Wowen of South Africa, you are the backbone of our country and you are much stronger that you know. Use your strength to take your power.
This is the message of former judge Anna-Marie de Vos during Women’s Month.
She is a pioneer in the legal world who had hanged up her robes in 2006 after being the first female judge in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria.
She swopped her life of determining legal disputes on a daily basis for the tranquil southern Cape, where she, among others, farms organic vegetables.
She and her wife Suzanne du Toit live on a farm in Harkerville on the Garden Route.
“We have a menagerie of animals and try to grow our own vegetables, but not very successfully,” she said.
Nowadays she mostly does work for NGOs like Lawyers for Human Rights and the Legal Resources Centre, focusing on enhancing human rights for all.
One of her passions still remains -- helping women who often face legal woes but do not have the financial means to obtain legal assistance.
She started a centre for legal advice to women, but had to close it after about five years due to lack of funding.
“I am still giving free legal advice to women on an ad hoc basis. In my experience women often find themselves without power in our society. It is difficult to break this pattern due to societal norms and customs,” De Vos told Independent Media who caught up with her about life after she stepped down from the Bench 26 years ago.
Asked why she opted out of being a judge, something mostly unheard off, De Vos said it is so long ago, she cannot even remember.
“But I do remember being very lonely. I was by far the youngest and also the only woman judge. My openly gayness did not help.”
But, she said, this was very much a positive move. “It gave me the opportunity to become involved in litigation, challenging the status quo and using our amazing Constitution to assist litigants to enforce their constitutional rights.”
She and her artist wife, who has been at her side for the past 35 years, made headlines in 2001 when they scored a legal victory which allowed for people of the same sex to co-adopt children. They were not yet married at the time.
Following their application the court declared the then Child Care Act unconstitutional for not allowing people of the same sex to co-adopt children.
This allowed them to both become the legal parents of two adopted children.
De Vos, during her more than five years on the Bench, fought hard against gender bias.
She said in her letter of resignation to then president Mbeki: "During the five years of my appointment to the Bench, despite my continued efforts in that direction, I have effected very little change in either the gender demographics or the general bias of the members of the profession.
“I remain convinced of the need for transformation of the Bench and the legal profession, not only in racial terms -- as important as that surely is -- but also in terms of embracing the values and principles of the advancement of women.”
It was for these reasons that she is dedicated to the upliftment of women and children in rural areas and offers them legal assistance and education regarding their legal rights, free of charge, where and when she can.
De Vos earlier said on social media that growing up, she had no one to emulate but men. “At first I tried to prove myself by outmanning men. There was only one woman judge in South Africa when I started my practice.
“My proudest moment was when my partner and I (now her wife) won our Constitutional Court challenge so we could become legal parents of our two adoptive children.”
Asked what is in her opinion a solution to the many problems facing some women today, De Vos said in her view, the solution lies with them being educated, as this will assist them in knowing their rights.
She is one of five siblings -- with four of them having a passion for law and practising in this field. Among her siblings is well known Constitutional law expert Pierre de Vos.
A love for law clearly runs in her family, as her grandfather and four of his sons also practised law.
Asked what the future holds for her, De Vos told Independent Media: “I would like to ride my bicycle all day. But unfortunately life has more in store. I hope to practise for a long time still and one day to enjoy grandchildren.”
De Vos is now in a much happier place than she was on the Bench. “I am no longer trying to fit in. I'm my own person.”
Pretoria News