Witness

The Family Code

The Malian government is attempting to expand women’s rights, but its efforts are meeting with public resistance.

Filmmaker: Rebecca Stewart

In the West African state of Mali, the government is planning to bring in major changes to the family code, which forms the basis for family law in the country.

It is aimed at extending the rights of women, but there is serious opposition the new legislation. 

Witness travels extensively through this vast country to try to understand what drives women’s attitudes to the new rights their government is trying to give them.

The Family Code first aired in October 2010.