Securing land inheritance and land rights for women in Kenya | Land Portal

Información del recurso

Date of publication: 
Marzo 2017
Resource Language: 
Pages: 
23
License of the resource: 

Women face many problems with regard to land inheritance and land rights in Kenya. Individual and community land ownership do not favour women. The reason for this is that ownership of land is patrilineal, which means that fathers share land amongst sons, while excluding daughters. This practice is traditionally widespread and partly accepted although it goes against the interest of women and is prohibited by the constitution. Unjust land tenure regimes do not only endanger women’s livelihood, but also constitute an emotional as well as identity burden, as land is an emotional component of heritage in Kenya. From colonial period onwards, women’s rights over land were limited and the woman’s role was to fend and produce food for the family. Thus, women would use land only for this purpose and were therefore not allowed to have absolute ownership over land. As a result, women became more unduly disadvantaged in respect to use, access to and/or control of land and other valuable property, both as members of a household or as heads of households. Cultural traditions and practices concerning women’s use, access and control of land have worsened this situation.

Autores y editores

Author(s), editor(s), contributor(s): 

Samuel Kimeu, Mary Maneno,
Transparency International Kenya

Publisher(s): 

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Proveedor de datos

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