Marital Rape Exemption in Kenya: Some Lessons from International Law
There is no doubt that, despite arguments supporting marital rape exemption, it is necessary to abolish marital rape exemption in our modern society which is characterized by many sexually transmitted infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS. As Kenyan society is based on the principle of equality between men and woman, marital rape with impunity has no place. Kenya has to take some steps aimed at ending a conflict between the Sexual Offenses Act and the HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Act in order to achieve its goals of equality and freedom from discrimination. International law has shed some light on the subject by indicating that marital rape constitutes violence against women and that Kenya should follow suit and criminalize it. However, it must be noted that the criminalization of marital rape will not provide a complete solution to the problem but only a partial solution. The root of the problem is most likely situated in poverty and the social context. Further research and public education is thus necessary into the key factors relating to the behavior of marital rape.
The Sex Right: A Legal History of the Marital Rape Exemption
How did the American legal elite come to reject the husband's privilege to rape his wife. What is the significance of that rejection. This essay traces theories justifying the marital rape exemption from the 17th century, focusing on the period following World War II. The history illustrates how the postwar legal elite's limited progressivism created inconsistent arguments that left the exemption open for attack, an attack that came from within the 1970s feminist movement. Radical feminist rhetoric about sexuality, rape, and marriage pulled away the last layer of theoretical support for the exemption and denounced the sex right it left exposed underneath. Connections in the 1970s, both literal and conceptual, between radical feminists and the legal elite allowed the feminist movement to discredit the exemption within that elite. To interpret the significance of that rejection, I consider how legal language affects people's senses of self. I argue that legal words like “rape,” “marriage,” and “husband” validate and inform people's, specifically husbands', identities in marriage. By changing the meanings of those legal words, legal reform can eventually change human behavior.
Initial Teacher Training: the French view
ABSTRACT This paper, against the background of trends in the development of initial teacher training in Europe as a whole, identifies and explains some of the recent, radical reforms which were introduced in France by a socialist government. These include the need to raise the status and the competence of the teaching profession; the creation of new teacher‐training institutions of university status (Instituts universitaires de formation des maitres); the introduction of common entry qualifications at degree level for both primary and secondary levels; the harmonisation and the extension to 2 years of the post‐degree teacher‐training course and the increase in emphasis placed on professional training, both theoretical and practical. These reforms provoked a storm of protest and an examination of the reasons for this reveals a multiplicity of crucial questions which have far‐reaching implications.