AFRICA: The Struggle for Women to Own Land

•  nairobi
• Friday, July 15, 2011
• Inter Press Service

'It has become impossible to reclaim illegally-acquired land as powerful individuals collude with corrupt officials in my ministry to acquire illegal title deeds,' said James Orengo, the lands minister. But, right’s experts say, Orengo should have addressed corruption a long time ago and it only delays women’s access to land.

'It was very progressive for the minister to admit that corruption is rife in the ministry. But that has a negative impact on the struggle to have more women own land. Fighting corruption will take centre stage while land ownership for women will seem like a non-issue,' said Grace Gakii, a gender expert in Nairobi.

'The ministry should have already moved forward to address other key issues such as women and land ownership. Already the constitution states that women too can own land and even inherit, but unless the ministry throws its weight behind the clause, the number of women owning title deeds will not improve,' said a source from the non-governmental G10 alliance, a coalition of 10 women organisations who campaign for gender-sensitive policies, particularly through land decentralisation

The situation is worse for poor women who lack the economic muscle to fight for land ownership against a backdrop of gender-insensitive customary laws that continue to sideline them. Consequently, women still hold a negligible percentage of land title deeds. In Kenya, only a paltry three percent of women have land title deeds and in Tanzania only one percent own land.

'The economy of most African countries depends on women who are deprived of the right to own land. They toil all day on land that they have negligible control over. They sustain the breadbasket regions of many countries that are dependent on agriculture but their labour is unacknowledged and poorly remunerated,' says Mwanahamisi Salimu, from Oxfam, Tanzania.

According to Elizabeth Nzioki, who has conducted research on women and land in Kenya: 'A key development in Kenya land tenure reform was the issuing of title deeds in the name of the 'head of the family'. The problem with the legislation is that the titled land is being transferred almost exclusively to male individuals.'

The situation becomes very complicated when a married couple separates because in Kenya, the Marriage and Property Act is silent on how land should be divided under these circumstances. In a separation or divorce, because title deeds are in a man’s name, he is usually awarded ownership of the property.

'In Tanzania the situation is not any different, with only about one percent of women with title deeds. It means that the rest of the female population, who form the bulk of the labour force in agriculture, break their backs but have no say in proceeds from the farm,' Salimu expounds.

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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