Transforming Social Norms about Women’s Land and Property Rights
Rolleri
Masterclass
When women have secure access to land, that land is often used more productively, family income increases, children’s education, nutrition, and health improve, and the incidence of domestic violence decreases. However, women’s land and property rights (WLPR) in East Africa have a range of forces working against them, including conflicting statutory and customary laws, weak enforcement of the laws that do exist, and discriminatory beliefs, norms, and practices within households and communities.
Recent advocacy has brought WLPR into global and regional policy arenas (e.g., UN Secretary-General’s final report on the post-2015 framework includes language on women’s right to own land and other assets; African activists successfully advocated for the adoption of a resolution on land rights for women by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights). These policy successes have increased the visibility of WLPR, yet there is insufficient knowledge of how to effectively respond to the inequitable social norms that contribute to lack of land and property rights for women.
Event: Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty 2019
Only personal, non-commercial use of this document is allowed.