Women's Right To Own Land - Brief Article

FROM 'FEMNET NEWS,' AFRICAN WOMEN'S DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNICATION NETWORK P.O. Box 54562, Nairobi, KENYA; Fax: 254-2-742927; e-mail: femnet@africaonline.co.ke web site: http://www.africaonline.co.ke/femnet

FROM THE EDITORIAL - VOL. 8-2:

It is commendable that the Government of Zambia has decided on a deliberate policy for the women in the country to own land. Zambian women are to get 10 percent of all future land, the government has said. It pointed out that the decision was a way of 'economically empowering' women.

As the country's chief registrar of title deeds has explained, the policy will enable women to have title to land and in this way enable them to have access to credit and loans[ldots]

Gender activists have pointed out that 10 percent does not go far enough. They want at least 50 percent of the land to be allocated to women in the country.

In the opinion of FEMNET News, the activists are right. They are right because even though women and men were involved in the struggle for independence in the various African countries, men have taken over most of the resources in these countries, including land. They are right to demand 50 percent of the land allocations because women constitute more than 50 percent of the population of the country.

They are right because, as a vital means of production, the issue of land should not be treated lightly in the agenda for women's empowerment and social justice.

They are right because, in most African countries, women do not only constitute the majority of workers on the land, they produce more than 70 percent of the food. Therefore, they need land to continue to perform this vital role.

They are right because as countries take steps to correct the injustices of the past, which they have decided to do in their Beijing commitments. They should not do it piecemeal; rather, they should focus on each problem and solve it once and for all. The land issue presents one opportunity to fulfill this commitment

Zambian policy is a good beginning from which a more acceptable and just land policy should evolve, not only for that country but for all the countries on the African continent."

EDITOR'S NOTE:

On no other continent are landrights still systematically denied to women, using "African tradition" as excuse. Yet women grow most of the food that sustains men and their families. Independence in Africa, as the editorial points out, resulted in African men appropriating the land for themselves - the largest resource of every African country: women were systematically disenfranchised, though they continue to do most of the agricultural work. Depriving people of land ownership while requiring them to produce the food and offspring each society needs for survival and to do this without compensation is called slavery around the world.

While the injustice of colonialism has been denounced and abolished the injustice of African men claiming all land ownership and thus power continues to be ignored with terrible consequences for the entire continent which is beset by tribal warfare, famine, military dictatorships, oppression and exploitation of women by men. The issue of equal land ownership is fundamental for development, for justice and for prosperity of each and every society.