Unity Dow

Unity Dow, born 23 April 1959, is a Motswana lawyer, jurist, novelist and politician who in 1997 became the first woman appointed to the High Court of Botswana. She is best known as the plaintiff and lawyer behind the landmark 1992 case Unity Dow v Attorney-General, which successfully challenged a citizenship law denying Batswana women the right to pass citizenship to children born to foreign husbands; the ruling ended that discrimination and influenced similar reforms elsewhere in Africa. She went on to hold several cabinet portfolios in Botswana government, including Infrastructure and Housing Development and International Affairs and Cooperation, and was elected to Parliament for Kgatleng West in 2024. Alongside her legal and political career she has published novels addressing social-justice themes.