A critical analysis of the sexual rights of older women in Africa

Abstract

Despite the importance of sexuality and sexual rights at every stage of human development and interaction, the relationship between sexuality and aging has been a neglected area of research and policy interventions, most especially within the African context. In addressing this gap, this study explores the sexual rights of older women in Africa from a socio-legal perspective, critically looking at what claims to sexual rights older women have, the historical basis for the invisibility and marginalisation of older women in the sexuality discourse as well as current avenues for the protection and promotion of their sexual rights. Herein, the intersectionality approach is used to explain older women’s experience of discrimination with regards to their sexual health and rights which is often exacerbated by attitudes and bias about their age and inferred asexuality. Furthermore, this study extensively reviews the legal framework available for the protection of the sexual rights of older women within international and regional human rights systems with specific emphasis on the African human rights system, identifying the specific challenges to the actualisation of the sexual rights of older women in Africa and proposing ways by which this can be addressed. Ultimately, this study submits that the available legal framework is insufficient for the protection of the sexual rights of older women and would require strengthening for a more holistic sexual rights framework that embodies both freedom from (negative rights) and freedom to (positive rights) with emphasis on the specific needs and vulnerabilities of older women.