Biting the feeding hand : voices of women on land
Executive summary.
Womenns lack of control over productive resources in Uganda remains one of the root causes of womenns poverty and is a violation of Ugandan womenns human rights. Land is the most vital natural capital asset in Uganda, yet approximately 93% of women do not own land. Instead, Ugandan women have only user rights and therefore cannot make decisions regarding land use. Moreover, increasing globalisation and liberalisation of markets in Uganda are creating conditions in which land is increasingly becoming a commodity for sale. This has grave implications for the ability of women to secure land rights now and in the near future. The Ugandan government has made an effort to guarantee the land rights of the poor, the majority of whom are women, through the enactment of provisions in the 1995 Uganda Constitution that guarantee the right of every person to own property individually or in association with others. These provisions also protect the right of every person not to be deprived of personal property without compensation. The Constitution furthermore provides for affirmative action in favour of gender-marginalised groups for purposes of addressing existing gender imbalances. However, without legislation to enable the implementation and enforcement of these provisions, these provisions lack legal teeth.
Event: A vision for the future : International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development
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