What are land rights?
Around the world women represent 70-80% of smallholder farmers and over 40% of the global workforce in agriculture (rising to 50% south of the Sahara in Africa).[1] But, globally they only own less than 20% of the land. This is because of challenges in accessing loans to purchase land outright, cultures of land ownership without official documents, and inheritance laws and practices (including customary law) that favour men. The majority of women working in agriculture do not own the land they live on or the produce they cultivate. This leads to insecurity not just for single families, but whole communities where women are the primary producers.[2]
Why are women’s land rights important?
One of the biggest threats to our current economic system and indeed life on the planet as we know it is climate change. To secure the futures of women around the world and enable sustainable production and livelihoods, women need to be able to own the land they work on. When women’s role as farmers and their contribution to food security is overlooked both the environment and the population of a country suffers.[3]
While land has long been a foundation for conflict and dissent, in recent years there has been a rush on land. Sometimes called a land grab, investors purchase or lease land for mining or the production of cash crops.[4] In the process, women farmers are often forcibly evicted and displaced, without proper compensation. They lose their ability to produce food and sustain their livelihood, their homes, and sometimes their lives.
Womankind and partners working to bring about change
In 2017, Womankind worked with two partners, National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE) and National Association for Women’s Action in Development (NAWAD), in rural Uganda to document the harsh realities for women who have lost their land through violent land grabs.
The final report, Digging Deep: The Impact of Uganda’s Land Rush on Women’s Rights was instrumental in drawing both national and international attention to the injustices being experienced.[5] Consequently, Womankind was able to secure a two-year grant from the UK Government to empower women farmers and their communities to challenge current land grabs, as well as the legislation that enables them.
