly encourage the government of Lesotho to continue 
demonstrating its commitment to improving gender equality in the 
interest of human rights, economic development, and national security. 
I hope that other countries in the region will follow suit.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 
294, commending the Kingdom of Lesotho, on the occasion of 
International Women's Day, for the enactment of a law to improve the 
status of married women and ensure the access of married women to 
property rights.
  Let my first begin by thanking my distinguished colleague on the 
House Foreign Affairs Committee and a member of its subcommittee on 
Africa and the Global Health, Congresswoman Watson, for recognizing 
this issue and introducing this vital resolution. It is important that 
we recognize and commend the role and the efforts that the Government 
of Lesotho has taken to further gender equity. International Women's 
Day, observed on March 8, 2007, calls for people to recognize the 
accomplishments of women, while reaffirming their commitment to 
continue the struggle for equality, justice, and peace. This is a 
milestone that demands worldwide recognition, and I applaud our United 
States Congress for taking this role.
  The Kingdom of Lesotho is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy 
that has been an independent country since 1966. Often referred to as 
the ``Kingdom in the Sky,'' Lesotho was a strong public supporter of 
ending apartheid in South Africa, and was known for granting political 
asylum to numerous refugees during that era. Lesotho is a low-income 
country with a gross national income per capita of $960, and 50 percent 
of its people live below the poverty line. However, its Government has 
demonstrated a strong commitment to ruling justly, investing in its 
people, ensuring economic freedom, as well as controlling corruption.
  Madam Speaker, in the Kingdom of Lesotho, a married woman would 
historically be considered a legal minor during the lifetime of her 
husband. Such status would severely restrict her economic activities, 
forbid her from entering into legally binding contracts without her 
husband's consent, and hamper her ability to have standing in civil 
court. As early as 1992, legislation aimed at elevating the legal 
status of married women and providing property and inheritance rights 
to women in Lesotho was introduced. Since then, women's groups, 
nongovernmental organizations, the Federation of Women Lawyers, Lesotho 
Government officials, and many others have continually pushed for the 
passage of legislations which would strengthen their rights.
  As a strong advocate of women's rights, it has continually been my 
role to denounce human rights violations against women, as well as 
fight for gender equity. I must certainly agree with the Chief 
Executive Officer of the MCC, who stated that ``gender inequality is a 
constraint on economic growth and poverty reduction and is related to 
the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, and that inattention to issues of 
gender inequality could undermine the potential impact of the Compact 
proposed to be entered into between the MCC and the Government of 
Lesotho.''
  Madam Speaker, the MCC is currently implementing a new gender policy 
to integrate gender into all phases of the development and 
implementation of the Compact between the MCC and the Government of 
Lesotho. It is now the responsibility of the United States House of 
Representatives to support the goals of Lesotho's International Women's 
Day, commend them on their strong commitment to improving gender 
equity, as well as applaud their enactment of the Legal Capacity of 
Married Persons Act.
  Lesotho's actions aimed at guaranteeing equity for women under the 
law ought to serve as a model for many other African nations, where 
women have been subjected to discriminatory laws in the areas of civil, 
economic, and property rights. This resolution will certainly go a long 
way in reducing the risk of women and their children falling into 
extreme poverty, eventually reducing their risk of exposure to the HIV/
AIDS pandemic. I ask my colleagues to support this measure. Let us 
continue to encourage the Kingdom of Lesotho in its ongoing efforts to 
ensure gender equity. Let us commend the Millennium Challenge 
Corporation for developing and implementing policies to advance gender 
equity.
  I thank you once again, Congresswoman Watson, for your efforts in 
introducing this piece of legislation.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. WATSON. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Watson) that the House suspend the 
rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 294, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the resolution, as amended, was agreed to.
  The title was amended so as to read: ``A resolution commending the 
Kingdom of Lesotho for the enactment of a law to improve the status of 
married women and ensure the access of married women to property 
rights.''.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________