What is stopping women in Africa from inheriting land?
BBC World Service — Esther Mwaura-Muiru, S4HL’s global advocacy director, is featured on the BBC World Service’s Africa Daily podcast. Esther shares data and stories to highlight the cultural and systemic barriers that prevent women across Africa from owning and inheriting land.
Grassroot Women Want Issue of Ownership, Management Clearly Addressed in New National Land Policy
Africa-Press – Uganda — Speaking during a consultation meeting by the Ministry of Lands on the National Land Policy 2013 review in Kampala, a section of women mobilised by the Stand for Her Land Campaign said there is need to move away from some cultural beliefs that stop them from owning land.
Barriers to Ensuring Women’s Land Rights and the Way Forward
The Daily Star — In a roundtable with ALRD and partners, experts highlighted barriers to women’s land rights in Bangladesh, including discriminatory inheritance laws and limited land ownership despite women making up 58% of agricultural workers. Recommendations included equal inheritance rights, policy revisions, and greater recognition of women's agricultural contributions.
African women land professionals kick against gender disparity in land ownership, management
News Agency of Nigeria — At the First African Women Land Professionals Associations Conference in Tanzania, land experts called for policy reforms to eliminate gender disparity and boost women’s leadership in land management. The event also launched a new network to coordinate action on women’s land rights across Africa.
‘Unresolved land conflicts burden women’
New Vision — Unresolved land conflicts in Uganda continue to displace communities and violate women's rights. At a recent press conference, Stand for Her Land and partners highlighted the urgent need to secure women’s land rights, emphasizing their role in agriculture and economic stability.
Women activists demand action on land rights amid rising evictions
Monitor Uganda — As Uganda marks International Women’s Day, women's land rights activists urge the government to tackle increasing land grabbing, evictions, and disputes that disproportionately affect women, particularly in rural areas. “These conflicts have led to deaths, disrupted social cohesion, and undermined economic stability.”
Activists have opposed a provision in the Marriage Bill
Bukedde — Stand for Her Land Uganda urged Parliament to reject a provision in the Marriage Bill 2024 requiring spouses to share responsibility for each other’s debts. S4HL’s Mwebe Kalibala emphasized the need for fair asset division based on individual contributions, noting the growing financial independence of women.
‘Define sharable matrimonial and individual property in Bill’
Parliament of Uganda — S4HL Uganda urged Parliament to uphold the Supreme Court’s ruling on matrimonial property while reviewing the 2024 Marriage Bill. The coalition emphasized recognizing both financial and non-financial spousal contributions in property division and called for protections for women in customary marriages.
Access to land: Women put to the test by customs and traditions
Sunuker FM — CICODEV and S4HL Senegal are profiled for their investment in grassroots women's leadership to catalyze a strong and robust movement for women's land rights.
Generation Equality Action Coalition on Economic Justice and Rights Leaders convene in Kenya
UN Women Africa — Stand for Her Land's Esther Mwaura-Muiru emphasized the need to amplify local stories and solutions at the EJR retreat to help define pathways for advancing the Action Coalition’s work on gender-transformative economies in the years ahead.