Africa, Development & Aid, Headlines, Human Rights

RIGHTS-KENYA: Women Seek Access to Land

Joyce Mulama

NAIROBI, Sep 6 2004 (IPS) - A campaign to set up a women’s land movement has kicked off in Kenya, at a time when the East African country has embarked on a controversial land-reform debate.

Campaigners argue that such a movement would ensure women speak with a unified voice. It would also incorporate their concerns in the on-going land debate.

‘’It does not matter how many laws we have. As long as there is no social movement to pressurise women’s rights, particularly land rights, the law might not be worth the paper it’s written on,’’ Patricia Mbote, head of Department of Private Law at the University of Nairobi, said last week.

‘’Land is the most plausible catalyst for a women’s social movement,’’ she said, during the launch of a ‘Women’s Land Rights Issues Paper’ in Kenya’s capital Nairobi.

Written by the Kenya Land Alliance (KLA), an umbrella for civil society groups, the ‘Women’s Land Rights Issues Paper’ seeks to move forward discussions on the land policy, in hope of realising a gender responsive legal framework.

Kenya has no National Land Policy (NLP); something critics say has contributed to the unfair treatment of women in land matters.

‘’What we have is a number of sectoral policies on environment, agriculture, and they do not explicitly address land and women. And, as such, women have been marginalised, despite the fact that they work on the land most of the times,’’ Odenda Lumumba, the alliance coordinator, told IPS in an interview on Sep. 3.

He said: ‘’Discrimination against women in the area of land also presents itself in customs and traditions of most ethnic groups in the country. The gender imbalance exhibits itself when it comes to land allocation, where it is believed that women are not supposed to be land owners.’’

In most communities in Kenya, as is in most African countries, women do not inherit, leave alone purchase land. Matrimonial property including land is registered in the name of the man. Problems arise during his death, separation or divorce. Instead of the widow inheriting the land, the sons remain the legal heirs to the property. The widow only enjoys occupancy rights, which cease the time she remarries.

This discrimination occurs even though women work on land more than any category of people in the society, providing 80 to 90 percent of labour in subsistence production and over 70 percent of labour in cash crop production in Kenya, according to the alliance.

However, the debate on the National Land Policy, which kicked off early this year, is expected to recommend actions and activities that will ensure equity on land use across the country. These proposals will be forwarded to parliament, which will ensure that the policy is in place by Jun. 2005.

The alliance says only 5 percent of Kenyan women have land registered in their names. This has been attributed to their low purchasing ability.

‘’The problem is that women have limited economic resources to buy land independently of their spouses,’’ says the Women’s Land Rights Issues Paper.

To address the problem, Affirmative Action is emerging as a key to alleviating the economic disparity and enhancing women access to land. ‘’It is very crucial that Affirmative Action measures are applied when distributing land and during awarding of credit facilities. This will improve women’s ownership of land and security of tenure,’’ said Akinyi Nzioki, executive director of the Nairobi-based Centre for Land, Economy and Rights of Women.

The Affirmative Action, she says, has been recognised by Kenya’s draft constitution. The draft document, discussed by over 600 delegates, was endorsed early this year. It’s awaiting parliament’s approval.

It’s believed that through Affirmative Action, women issues, including land, will be incorporated into mainstream economic planning; that will improve their status with greater involvement in decision-making processes.

‘’More women are required even at parliamentary level, to address prejudices against women, including those pertaining to land,’’ Nzioki said. Of the country’s 222 members of parliament, only 18 are women.

The government says it’s looking into women’s participation in decision-making bodies with or without the draft constitution. ‘’Already we have 30 percent women representation sitting on land boards, up from one percent previously. This is a great achievement,’’ said Rosemary Wachira, deputy director at the department of land affairs.

 
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