Activists launch regional bid to secure women's land rights
Emily Chemutai (left) and Lilian Jelimo prepare their farm for the planting season in the Bondeni area of Eldoret.
What you need to know:
- The campaign involves more than 100 civil society organisations across Kenya, Uganda, Senegal, Tanzania, and Ethiopia brought together by Landesa, an international women's rights entity promoting gender-equal land rights.
- They are urging governments to develop policies to protect women’s land rights in alignment with AU guidelines, alongside implementing existing laws that protect women’s land rights and enabling them lead at all levels.
Gender equality campaigners in Africa last Tuesday launched a Stand for Her Land in Africa initiative, a campaign to advocate women’s land rights on the continent.
The campaign involves more than 100 civil society organisations across Kenya, Uganda, Senegal, Tanzania, and Ethiopia brought together by Landesa, an international women's rights organisation promoting gender-equal land rights.
During the launch at a Nairobi hotel, Esther Mwaura Muiru, global advocacy director for the initiative, said, “When women don’t own the land they live and work on, they become trapped in patriarchal systems that reinforce gender inequalities.”
She said the campaign would bridge the “gap between government commitments and the reality on the ground.”
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, closing the gender gap in land ownership could increase yields on women-owned farms by 20 to 30 per cent, resulting in a decline in the number of hungry people by between 100 million and 150 million.
AU guidelines
The advocates are calling on national governments to develop policies to protect women’s land rights in alignment with African Union (AU) guidelines, alongside implementing existing laws that protect women’s land rights and enabling them to lead at all levels.
They are also appealing to donors to invest in women leaders advocating land rights. This initiative reinforces actions taken by African countries to secure women’s land rights.
Last year, ministers from seven countries under the umbrella of Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) signed “IGAD Regional Women’s Land Rights Agenda (2021-2030)”, a framework meant to accelerate implementation of the AU declaration on land issues and challenges in Africa.
In 2009, heads of African countries made the declaration in which they made a commitment to ensure equitable land access for all land users and improve access and security of land tenure for women.
In endorsing the agenda, the ministers responsible for land, gender, and women affairs in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda reaffirmed the countries’ commitment to executing the framework by allocating the land sector more money.
“[We] reaffirm our commitment to promoting cross-country collaboration and learning on gender and land, including facilitating knowledge and skills transfer,” they said in a joint communique upon endorsing the agenda on July 28, 2021.
