Today, year-old Dow is a partner in her own law firm, a successful author and a prominent activist championing women's rights. It's all a far cry from growing up in a dusty rural village on the outskirts of Gaborone, Botswana's capital. Fighting for Botswana's traditions Life after being a high court judge I think I saw my first refrigerator when I was a teenager," remembers Dow, Despite the tough conditions and the initial objections of her family, Dow decided to pursue a career in law following advice from one of her teachers.
After high school, she went to Swaziland to continue her studies before spending two years at Edinburgh University, Scotland, where she found herself one of very few women in the law faculty. While making her first professional steps, Dow says she quickly came across an innate gender inequality built into law. She vied for the Member of Parliament seat in Mochudi District but lost.
Four days later, she was appointed as the Assistant Minister of Education. She has also endeavoured in writing and has published five books which are getting broad readership both in Africa and abroad. Unity has stood her ground on the pertinent issues in her society and fought for what she believes in.
Her bold and persistent spirit has made her popular and raised the bars of her career. She has excelled and ranked in the highest standings but she remains deeply connected to her roots. I need to be challenged, intellectually challenged. Log in to leave a comment. CGTN Africa. Faces of Africa Faces of Africa Although this was a great job to possess coming out of law school, after only three years , Dow moved on to start her own law firm.
As her career was progressing, so was her family life. One from a previous relationship, and two from this marriage. In , the government passed the Citizenship Act, a new law preventing women like Unity, who were married to a non-Botswana, from passing on citizenship to their offspring. Dow challenged the law as discriminatory, alleging that the act renders her children aliens in their home country and land of birth. After five years and an excruciating amount of media coverage for not just Dow, but her family as well, she won the case on the basis of the law being discriminatory and degrading.
In an extremely patriarchal country, this win spoke volumes for all women in Botswana. In , after taking a couple of years away from the media, Unity Dow prepared to make history once again.
The Chief Justice of Botswana offered her the opportunity to become the first female high court judge of Botswana. At the time, with the exception of two, the judges were male, and with the exception of two, the others were white. After taking some time to decide on whether to accept this opportunity, Dow agreed. As a judge, Dow was never afraid to take on the same government she was serving, she remained very progressive, ruling against the government when they were wrong, and creating the reputation of a judge who stood up for justice.
Unity Dow has made many contributions to the law. This was the case whether she was proving the Citizenship Act unconstitutional, ruling against the Botswana government in when the people of Kalahari took them to court, or even ruling in favor of the Basarwa people stating that they have the right to stay and hunt in their areas.
As a judge, Dow worked rigorously on fixing human rights.
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