20 Anyangwe/Extrajudicial killings of women in Africa that the man has the cultural right to chastise his female partner. Judges are also criticised for betraying ‘gender bias, stereotypes of men as emotional victims of women’s sexual prowess’.68 In some countries, a man who rapes a woman is granted immunity from prosecution if he marries the rape victim. This adds to the woman’s tribulations because she submits to the rape-induced marriage because of the shame and reproach of rape and has to endure the company of the man who violated her in the first place. Some other countries still exempt rape within marriage from the ambit of the criminal law. Matrimonial rape often occurs when a man forcefully demands ‘conjugal right to sex’. In some cases, refusal of sex provides an excuse for the man to assault or even kill the woman. If she declines sex and he forcibly tries to get it and she reacts by assaulting him in self-defence, killing him, if necessary, the court of law and of public opinion tend to ignore the plea of self-defence and to show her little mercy. Sometimes killing of the woman happens when the woman claims her ‘conjugal right to sex’ from her man. A woman who shows that she desires or enjoys sex is considered not a model wife or partner. She is called a prostitute and accused of infidelity. In some instances, she could be battered and even killed on that account. Politically, women still do not feature very prominently in the public domain. Women have limited access to public office and limited political representation at all levels of governance. What this means is that women are still not in a position to significantly influence important legislation and State policy in their favour. Business-wise, women are also not many in the boardrooms. It is a sociological fact that generally, women continue to have limited access to capital and economic opportunities. The economic circumstances in which a woman finds herself could result in domestic conflicts, leading to assault and even murder by her partner. Cases are known where an economically independent and assertive woman is verbally, emotionally or physically abused by her partner because the man feels that her financial independence ‘disempowers’ him. Such a woman is easily accused by her partner of being insolent, arrogant, disrespectful and domineering. Ironically, a woman who, career-wise and economically, is in a more powerful position than her partner, is more likely to be physically abused by him. This is done supposedly ‘to put the woman in her place’ and to make it clear that he is the man of the house or in the relationship. Interestingly, the collective perception of a man married to a strong woman is that he is a henpecked husband, is controlled by her, and is hanging on her apron string. This ‘deflation’ of the man’s ego leads to insecurity and to an inferiority complex, driving him to become aggressive. Some men tend to marry down precisely for fear of ‘disempowered’ by a professionally and economically stronger woman. In the same way, most women tend to marry upwards because they have been socialised to view the man as the ‘master’ and bread-winner in the home. 68 Bonthuys & Albertyn (n 25 above) 340.