#11459. Napoleonic Legacies, Postcolonial State Legitimation, and the Perpetual Myth of Non-Intervention: Family Code Reform and Gender Equality in Mali

September 2026publication date
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Sociology and Political Science;
Social Sciences (all);
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Abstract:
In May 20XX, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights held that 20XX Family Code violated women’s and children’s rights. Widespread protests halted the adoption of a more progressive draft Code passed by the National Assembly in 20XX. In Francophone Africa, family codes are legacies of the patriarchal 1804 Napoleonic Code whose reform has been contentious. African feminist thought, and critical comparative family law, emphases that the Code ‘reflect[s] socio-cultural realities’, the state mobilises a myth of non-intervention of the state in the family. This myth serves to legitimate the postcolonial state which faces challenges concerning diversity, democracy, development, and secularism. Tracing the myth back to the Napoleonic Code and through French colonialism, I conclude that it helps to bolster the state while distorting the possibilities for more egalitarian reform.
Keywords:
African feminisms; family law reform; myth; Napoleonic Code; non-intervention; postcolonial state legitimacy; women’s rights

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