Roles and Rights of Women as Custodians of Legal and Moral Values Through Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Lesotho: The Pre-colonial Era

Colonial-era authors have downplayed the role of women as custodians of moral and legal values in Southern African societies. They have authored African history from their own perspective and background. In the process, they have crafted misconceptions that portray women as an oppressed gender—women’s significance and contributions to society were overlooked. In a similar vein, the values and practices of traditional and cultural heritage such as initiation schools (lebollo) for women have been neglected for over a century due to colonialism and colonial prejudices, yet the practices moulded women into virtuous leaders in society. This chapter demonstrates that women have played significant roles as leaders, administrators of justice, family governors and nurturers in their societies since time immemorial. It shows that the overall training under the institution of lebollo was an essential foundation for building up women, to arm them with deep societal, moral and legal values as leaders, to jointly build a society. The chapter illustrates the correct heroic roles of Basotho women contrary to what colonial writers portrayed as true.