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beyond the cessation of hostilities.213However, it is imperative to note that this continuous applicability of humanitarian law relates to only those provisions that are by their nature suitable for being applied after the cessation of hostilities; the principle of continued applicability would not cover the provisions relating to combat actions and ensuing military necessity.214
The general conclusion therefore is that each of the two bodies of law can apply to the relevant armed conflict, and do so individually. Each of these bodies of law can provide standards for the assessment of the relevant conduct of the state. The subjects governed by one body of law are frequently also governed by the other body of law, and whatever the formal and procedural constraints on the powers of national and international decision-making bodies, in the exercise of their mandate they are expected, at least by implication, to consider the impact of both human rights law and humanitarian law, to reach the outcomes permissible at the level of international law. This demonstrates that in the final analysis the protection under humanitarian law is not substantially lower than that under human rights law.
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precursor to the global women‘s movement. Whereas, the latter can be traced from the formation of the UN, women‘s struggle at country level dates back to the 17th century.216
By the 19th century it manifested mainly in the struggle for enfranchisement of right to vote for women and recognition of women‘s legal personality as femme sole. Thus, the English Married Women‘s Property Act (1881) came about as a result of the women‘s movement. At the time of colonial rule in most African states, women‘s struggle had crystallized in the West and in some circumstances resulting in national legislations recognizing legal capacity for women to enter into contract or be treated not as minors.217 Not surprisingly, the colonists came and ruled Africans with anti-feminists attitudes already existing in the West. The inclusion of the principle of equality and non-discrimination provisions in the international instruments would not have happened without the awareness created by the early feminists‘ activists.218
The women‘s movement is deeply rooted in women‘s organizations in different parts of theworld for gender justice. The role played by women in the history of humanity, especially in thestruggle for national liberation, the strengthening of international peace, and the elimination ofimperialism, colonialism, neo- colonialism, foreign occupation, Zionism, alien domination,racism and apartheid is formidable but often less documented.219
The most chronological account is English Feminism 1780 to 1980written by Barbara Caine220 whichgave a good historical account of feminism and the woman question, early feminist campaigns andstrategies. The anthology illustrates that women‘s movement and feminists struggle existed long before the end of the eighteen century. The best known early
216 M Mooney, ―Equal Rights? The Women‘s Movement from Suffrage to Schlafly‖ (2006) http://historyproject.uci.edu/files/2017/01/Equal_Rights_Grade11.pdfAccessed 20 March 2017.
217Ibid.
218Ibid.
219 E C Dubois, ―Woman Suffrage and the Left: An International Socialist-Feminist Perspective‖ (1991) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272791098_Woman_Suffrage_and_the_Left Accessed 3 June 2018.
220 C MacKinnion, Toward a Feminist Theory of the State (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989) pp. 161-162.
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writings on the subject were those of MaryWollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.221
Modern feminism is hinged on the demand for women‘s rights and the recognition of equal worth ofwomen based on their humanity. In the 18th and 19th century feminism was always linked to demands ofsexual freedom, for the freedom to negotiate sexual relationships without the bonds of marriage, and toexplore new ways of living which did not conform to middle- class norms.222
The 20th century moving slightly away from the sexualized discourse of preceding centuries was markedby militant campaigns on the suffrage movement championed by the Women‘s Liberation Movement.223
The women‘s suffrage struggle is seen as the first wave of feminism and to spark it off was John Stuart Mill who petitioned the English Parliament in 1866 for women‘s suffrage and argue thus: ―Under whatever conditions, and within whatever limits, men are admitted to suffrage, there is not a shadow ofjustification for not admitting women under the same. The majority of women of any class are not likelyto differ in political opinion from the majority of men in the same class.‖224 As has been noted, Mill‘s ideasand approach were very influential for some feminists and certainly played a notable part in establishingthe dominance of the suffrage campaign in the late 1860s and early 1870s.225 Of course, women were atthe forefront of the suffrage campaign establishing Women‘s Suffrage Journal and Suffrage CampaignCommitteesacross Great Britain and Ireland in the late 1860s and it became an avenue
221 S Tomaselli (ed.) A Vindication of the Rights of Men and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Cambridge:
University Press, 1995) p.89.
222 E C Dubois, art cit.
223 S Tomaselli, op cit.
224 Ibid.
225 Barbara Caine, ‗English Feminism 1780 – 1980‟ (Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 1997) p. 75.
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for continuousagitations for property and legal rights of married women, until the Married Women‘s Property Act of1882 was enacted.226 The London National Society for Women‘s Suffrage, Women‘s Freedom League andNational Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship amongst others continued the struggle until limitedsuffrage was achieved in 1917and later in 1928 the Equal Franchise Act gave women the right to vote onthe same terms as men.227Other legislative development gradually followed suit to shatter otherinstitutional barriers, for example, the removal of the Sex Discrimination Act in 1929.228
This resulted inthe admission of women to the legal profession and to earn degrees in universities amongst severallegislative developments in that era which later women were to enjoy and take for granted in many of theBritish Colonies of Africa and beyond.229